FACCE SURPLUS Launches Third Call for Proposals
FACCE SURPLUS (Sustainable and Resilient agriculture for food and non-food systems) is an ERA-NET Cofund, formed in collaboration between the European Commission and a partnership of 15 countries in 2015. It has provided funding through two previous Calls for research on smart biomass production and conversion, and small scale biorefinery concepts. Based on these previous Calls, the FACCE SURPLUS partners have decided to launch a Third Call in order to complete the portfolio of projects and fill remaining research and funding gaps.
The aim of this Call is to further improve collaboration in the area of food and nonfood biomass production and transformation systems, and in particular to explore options on how to utilise all the biomass from agricultural land, uncultivated land and forestry with a holistic view with regards to food and non-food systems.
In line with the previous Calls it is expected that the projects will build upon the research already conducted in FACCE SURPLUS and under the broader umbrella of FACCE-JPI.
Successful projects will address:
Developing markets for a wide range of products and services generated through integrated food and non-food systems e.g. via new bio-technologies and industrial processes, needs and opportunities of SMEs and intermediate sized businesses.
Resilient agricultural systems allowing growth and intensification of agriculture under the increasing stress of climate change, new pests and disease outbreaks and other environmental pressures and preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Environmental sustainability indicators to assess other trade-offs between environmental and production deliverables for any particular agricultural system.
Spatial targeting of land use to increase biomass production and transformation, stimulating the growth of systems for the efficient utilisation of biomass cascading through novel transformations.
Sustainable intensification of integrated food and non-food systems of agriculture, by developing integrated, systems-based approaches to land management.
A budget of around €6 million is available for the Call. The following countries/funding organisations are participating:
Belgium – Flanders Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique – Frenchspeaking Community (FNRS)
Estonia – Ministry of Rural Affairs (MEM)
France – Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
Germany – Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Latvia – Ministry of Education and Science (IZM)
Lithuania – Ministry of Agriculture (ZUM)
Poland – The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR)
Romania – Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
United Kingdom – Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Cross-disciplinary projects encompassing biomass production and conversion and thereby promoting a comprehensive value chain concept will be given priority.
Transnational consortia of research organisations and companies from at least two countries participating in the Call are eligible to apply for projects lasting up to 36 months. It is expected that private partners (eg SMEs), appropriate stakeholders and/or endusers (eg farmers) will be included in consortia. The integration of social sciences and humanities is also encouraged to elaborate a broader economic, environmental and societal context.
The deadline for submission of pre-proposals is 19 March 2019 (14:00 CET). Funding recommendations are expected by November 2019, with projects starting between January and April 2020.
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