Horizon Europe Programme

Specific Application Form 
(HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-two-stage)

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Project proposal – Technical description (Part B) 

Version 1.0
27 January 2025

Structure of the Proposal 

The proposal contains two parts:

•	Part A of the proposal is generated by the IT system. It is based on the information entered by the participants through the submission system in the Funding & Tenders Portal. The participants can update the information in the submission system at any time before final submission.
  
•	Part B of the proposal is the narrative part that includes three sections that each correspond to an evaluation criterion. Part B needs to be uploaded as a PDF document following the templates downloaded by the applicants in the submission system for the specific call or topic. The templates for a specific call may slightly differ from the example provided in this document.

The electronic submission system is an online wizard that guides you step-by-step through the preparation of your proposal. The submission process consists of 6 steps:

- Step 1: Logging in the Portal 
- Step 2: Select the call, topic and type of action in the Portal
- Step 3: Create a draft proposal: Title, acronym, summary, main organisation and contact details
- Step 4: Manage your parties and contact details: add your partner organisations and contact details. 
- Step 5: Edit and complete web forms for proposal part A and upload proposal part B
- Step 6: Submit the proposal

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HISTORY OF CHANGES	
Version	Publication date	Changes	
1.0	27.01.2026	•	Initial version	

Proposal template Part B: technical description
(for short proposals: first stage of a two-stage submission procedure)

This template is to be used in a first stage of a two-stage submission procedure.
The structure of this template must be followed when preparing your proposal. It has been designed to ensure that the important aspects of your planned work are presented in a way that will enable the experts to make an effective assessment against the evaluation criteria. Sections 1 and 2 each correspond to an evaluation criterion for a first stage proposal in a two-stage submission procedure.
Please be aware that proposals will be evaluated as they were submitted, rather than on their potential if certain changes were to be made. This means that only proposals that successfully address all the required aspects will have a chance of being funded. There will be no possibility for significant changes to content, budget and consortium composition during grant preparation.
 Page limit: The page limit is 10 pages. The number of pages included in each section of this template is only indicative. 
The page limit will be applied automatically. At the end of this document you can see the structure of the a
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ctual proposal that you need to submit, please remove all instruction pages that are watermarked. 
If you attempt to upload a proposal longer than the specified limit before the deadline, you will receive an automatic warning and will be advised to shorten and re-upload the proposal. After the deadline, excess pages (in over-long proposals/applications) will be automatically made invisible and will not be taken into consideration by the experts. The proposal is a self-contained document. Experts will be instructed to ignore hyperlinks to information that is specifically designed to expand the proposal, thus circumventing the page limit. 
Please, do not consider the page limit as a target! It is in your interest to keep your text as concise as possible, since experts rarely view unnecessarily long proposals in a positive light.
 The following formatting conditions apply. 
The reference font for the body text of proposals is Times New Roman (Windows platforms), Times/Times New Roman (Apple platforms) or Nimbus Roman No. 9 L (Linux distributions).
The use of a different font for the body text is not advised and is subject to the cumulative conditions that the font is legible and that its use does not significantly shorten the representation of the proposal in number of pages compared to using the reference font (for example with a view to bypass the page limit).
The minimum font size allowed is 11 points. Standard character spacing and a minimum of single line spacing is to be used. This applies to the body text, including text in tables.
Text elements other than the body text, such as headers, foot/end notes, captions, formula's, may deviate, but must be legible.
The page size is A4, and all margins (top, bottom, left, right) should be at least 15 mm (not including any footers or headers).

