Skip to main content
Mission Ocean and Waters service portal
MIssion ocean projects
EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters

Discover what this Mission is, how it works, how it was chosen, and more.

Under Horizon Europe, the EU’s programme for Research and Innovation, 67 projects have been awarded for funding under the Mission 'Restore our Ocean and waters' calls launched between 2021 and 2023.

Get inspired by their innovative solutions.

Aquaculture

  • ongoing

AlgaePro BANOS 

AlgaeProBANOS brings together 26 expert partners, start-ups and SMEs to accelerate the development of sustainable algae products. 

  • ongoing

Cool Blue Future

COmmunity Ocean farms and Local Business cLUstErs: Cultivating community across European seas through community-led regenerative aquaculture enterprises.

  • ongoing

LOCALITY 

LOCALITY works to create socially responsible algae-based products and solutions in food, aquafeed, agriculture, and textile markets, highlighting their economic role.

  • ongoing

Mr.Goodfish3.0

Mr.Goodfish3.0 upgrades an app for sustainable seafood consumption based on stakeholder input and it employs it in an EU-wide awareness campaign.

  • ongoing

OLAMUR 

OLAMUR works towards a climate neutral and circular economy to demonstrate sustainable multi-use solutions for the North and Baltic sea regions.   

  • ongoing

ULTFARMS 

ULTFARMS transforms Low-Trophic Aquaculture in offshore and low-salinity zones of the North and Baltic Seas through advanced engineering and ecological methods for sustainable seaweed and mollusc production.
 

  • ongoing

VeriFish

The sustainability indicator framework to communicate responsible aquafood production and consumption patterns.

Blue Economy

  • completed

C-FAARER 

C-FAARER has developed a stakeholder-driven roadmap and guidance to help ocean farmers in the Atlantic and Arctic basins build community-based regenerative farming models and inform supportive policymaking.

  • End date: 31 May 2025
  • ongoing

FERRO

FERRO integrates nutrient recovery and reuse in lake restoration to achieve good ecological status in European lakes and support a circular economy.

  • ongoing

H2-SEAS

H2-SEAS develops a novel, fully-integrated hydrogen-electric fishing vessel to accelerate a sustainable and accessible transition to clean and efficient power for small-scale fishing fleets. 

  • ongoing

REFEST

REFEST focuses on retrofitting fishing fleets with energy-efficient technologies to reduce fuel consumption, emissions, environmental impact and to promote sustainability in the fishing sector.

  • ongoing

SEAGLOW

SEAGLOW demonstrates innovative technologies to cut fossil fuel use and emissions on small fishing boats in the North and Baltic Seas, through collaboration with researchers, industry, associations, and local fishers.

  • ongoing

SpongeWorks

SpongeWorks implements effective Nature-based Solutions to enhance soil water retention capacity and climate resilience at regional scale in Europe.

Citizen Science

  • completed

FLOW 

FLOW consisted of experiential futures workshops with young adults, in which their expectations, hopes, and fears about human-water relations were studied. 

  • End date: 31 December 2024
  • completed

OTTERS 

Societal transformation for water stewardship via scaling up citizen science by accelerating adoption of standards & piloting spring-to-sea campaigns.

  • End date: 30 June 2025

Coordination and Support Actions

  • ongoing

BlueMissionAA

BlueMissionAA is the coordination hub that supports the implementation of the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters in the Atlantic and Arctic basins.

  • ongoing

BlueMissionBANOS

BlueMissionBANOS supports a carbon-neutral, circular blue economy in the Baltic and North Seas by connecting policy, industry, science, and society through collaborative governance and innovation.

  • ongoing

BlueMissionMed

BlueMissionMed inspires, informs, assesses, mobilises, connects and empowers all the actors to prevent and eliminate pollution in the Mediterranean basin. 

  • ongoing

EcoDaLLi

EcoDaLLi centralises governance structures and innovative solutions for the ecological restoration, protection and preservation of the Danube. 

  • completed

PREP4BLUE

PREP4BLUE has set the foundations for co-creating and co-implementing the research and innovation required to achieve Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030. 

