Open call

DALIA's Open Call presents a unique opportunity for Associated Regions to participate in groundbreaking initiatives aimed at environmental, societal, and economic transformation. The Call aligns with DALIA's primary objectives, focusing on two key aspects: knowledge transfer and solution scalability of solutions for the Danube River catchment.

DALIA expects to fund up to 10 projects from at least 5 different regions. The total amount of financial support to third parties allocated by the coordinator is 1,000,000 EUR.

The maximum amount of financial support to each third party will be limited to 100,000 EUR.

The DALIA Rivers Revived Call aims to transfer the knowledge from DALIA pilot regions (DPs) into new pilot regions with similar conditions, by engaging local and regional authorities to select one of the DPSs regions and replicate it thus demonstrating the transferability, feasibility, and scalability of such solutions for the Danube river.

The expected outcomes of DALIA's Open Call encompass a wide array of actions, aimed at enhancing water management and adaptation measures. Through validated concepts for new monitoring approaches, early-warning systems will be strengthened, ensuring proactive responses to water-related challenges. Innovative modeling, leveraging machine learning and neural networks, will enable comprehensive analysis of fate and transport across varying temporal and spatial scales in soil, sediment, and water, fostering more informed decision-making processes. Additionally, the monitoring of sediment flow will be optimized through diverse methods, enhancing our understanding of suspended sediment dynamics and sediment transport mechanisms.

The Open Call also aims to drive the expansion of reuse cases in drought-affected areas through the adoption of novel nature-based solutions technologies, contributing to greater resilience in water management. Moreover, it seeks to promote the increased use of Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) principles for sustainable water management and climate change adaptation, fostering collaboration among researchers, water management professionals, decision-makers, and the broader public, thereby fostering a more integrated and holistic approach to managing water resources.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible beneficiaries may only be local and/or regional authorities. Any other type of third parties according to the Horizon Europe conditions like private for profit organisations, higher education organisations or NGOs are not eligible. In addition, it must be ensured that participating facilities are registered at the Funding & Tenders portal and have a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC)

Applicants may apply as one single organisation or as a team of up to 3 partner organisations from one or multiple eligible countries. In case of team submission, one organisation will act as lead organisation.

Applications will not be accepted from people or organizations who are partners in the DALIA consortium or who are formally linked in any way to partners of the consortium.

Single legal entities established in any of the following countries are eligible to participate in the DALIA Open Call:

• The Member States of the European Union (EU), including their outermost regions.
• Horizon Europe associated countries (those that have signed an agreement with the EU as identified in the HE Programme Guide) according to the updated list published by the EC.
• The country must not be part of the DALIA consortium.

Following countries are therefore eligible: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel,Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro,North Macedonia, Norway, Tunisia,Türkiye, United Kingdom, Ukraine.

About DALIA:

What is DALIA ?

The DALIA (Danube Region Water Lighthouse Innovation Action) project comprises 22 expert organisations – including universities, authorities, SMEs, and NGOs – from 8 different Danube EU and Associated countries.

The project aims to transfer the knowledge from DALIA pilot regions (DPS) into new pilot regions with similar conditions, which will be selected on similarities with first 9 DPS and demonstrate such scalability of solutions for Danube river catchment.

The goal of the project is to improve the knowledge to restore ecosystems in the Danube river basin and in doing so, to support practitioners in prioritizing and implementing innovations, increase evidence for successful approaches and strengthen the foundations for large scale restoration projects.

How can DALIA Rivers Revived Open Call help me ?

DALIA Rivers Revived provides financial support to third parties via an open call to showcase the feasibility, replicability and scale up of the demonstration activities. The call has two main goals:

• To enlarge the pool of regions, which will support implementation of the Ocean Water Mission.
• To deploy increasing numbers of small-scale pilots that demonstrate the transferability of the results.

Potential applicants, by selecting one or more replication solutions from the DPS replication list, will have the opportunity to leverage their regions with disruptive technologies and solutions, a smart knowledge management for restoration of freshwater ecosystems and transitional water ecosystems, ecosystem connectivity and ecological flow improvement of protection of communities against floods using nature-based solutions on the Danube River and/or its main tributaries, mitigation of the impact of droughts on freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.

Where does the funding come from ?

Funding is given by the DALIA consortium under a Sub-Grantee Agreement signed by the selected proposers and DALIA consortium. The funds are given by the European Commission (Horizon Europe Framework Programme), which uses DALIA as intermediary.