DEFINITIONS 	
Critical risk	A critical risk is a plausible event or issue that could have a high adverse impact on the ability of the project to achieve its objectives.   
Level of likelihood to occur (Low/medium/high): The likelihood is the estimated probability that the risk will materialise even after taking account of the mitigating measures put in place.
Level of severity (Low/medium/high): The relative seriousness of the risk and the significance of its effect.	
Deliverable	A report that is sent to the Commission or Agency providing information to ensure effective monitoring of the project. There are different types of deliverables (e.g. a report on specific activities or results, data management plans, ethics or security requirements). 	
Impacts	Wider long term effects on society (including the environment), the economy and science, enabled by the outcomes of R&I investments (long term). It refers to the specific contribution of the project to the work programme expected impacts described in the destination. Impacts generally occur some time after the end of the project.  
Example: The deployment of the advanced forecasting system enables each airport to increase maximum passenger capacity by 15% and passenger average throughput by 10%, leading to a 28% reduction in infrastructure expansion costs.	
Milestone	Control points in the project that help to chart progress. Milestones may correspond to the achievement of a key result, allowing the next phase of the work to begin. They may also be needed at intermediary points so that, if problems have arisen, corrective measures can be taken. A milestone may be a critical decision point in the project where, for example, the consortium must decide which of several technologies to adopt for further development. The achievement of a milestone should be verifiable.	
Objectives
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	The goals of the work performed within the project, in terms of its research and innovation content. This will be translated into the project’s results. These may range from tackling specific research questions, demonstrating the feasibility of an innovation, sharing knowledge among stakeholders on specific issues. The nature of the objectives will depend on the type of action, and the scope of the topic.	
Outcomes

	The expected effects, over the medium term, of projects supported under a given topic.  The results of a project should contribute to these outcomes, fostered in particular by the dissemination and exploitation measures. This may include the uptake, diffusion, deployment, and/or use of the project’s results by direct target groups. Outcomes generally occur during or shortly after the end of the project.
Example: 9 European airports adopt the advanced forecasting system demonstrated during the project.	
Pathway to impact 	Logical steps towards the achievement of the expected impacts of the project over time, in particular beyond the duration of a project. A pathway begins with the projects’ results, to their dissemination, exploitation and communication, contributing to the expected outcomes in the work programme topic, and ultimately to the wider scientific, economic and societal impacts of the work programme destination. 	
Research output	Results generated by the action to which access can be given in the form of scientific publications, data or other engineered outcomes and processes such as software, algorithms, protocols and electronic notebooks.	
Results	What is generated during the project implementation. This may include, for example, know-how, innovative solutions, algorithms, proof of feasibility, new business models, policy recommendations, guidelines, prototypes, demonstrators, databases and datasets, trained researchers, new infrastructures, networks, etc. Most project results (inventions, scientific works, etc.) are ‘Intellectual Property’, which may, if appropriate, be protected by formal ‘Intellectual Property Rights’.
Example: Successful large-scale demonstrator: trial with 3 airports of an advanced forecasting system for proactive airport passenger flow management.	
Technology Readiness Level	See Work Programme General Annexes B	

Guidance on the use of generative AI tools for the preparation of the proposal	
When considering the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for the preparation of the proposal, it is imperative to exercise caution and careful consideration. The AI-generated content should be thoroughly reviewed and validated by the applicants to ensure its appropriateness and accuracy, as well as its compliance with intellectual property regulations. Applicants are fully responsible for the content of the proposal (even those parts produced by the AI tool) and must be transparent in disclosing which AI tools were used and how they were utilized. 
Specifically, applicants are required to:
•	Verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the content and any citations generated by the AI tool and correct any errors or inconsistencies. 
•	Provide a list of sources used to generate content and citations, including those generated by the AI tool. Double-check citations to ensure they are accurate and properly referenced. 
•	Be conscious of the potential for plagiarism where the AI tool may have reproduced substantial text from other sources. Check the original sources to be sure you are not plagiarizing someone else’s work. 
•	Acknowledge the limitations of the AI tool in the proposal preparation, including the potential for bias, errors, and gaps in knowledge.	

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 Fill in the title of your proposal below.
Title of the Proposal
1	Excellence
Excellence – aspects to be taken into account.
•	Clarity and pertinence of the project’s objectives, and the extent to which the proposed work is ambitious, and goes beyond the state of the art.
•	Soundness of the overall methodology. 	