  • End date: 31 May 2025

Digital Twin Ocean

  • ongoing

DIGI4ECO

DIGI4ECO uses digital technology to tackle climate change, enhance environmental conservation, and drive socio-economic development.

  • ongoing

DTO-BioFlow 

DTO BioFlow facilitates the integration of biodiversity monitoring data into the Digital Twin Ocean, as a basis for its biodiversity component.

  • ongoing

ECOTWIN

ECOTWIN develops graph-based solutions, co-designed with diverse stakeholders, to model marine socio-ecological systems and integrate them into the emerging Digital Twin Ocean framework.
 

  • ongoing

EDITO-Model Lab

EDITO-Model lab develops the next generation of ocean models and AI-enriched simulation techniques to be integrated into the European Digital Twin Ocean. 

  • completed

EDITO-Infra 

EDITO-Infra has built the public infrastructure backbone for the European Digital Twin of the Ocean and will continue this work.

  • End date: 28 February 2025
  • ongoing

EDNAqua-plan 

EDNAqua-Plan maps aquatic monitoring efforts across the EU and associated countries, while outlining activities on standardising and streamlining methods and data workflows.

  • ongoing

IDEATION

IDEATION prepates the development of the Digital Twin of the inland waters providing a roadmap for its development and integration into the DTO.

  • ongoing

SEADITO

SEADITO develops social-ecological analytical methods and tools for the EU DTO to support the goal of achieving healthy oceans and waters by 2030.

  • ongoing

SEADOTs

SEADOTs advances sustainable ocean management by integrating socio-ecological data into Digital Ocean Twins for informed marine policy and planning.

  • ongoing

SURIMI

SURIMI creates social-ecological models and user-friendly tools, integrated within the DTO, to support policy analysis based on management strategy evaluation.

European Blue Parks

  • ongoing

Blue4ALL

Blue4ALL develops science-based tools for achieving Marine Protected Areas that meet conservation and restoration objectives while addressing the needs and concerns of all stakeholders. 

  • ongoing

BLUE CONNECT

Blue Connect co-develops a science-based, systematic approach to marine conservation, focusing on strict protection, restoration, and connectivity.

  • ongoing

Effective

Effective enhances social well-being and economic prosperity by reinforcing the eFFECTIVEness of protection and restoration management in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas.

  • ongoing

OCEAN CITIZEN 

A multidisciplinary approach integrating science and society in marine forest regeneration for ocean management and protection.

  • ongoing

PROTECT BALTIC 

PROTECT BALTIC enables comprehensive, effective, and efficient protection and restoration measures for a resilient Baltic Sea ecosystem. 

Ocean and Waters Literacy

  • ongoing

BlueLightS

BlueLightS advances blue education in Europe by supporting school projects, building a Community of Practice, and adapting education systems to highlight rivers and seas.

  • ongoing

PartArt4OW

PartArt4OW uses participatory art to deepen public engagement with ocean and water health through creative expression.

  • ongoing

ProBleu 

ProBleu supports the Network of European Blue Schools, connecting schools with key scientific disciplines and boosting ocean and water literacy. 

  • ongoing

SHORE 

SHORE provides tools and grants to increase ocean literacy and engage students and teachers in five regions through collaborative projects in schools.

  • ongoing

TIDAL ArtS

TIDAL ArtS unites art, science and communities to increase awareness of the challenges faced by our ocean and inland waters and inspire action to protect and restore them.

Pollution Prevention

  • ongoing

iMERMAID 

iMERMAID brings together smart solutions to prevent and monitor the pollution of contaminants for emerging concerns in the Mediterranean Sea basin. 

  • ongoing

INSPIRE  

INSPIRE tackles plastic pollution in European rivers by testing 20 technologies across 6 use cases and developing a master plan to scale these solutions.

  • ongoing

NETTAGPlus

NETTAGPlus prevents, avoids and mitigates environmental impacts of fishing gears and associated marine litter.

  • completed

PlasticPiratesEU

A citizen science project engaging young people in investigating plastic pollution in European waterways, with participants uploading waste data to support scientific studies.

