Land is a limited resource and needs to be managed carefully to meet the various, conflicting societal demands on land and soil. This includes demands arising e.g. from urbanisation, food/biomass production and environmental protection. Inadequate practices in land management and in land use planning are main drivers of land degradation and result in the loss of important soil functions. Spatial planning has a considerable role in steering a more balanced and sustainable use of land and ensuring that net land take is reduced, in particular if applying the principles of a “land take hierarchy”

-Improve the knowledge on trade-offs required to keep ecosystem services provision with expansion of urban, peri-urban and rural areas
-Identify good planning practices that integrate soils and their ecosystem Services (SES) into the spatial planning
-Demonstrate the impact of these practices on actual land use in urban and rural areas including, land take, the re-use of land, restoration, de-sealing and the support to soil functions
-Provide opportunities for training of planners and exchange of experiences (e.g. events, information tools) between the various actors involved in planning and land use decisions at various levels. Allow for participatory planning processes
-Improve the tools as well as the data and information basis (including maps) available to spatial planners and decision-makers regarding soil functions and ecosystem services

-Increased recognition of the value of ecosystem services in land use decisions due to increased awareness of spatial planners on the importance of soil functions, ecosystem services and soil health overall
-Information on soils is more easily accessible to planners and decision-makers
-Land use efficiency is increased and land take and soil sealing are reduced due to a more effective reuse of land and the application of the principles of the “land take hierarchy”
-Municipalities and authorities have planning tools at hand to develop and implement strategies for no net land take by 2050
-Spatial plans promote the use of Nature-based solutions for the improvement of ecosystem services provision in currently sealed areas
-Approaches for rezoning, restoration and de-sealing are available for building land and infrastructure which is no longer in use or to be reused

With the increase of the orbital population and with the need of observing smaller objects to better protect the EU space assets, the need and added-value of developing Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) missions in complement to ground SST networks shall be studied in Europe.

(to be developed)

-Study and assess several technical solutions for the development of a future European capability of SBSS
-Explore the use of small satellite solutions to reduce CAPEX and OPEX
-To develop in the mid-term the European capacity to operate independently SBSS
-To reduce the dependence on critical SBSS technologies and capabilities from outside Europe

EUSST system architecture engineering & evolutions: the analysis of the EU SST system architecture needs to continuously progress to evaluate how the system has to evolve at medium and long term, not only at network level (type, performance, number, geographical localisation… of assets) but also at data processing and at services level.

(to be developed)

-Foster European cooperation in the SST domain and improve the EUSST performance towards larger autonomy.
-Highlight and propose solutions to fill the gaps in the current EUSST architecture.
-Pave the way on which the EUSST system has to evolve towards a higher level of performance (e.g. accuracy; number / size of catalogued objects…), quality of service (e.g. timeliness of information…) and autonomy.
-Demonstrate the complementarity, coherence and added-value of each element of EUSST system towards a more autonomous, interoperable SST system.

The topic “SST Networking, Security & Data sharing” aims to support the upgrade, development and security issues of EUSST infrastructure based on the European network of assets (sensors, operation centres, front desk …)

(to be developed)

-SST networking of sensors & operation centres (EU SST network Command & Control)
-Research on EUSST network hardening against external threats

Due to the increased number of objects (both active and debris) to be handled, as well as the evolution and inclusion of services in the future, R&I activities are necessary in the sensor domain, both for radiofrequency (e.g. passive ranging, radars, etc.) and optical sensors (e.g. telescopes, innovative wide field optical sensors, lasers). New promising technologies like sensors based on the use of infrared will also be considered.

(to be developed)

-Supporting the upgrade and development of on-ground assets, in particular radars and telescopes as well as data processing
-SST radiofrequency & optical sensors (radars, telescopes…) technological research & innovation
-SST data processing research & innovation (e.g. Artificial Intelligence…)

The study has the following specific objectives:1. to provide an objective qualitative and quantitative assessment of the implementation of the Union’s current 2 GHz MSS framework, to give an overview of the 2 GHz MSS spectrum usage and services offered. The analysis should pay special attention to any divergences that may have arisen in implementation at national level;2. to outline current state of play as well as developments and trends in the broader satellite connectivity market globally (e.g. new entrants, services, orbits, mergers), the competitive landscape, the drivers at EU level and globally and the role of the EU players;3. to outline possible usage scenarios for the 2 GHz spectrum after 2027, in line with relevant EU policies and programmes, including the Digital Decade targets and upcoming Secure Connectivity programme.