About the programme (Rivers Revived):

What is the deadline for the Open Call ?

Submissions to DALIA Open Call will be enabled on the 24 May 2024 and will end on the 24 July 2024 at 17h00 CEST (Brussels Time).

Only proposals submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Can I submit several projects?

Only one proposal will be accepted for funding per applicant or team members in case of team submission.

Are you sharing any information about my proposal?

Yes. A summary of the proposals and the participants’ information will be shared with the European Commission. Moreover, we will publish a list with the beneficiaries of our open call including their basic information data and funding received in our project website.

How much time will I need to dedicate to the effort?

The selected sub-projects/pilots will have a duration of 24 months. During the first 12 months (Jan 2025 - Dec 2025) selected pilots will be provided with a set of trainings and knowledge transfer that will capacitate and prepare them for the pilots’ execution in selected associated regions. This will be prepared as demonstration of replicability of DALIA pilots in associated regions. This is followed by another 12 months (Jan 2026 - Dec 2026) of selected pilots’ execution.

About the Eligibility Criteria:

Who is eligible to apply?

Under the DALIA Open call, the applicants have to be a Local and/or Regional Authority (Public Organisation). The DALIA Open Call will be open to various types of Local and/or Regional Authorities according to the Horizon Europe conditions. You can find guidelines regarding Local and Regional Government in Europe on the following document here. Applicants may apply as one single organisation or as a team of up to 3 partner organisations from one or multiple eligible countries.

Are NGOs eligible to apply?

No, NGOs do not count as local and/or regional authorities

Which Countries are eligible for the programme ?

You can find the map for eligible countries here on our DALIA KMS platform.

Eligible: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Kingdom, Ukraine + Outermost Regions (defined in Art. 349 TFEU)

Can Higher Education and Research institutions apply, or just authorities?

Higher Education and Research institutions can apply only if they have the legal status of local or/and regional authorities.

Can an application include more than one beneficiary?

Yes, an applicant can apply as a single entity or as a consortium of up to 3 partners. However, all partners must be local and regional authorities and provide proof of it.

Is it possible for a local authority to apply as a consortium together with NGOs or research institutes that support the authority?

No, the application must be submitted via local authorities. In case of a consortium (up to 3 partners), all applying beneficiaries should be local/regional authorities. But it is possible that the authorities decide to subcontract the work (e.g. to an NGO, and/or SME).

Is there any restriction regarding the size/magnitude of influence of authorities?

No, any kind of governmental authorities (also small public administrations) are eligible.

About Funding:

How much funding can I apply for ?

DALIA River Revived will provide a total of EUR 1.000.000 in financial support, with each sub-project allowed to request up to a maximum of EUR 100.000. DALIA expects to fund up to 10 sub-projects proposals from at least 5 different regions.

When describing the budget, which cost categories should be used?

The EU Horizon Europe Rules apply. For more information, please check the information given here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/agr-contr/general-mga_horizon-euratom_en.pdf

Is subcontracting allowed ?

Yes, however, If resorting to subcontracting to implement the proposed actions in the application, it should cover only a limited part of the proposed project activities and must be performed by third parties (not by the applicant). The applicants need to explain clearly why they are not able to carry out certain tasks included in the proposal and why these tasks need to be subcontracted to another entity. Subcontracting exceeding 30% of the total project budget must be duly justified in the application with regard to the objectives and outcomes of the proposed actions, the expected impact on the Associated Region, the public interest, and the sustainability of the achieved results.

How will payments be received, should the application be successful?

DALIA funding is results-driven, provided as vouchers in a lump sum way. As such, there is no need for a traditional administrative-justification system (e.g., counting hourly dedication or calculating workload), but getting the funding is associated with the full achievement of the relevant milestones and KPIs.

The requested funding will be granted in three (3) payments, along the sub-project (pilots) execution period.

• Each selected sub-project will receive the first payment (M1) corresponding to a total of 40% of the sub-projects budget, at the start of the sub-project execution period, after the official DALIA Rivers Revived kick-off.
• One interim payment of a maximum 40% of the eligible costs, will be associated with a positive assessment of the mid-term report/deliverable submitted by M6 of the execution period.
• One final payment of 20%, consisting of the remaining part of the approved eligible costs incurred by the sub-project for the implementation of the pilot, associated with a positive assessment of the final report submitted by M12 of the execution period.