117 proposals retained for the 2nd stage of the 2020 Societal Challenge 2 calls

A total of 117 project proposals have been invited to the second stage of the 2020 Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) two-stage calls. This means that about 29% of the 397 project proposals received by the deadline on 22 January have been retained for the second stage of calls.

The 2020 SC2 two-stage calls have a total budget of €289 million, shared between them. With both the largest part of that budget (€133 million) and number of topics (11), the Sustainable Food Security call has the highest number of project proposals retained (51), followed by the Food and Natural Resources call (44), and the Rural Renaissance and Blue Growth calls (12 and 10 projects respectively).

Generalised feedback on the topics is expected to be provided in early May, and the shortlisted projects have until the 8 September to submit a full and final proposal.

Successful projects are expected to be announced by December 2020, and consortia should start their projects as of May 2021.

Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) - Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy - aims to lead the transition towards an optimal and renewable use of biological resources, and towards sustainable primary production and processing systems. SC2 projects are managed by the Research Executive Agency (REA).