Scope:

-Assess implementation of EU’s 2 GHz MSS framework, focusing on national-level divergences.
-Analyze global satellite connectivity market, including new entrants, services, orbits, mergers, and competitive landscape.
-Identify drivers at EU and global levels and the role of EU players.
-Outline potential usage scenarios for 2 GHz spectrum post-2027, aligned with EU policies and programs (Digital Decade targets, Secure Connectivity Programme).

Topics:

-Take stock of the implementation of the regulatory framework and state of play of the use of the 2 GHz frequency band for MSS in the EU
-Overview of the larger satellite connectivity market
-Examination of the link between the satellite space license and the national spectrum usage rights and general authorisations
-Outlook on the use cases for the 2 GHz frequency band

Building on the three existing NCP networks of Cluster 4 ‘Digital, Industry and Space’, proposals should facilitate trans-national co-operation amongst National Contact Points (NCPs), encouraging cross-border activities, sharing good practices and raising the general standard of support to programme applicants. Given the importance of human-centric approaches in this cluster, the proposal should attract new types of player to the cluster, for instance social innovation players, makers and youth associations. Appropriate expertise from social sciences and humanities (SSH) should be included.

Scope:

-Enhanced and professional NCP services in Europe’s respective thematic areas would support access to Horizon Europe calls, lower entry barriers for newcomers, and improve the overall quality of proposals
-Facilitation of entry by new players in projects within thematic areas
-Foster matchmaking activities to link up potential participants from widening countries with emerging consortia in this thematic area
-Increase cooperation of NCPs with the Enterprise Europe Network

Topics:

-Develop specialised services covering different thematic areas of the cluster, drawing on the expertise of the predecessor networks
-Improved cohesion of the services in the three thematic areas of Digital, Industry and Space, with a single entry point and common visual identity
-Share good practices across thematic areas, and enhance opportunities for collaboration across the cluster

Proposals should identify, design and create applications leveraging the items for the first generation of Galileo. Applications should address the governmentally authorised user communities and scenarios for which the technical, operational and security related features requirements of PRS Service constitute barriers to entry.

-Critical infrastructure management and security
-Law enforcement

-Develop the use cases for authorised civilian users based on the added value of PRS service
-Develop the PRS applications targeting civilian users by leveraging PRS technology
-Build on top of previous exploratory activities and lessons learnt on the development of PRS items by stimulating the corresponding downstream PRS uptake
-Foster an EU-level cooperation of industrial entities for the development of authorised PRS applications

In line with the European Green Deal priorities, in particular with the EU biodiversity strategy 2030 and the 2030 Climate Pact, successful proposals will develop knowledge and tools to understand the role of transformative change for biodiversity policy making, address the indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, and initiate, accelerate and upscale biodiversity-relevant transformative changes in our society

– Operational knowledge and understanding of transformative change
– Improved and innovative governance tools and policy mixes that can effectively initiate, accelerate and upscale such biodiversity-relevant transformative changes in our society
– Help understanding the impacts of and the opportunities offered by digital transformation, use of data and sensors, emerging technologies such as AI and robotics and social innovation on biodiversity
– Proposals should look at key indirect drivers of biodiversity loss
– Proposals should generate knowledge on how to tackle biodiversity loss linked to technological and social innovation, which includes digitalisation
– Proposals should produce case studies on what transformative change means in practice and a collection of good and failed examples of developing and implementing policy tools, best practices and instruments, and on impacts of digitalisation
– Proposals should develop methodologies to assess the impacts of their proposed solutions on policy and its decision making
– This topic should involve contributions from the social sciences and humanities disciplines, as well as social innovation
– The proposals should build their analysis upon the synergies of multiple Sustainable Development Goals
– Proposals should include specific tasks and allocate sufficient resources to develop joint deliverables

– Foresight on society well-being based on realistic assumptions on careful use of natural capital and analysis of the consequences in terms of economic growth

– Evaluation of feasibility and limits of decoupling economic activities from natural capital use

– Knowledge and understanding of the transformative changes needed to address the indirect drivers of biodiversity loss

– Operational knowledge available to, and used by policy-makers, on indirect drivers of biodiversity loss that are underpinned by societal values and behaviours, and on the transformative changes that are necessary to tackle these indirect drivers
– Improved and new systemic, sustainable policy mixes and governance approaches

– Methods and tools promoting win-win solutions for biodiversity and socio-economic objectives

– Approaches to facilitate the application of such methods and tools are identified and used, while factoring in societal and political processes

– A better understanding of the impacts on, risks and opportunities for biodiversity of digital transformation

– Identification and assessment of how system-level change affecting biodiversity through social innovation happens

– Testing active intervention by R&I policy and sector policies