Resilient, inclusive, healthy and green rural, coastal and urban communities (Horizon Europe) - One Stage

The Destination supports the European Green Deal and contributes to Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable prosperity by supporting the sustainable development and the just and fair transition of rural, coastal and urban communities.

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model’.

R&I will support knowledge needs stemming from the EU vision for agriculture and food, the Commission strategy for generational renewal in agriculture, and continue to support the implementation of common agricultural policy and the long-term vision for EU’s rural areas.

R&I activities in this destination will also contribute to achieving the objectives of the strategy for European life sciences, the EU start-up and scaleup strategy, the bioeconomy strategy and the food 2030 initiative.

R&I will complement the new European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative by transformation of spaces and integrating the core NEB values.

Overall, R&I activities under this destination will contribute to supporting people and communities while strengthening our societies and our social model.

R&I will also support communities to work and prosper with nature, preserving biodiversity and ecosystem, and scaling-up the use of Nature-based Solutions, in line with the objectives of the EU climate adaptation strategy and the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.

R&I actions under this Destination will encourage international cooperation, in line with the global approach on R&I.

Expected Impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out credible paths to ‘sustainably developing rural, urban and coastal areas’. More specifically, proposed topics should contribute to one or more of the following expected impacts:

Communities are empowered to act for a transformative change to increase their sustainability and resilience, through better access to knowledge and tools (including digital ones), and are better prepared to adapt to climate change and to achieve climate neutrality as well as to address environmental issues, including biodiversity loss.
Rural communities are prepared to anticipate and respond to social, economic and environmental shocks and are attractive for young innovators.
Urban and peri-urban communities can access affordable, healthier, nutritious and environmental-friendly food, benefitting from empowered local food entrepreneurship and socially innovative approaches, increasing resilience and inclusiveness.

Topics for 2026 (one stage) with submission deadline on 14 April: