Living labs co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems addressing implementation bottlenecks and improving resilience to risks
Living labs co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems addressing implementation bottlenecks and improving resilience to risks funds research teams testing restoration to overcome barriers and reduce risks.
Funder: European Commission
Due Dates: October 13, 2026 (Opening) | January 14, 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: €10 million per project, with €60 million total and 6 expected grants
Summary: Supports collaborative living labs that test scalable ecosystem restoration solutions and overcome implementation and financing barriers.
Key Information: Proposals must apply a multi-actor approach and establish three new living labs, each with 8–15 experimental sites.
Description
This European Commission Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action funds living labs where researchers, land and water managers, public authorities and communities co-create, test and demonstrate ecosystem restoration solutions in real-life settings. The programme seeks operational approaches that overcome financing, regulatory, governance, technical and social barriers while supporting implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.
Proposals address either disaster resilience through restoration or biodiversity-friendly agriculture and forestry. They should empower stakeholders to deploy and replicate viable measures, provide competent authorities with reusable implementation frameworks, and demonstrate environmental, social and economic benefits, risks and trade-offs. Living labs should combine policy experimentation, monitoring and shared learning with governance structures and business models that sustain restoration beyond the project.