	The following aspects will be taken into account only to the extent that the proposed work is within the scope of the work programme topic.
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1.1	Objectives and ambition 
•	Briefly describe the objectives of your proposed work. Why are they pertinent to the work programme topic? Are they measurable and verifiable? Are they realistically achievable?
•	Describe how your project goes beyond the state-of-the-art, and the extent the proposed work is ambitious. Indicate any exceptional ground-breaking R&I, novel concepts and approaches, new products, services or business and organisational models. Where relevant, illustrate the advance by referring to products and services already available on the market. Refer to any patent or publication search carried out.
•	Describe where the proposed work is positioned in terms of R&I maturity (i.e. where it is situated in the spectrum from ‘idea to application’, or from ‘lab to market’). Where applicable, provide an indication of the Technology Readiness Level, if possible distinguishing the start and by the end of the project.
	Please bear in mind that advances beyond the state of the art must be interpreted in the light of the positioning of the project. Expectations will not be the same for RIAs at lower TRL, compared with Innovation Actions at high TRLs. 

1.2	Methodology 
•	Describe and explain the overall methodology, referring briefly, where necessary, to the concepts, models and assumptions that underpin your work.
 
•	Explain how this will enable you to deliver your project’s objectives. 
•	
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 Provide a summary of the Living Labs (LL) to be created by filling in the table below with the key elements; [e.g. 1 page]

 	LL 1	LL 2	LL 3	LL 4	…	
Q1. In which country(ies) and administrative region(s) is the Living Lab (LL) located? (Country, NUTS21)						
Q2. In which biogeographical region2 is the LL located? (Text)						
Q3. What is the main land use in the experimental sites of the LL? (List3)						
Q4. Which Mission Soil specific objective(s) will be mainly addressed in the LL? (List4) 						
Q5. Which soil health challenge(s)5 will be tackled in the LL? (Text)						
Q6. How many experimental sites6 will the LL have? (Number or range)						
Q7. Which project partner is in the lead of the LL? (Partner number)						
Q8. Are you kick-starting participatory processes or are you building on existing ones? (Text)						
	When filling in the table, please keep in mind the requirements of the specific topic text: 
 1The LL should be located in at least three different Member States and/or Associated Countries. When specifying the administrative region(s) where your LL is located, it is recommended to use the NUTS2 division (Eurostat - Statistical Atlas).
 2For topic HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-01-two-stage, the majority of the LL must be located in one of the two biogeographical regions: Alpine or Atlantic (European Environmental Agency). The remaining LL can be located in other biogeographical regions outside of the one selected. For non-European LL, refer to the 'ecoregions’ (Biogeographical regions of the world).
For topic HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-02-two-stage, for the biogeographical regions refer to the classification of the European Environmental Agency. For non-European LL, refer to the 'ecoregions’ (Biogeographical regions of the world). 

3 For topic HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-01-two-stage, land use can be: Agriculture, Forestry, Industrial, Natural or Semi-natural, Urban.
For topic HORIZON-MISS-2026-05-SOIL-02-two-stage, land use can be: Forestry, Natural or Semi-natural.
 4Proposals should describe the rationale for cooperation across the various LL and explain how the work undertaken will contribute to one or more of the Mission’s specific objectives 1 to 8: S01 Reduce land degradation relating to desertification; SO2 conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks; SO3 no net soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils; SO4 reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration; SO5 prevent erosion; SO6 improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops; SO7 reduce the EU global footprint on soils; SO8 increase soil literacy in society. 
5Proposals should support the setup of four to five LL to work together on common shared soil health challenge(s), relevant for the selected biogeographical region. 
6 Soil health LL are composed of 10 to 20 experimental sites. However, depending on the level at which they operate and the specific context (e.g. land use covered or soil health challenge addressed), applicants can propose living labs with fewer experimental sites. Soil health living labs are composed of 10 to 20 experimental sites. However, depending on the level at which they operate and the specific context (e.g. land use covered or soil health challenge addressed), applicants can propose living labs with fewer experimental sites. 
•	Explain how expertise and methods from different disciplines will be brought together and integrated in pursuit of your objectives. Describe how social sciences and humanities will foster social innovation and socio cultural and behavioural change. Detail how the proposed Living Labs governance structure(s) will facilitate transdisciplinarity.
 