  • End date: 31 May 2025
  • ongoing

Path4Med

A new path to improve soil health and eliminate water and soil pollution through advanced agricultural management and novel monitoring technologies.

  • ongoing

REMEDIES 

Co-creating strong uptake of REMEDIES for the future of our oceans through deploying plastic litter valorisation and prevention pathways. 

  • ongoing

RHE-MEDiation

RHE-MEDiation is a lighthouse project aiming to establish a responsive hub to destress the Mediterranean Sea hot spots from chemical pollution. 

  • ongoing

SeaClear2.0 

SeaClear2.0 develops autonomous, intelligent robots for seafloor and surface marine litter monitoring and collection, and citizen activation for marine litter prevention. 

  • ongoing

SEACURE

SEACURE demonstrates, upscales and replicates innovative solutions to address nutrient pollution along the land-river-sea continuum in sensitive regions.

  • ongoing

SEARCULAR 

SEARCULAR reduces marine litter and microplastics from fisheries by applying a circular design of fishing gears and circular economy.

  • ongoing

UPSTREAM

UPSTREAM addresses the pollution in European rivers by deploying 15 solutions for monitoring, prevention, elimination, and valorisation of collected plastics.

Protection and Restoration of our Ocean and Waters

  • ongoing

A-AAgora 

A-AAGORA - blueprint for atlantic-arctic agora on cross-sectoral cooperation for restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience through transformative innovation.

  • ongoing

BioProtect

BioProtect co-develops & demonstrates innovative and scalable ecosystem-based solutions to protect and restore ecosystem biodiversity in the Atlantic and Arctic basin.

  • ongoing

CLIMAREST 

CLIMAREST aims to present a generalisable framework to enable more efficient and effective restoration of degraded coastal habitats. 

  • ongoing

DALIA 

DALIA develops innovative freshwater solutions, in the Danube Lighthouse, to improve water ecosystems and facilitate decision-making on water management issues. 

  • ongoing

DANSER

DANSER offers a multidisciplinary, science-based approach to sediment management in the Danube River basin, using advanced technologies aligned with EU policies.

  • ongoing

DANUBE4all 

DANUBE4all strives to restore freshwater ecosystems in the Danube River Basin via a scientific, practically-focused Restoration Action Plan. 

  • ongoing

DaWetRest 

DaWetRest develops and demonstrates concrete solutions applied on the Danube basin to address challenges faced by its inland and coastal wetlands. 

  • ongoing

EUROLakes

EUROLakes aims to protect and restore European natural lakes using the 4 Returns Framework for sustainable, landscape-level solutions.

  • ongoing

FutureLakes

FutureLakes demonstrates innovations in nature-based and circular economy solutions, and enhanced public engagement, to transform lake restoration.
 

  • ongoing

iNNO SED

iNNO SED tackles sediment mismanagement in the Danube River Basin by establishing the Danube Sediment ‘Lighthouse’ Knowledge Centre.

  • ongoing

NiD4OCEAN

NiD4OCEAN advances nature-inclusive designs for offshore renewables, offering innovative, tailored solutions to industry, managers, and policymakers.

  • ongoing

PHAROS

PHAROS provides Nature-based Solutions for restoring ecosystems, biodiversity, tackling climate change in the Atlantic and Arctic basins.

  • ongoing

ProCleanLakes

ProCleanLakes aims to develop an European Natural Lakes (ENL) protection and restoration Action Plan with involvement of stakeholders and citizens.

  • ongoing

Restore4Life 

Restore4Life restores Danube wetlands to boost ecosystem services, climate resilience, and sustainable businesses through stakeholder engagement and innovative tools.

  • ongoing

SUNBIO

SUNBIO protects marine biodiversity while expanding offshore renewable energy capacity, by developing innovative monitoring technologies to reduce infrastructure impact. 

  • ongoing

SUNDANSE

SUNDANSE creates a comprehensive, accessible handbook on sediment management, focusing on the Danube River and Black Sea system.

Newsletter

Stay up to date on the Mission Ocean and Waters Service Portal actions by signing up to our Newsletter.

Contact us

Share your feedback and rate this information, or contact our helpdesk for more support. Your insights help us improve!