Living labs to enhance soil health in Continental, Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic biogeographical regions

The Mission Soil proposes the deployment of living labs as a novel approach to research and innovation in soil health. Living labs have the potential to facilitate a green transition by involving multiple actors in real-life sites within a local/regional setting to co-create soil health solutions and achieve large-scale impacts on soil health and soil governance. Projects funded under this topic should deploy a number of living labs to expand and complement the network of soil health living labs initiated in previous Mission Soil topics to gradually establish 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030. Soil health living labs are long-term collaborations between multiple actors to address common soil health challenges in real-life sites at local or regional level (10 to 20 sites in each living lab). Living labs can address soil health challenges in or across different land uses (agricultural, (peri-)urban, (post)-industrial, forest and (semi-)natural). Depending on the level at which each living lab operates and the specific context (e.g. land use covered, or soil health challenge addressed), applicants can exceptionally propose living labs with fewer sites. Individual sites can be farms, forest holdings, urban green areas, industrial areas, etc. Sites that are exemplary in their performance in terms of soil health improvement and serve as places for demonstration of solutions, training and communication are lighthouses. Lighthouse sites can be part of a living lab or be situated outside a living lab. Projects funded under this topic are expected to kick-start the participatory process or build on existing ones. If building on existing processes, the new proposed living labs should complement the existing network of Mission Soil Living Labs and deliver unique results. While on average, projects run for around four years, the duration of the projects under this topic should accommodate longer timescales required to establish participatory processes and/or for soils processes to take place. Actors working on common shared soil health challenge(s) within and across the living labs of the same project, will be able to compare results, exchange good practices, validate methodologies, replicate actions and solutions and benefit from cross-fertilisation, thereby accelerating the transition towards the shared objective of improving soil health. Proposals should: support the establishment of four to five living labs either in the Continental biogeographical region or in one or more of the following three biogeographical regions: Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic. Proposals must clearly indicate their focus and should establish the majority of the living labs within the chosen focus biogeographical region or region(s). Living labs under each proposal should work together on common soil health challenge(s) relevant to the selected biogeographical region or region(s). The living labs should be located in at least three different Member States and/or Associated Countries. Proposals should explain the rationale and mechanism for cooperation within and across the living labs and how the work undertaken will contribute to one or more of the Mission’s specific objectives. Proposals with all living labs working on soil management practices to decrease eutrophication within a specific river catchment area, are excluded from this topic as a dedicated topic is opened in this work programme (HORIZON-MISS-2027-05-SOIL-02-two-stage: Living Labs for co-creating solutions to reduce eutrophication from agriculture); establish an interdisciplinary, participatory and multi-actor approach in the living labs to co-design, co-develop, and co-implement locally adapted solutions (practices, tools, strategies, etc.) for the common soil health challenge(s) taking into account relevant soil health drivers and pressures. Proposed solutions should be adapted to the different environmental, socio-economic and cultural contexts in which the living labs are operating; establish, for each living lab, a baseline of the soil conditions to allow for an accurate co-assessment of the changes in the different sites over time. Monitor improvements on soil health and associated ecosystem services. The set of soil health indicators/descriptors presented in the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience should be used as a basis; proposals may complement with additional indicators tailored to the addressed soil health challenge(s), pedoclimatic conditions, land use, and other local/regional factors; assess and demonstrate the technical, social, economic, cultural and environmental viability of the proposed solutions, as well as their potential scalability and transferability to diverse contexts; identify high performing sites that may be converted into lighthouses, either at proposal stage or later. Engage with SOILL to assess the growth and development of these lighthouses and to support the establishment of a labelling process that could formally recognize these exemplary sites as lighthouses; propose strategies (e.g., financial, organisational) to ensure the long-term sustainability of the established living labs beyond the Horizon Europe funding. Strategies should include the identification of possible business models and actions involving a mix of public or private funding schemes, financial instruments, cooperation with local authorities, engagement of social economy entities, social enterprises, business communities, SMEs, as well as attracting investors and entrepreneurs. In line with the nature of living labs, projects must adopt the multi-actor approach. The actors involved in each living lab may vary, based on its unique characteristics and may include, among others, researchers, landowners or land managers, industry representatives (e.g., SMEs), public administrators and civil society representatives (e.g., consumers, local residents, environmental NGOs, youth…