HORIZON-MISS-2027-03-OCEAN-02: Circularity of seafood supply chain

HORIZON-MISS-2027-03-OCEAN-02: Circularity of seafood supply chain. The aim is to enhance the European seafood industry’s competitiveness throughout its value chain by ensuring optimal resource use and minimising environmental impacts through circular economy principles. 

Objectives: 

Expected outcomes from projects are: 

• Measurable improvements in the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of the EU fisheries and/or aquaculture sectors through the integration of circular economy principles; 
• Reduced, better managed and reutilised waste and by-products from fisheries and aquaculture activities, contributing to minimised environmental impacts and pollution prevention; 
• Reduced barriers to circularity in seafood value chains, including technological, regulatory, market-related and collaboration challenges across supply chain actors; 
• Measurable socio-economic benefits for local stakeholders and communities involved in seafood processing and value chains, including job creation and business opportunities. 

Successful applicants will be required to: 

• Test and demonstrate innovative circular solutions that improve the sustainability and circularity of seafood value chains in aquaculture and/or fisheries, showing technical feasibility, economic viability and effectiveness in real conditions; 
• Demonstrate solutions through at least three use cases within a single Mission basin, tailored to basin-specific characteristics and contributing to Mission objective 2 (pollution prevention and elimination) and Mission objective 3 (sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular blue economy); 
• Address at least one key challenge, including the valorisation of seafood by-products and waste streams into high-value compounds, or the development of innovative organic feed ingredients as alternatives to fish meal and fish oil; 
• Implement digital tools and predictive models to monitor and quantify waste and pollution from fisheries and aquaculture activities and to assess the effectiveness of circular solutions; 
• Foster cross-sectoral cooperation across the seafood supply chain, ensuring early stakeholder involvement and co-creation, while demonstrating scalability and replication potential; 
• Ensure that proposed solutions respect ecosystem health, biodiversity, and animal welfare, and comply with the principles and objectives of the EU organic aquaculture regulation; 
• Build on and cooperate with relevant EU-funded initiatives and establish operational links with Mission Lighthouse CSAs and the Mission Implementation Platform to support coordination and tracking of Mission progress. 

Eligible applicants:  

The conditions are described in General Annex B. If projects collect in-situ data and marine observations, beneficiaries must make them openly available through the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet), based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.  

Budget:  

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 30.90 million, with four projects to be funded under this topic. The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 7.20 and 7.725 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.  

Duration: 

The project is expected to start in 2028, following grant agreement preparation, and should typically run for a duration of 3 to 4 years, depending on the scope of the proposed work. 

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