•	When relevant for your project, refer briefly to the aspects below:
o	Any national or international research and innovation activities whose results will feed into the project, and how that link will be established. 
o	How expertise and methods from different disciplines will be brought together and integrated in pursuit of your objectives. If you consider that an inter-disciplinary approach is unnecessary in the context of the proposed work, please provide a justification.
o	For topics where the Work Programme indicates the need for the integration of social sciences and humanities, show the role of these disciplines in the project or provide a justification if you consider that these disciplines are not relevant to your proposed project.
o	How the gender dimension (i.e. sex and/or gender analysis) is taken into account in the project’s research and innovation content. 
	Note: This section is mandatory except for topics which have been identified in the work programme as not requiring the integration of the gender dimension into R&I content.
	Remember that that this question relates to the content of the planned research and innovation activities, and not to gender balance in the teams in charge of carrying out the project.
	Sex and gender analysis refers to biological characteristics and social/cultural factors respectively. For guidance on methods of sex / gender analysis and the issues to be taken into account, please refer to https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/33b4c99f-2e66-11eb-b27b-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
•	
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How appropriate open science practices are implemented as an integral part of the proposed methodology. Show how the choice of practices and their implementation are adapted to the nature of your work, in a way that will increase the chances of the project delivering on its objectives. If you believe that none of these practices are appropriate for your project, please provide a justification here. 
	Open science is an approach based on open cooperative work and systematic sharing of knowledge and tools as early and widely as possible in the process. Open science practices include early and open sharing of research (for example through preregistration, registered reports, pre-prints, or crowd-sourcing); research output management; measures to ensure reproducibility of research outputs; providing open access to research outputs (such as publications, data, software, models, algorithms, and workflows); participation in open peer-review; and involving all relevant knowledge actors including citizens, civil society and end users in the co-creation of R&I agendas and contents (such as citizen science).
	Proposals selected for funding under Horizon Europe will need to develop a detailed data management plan (DMP) for making their data/research outputs findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) as a deliverable by month 6 and revised towards the end of a project’s lifetime. The DMP should describe how research outputs (especially research data) generated and/or collected during the project will be managed so as to ensure that they are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. 
	For guidance on open science practices and research data management, please refer to the relevant section of the HE Programme Guide on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
2.	Impact 
Impact – aspects to be taken into account.
•	Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts specified in the work programme.	
The results of your project should make a contribution to the expected outcomes set out for the work programme topic over the medium term, and to the wider expected impacts set out in the ‘destination’ over the longer term. 
In this section you should show how your project could contribute to the outcomes and impacts described in the work programme.
2.1		Project’s pathways towards impact 
•	Provide a narrative explaining how the project’s results are expected to make a difference in terms of impact, beyond the immediate scope and duration of the project. The narrative should include the components below, tailored to your project. 
(a)	Describe the unique contribution your project results would make towards (1) the outcomes specified in this topic, and (2) the wider impacts, in the longer term, specified in the respective destinations in the work programme. Provide quantified estimates where possible and meaningful.  
	Be specific, referring to the effects of your project, and not R&I in general in this field. 
	State the target groups that would benefit. Even if target groups are mentioned in general terms in the work programme, you should be specific here, breaking target groups into particular interest groups or segments of society relevant to this project.
(b)	
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Describe any requirements and potential barriers - arising from factors beyond the scope and duration of the project - that may determine whether the desired outcomes and impacts are achieved. These may include, for example, other R&I work within and beyond Horizon Europe; regulatory environment; targeted markets; user behaviour. Indicate if these factors might evolve over time. Describe any mitigating measures you propose, within or beyond your project, that could be needed should your assumptions prove to be wrong, or to address identified barriers. 
	Note that this does not include the critical risks inherent to the management of the project itself , which should be described in the full proposal submitted at the 2nd stage of the procedure under ‘Implementation’.

Proposal template Part B: technical description
Title of the Proposal
1.	Excellence 
1.1	Objectives and ambition 
Insert here text for your proposal

1.2	Methodology 
Insert here text for your proposal

2.	Impact 
2.1	Project’s pathways towards impact
Insert here text for your proposal