International matchmaking event for Horizon Europe Cluster 6 was held
On January 14, 2026, the online matchmaking event “Joining forces for nature restoration, biodiversity and oceans: Horizon Europe Cluster 6 opportunities” was held. This event was designed to help participants build strong partnerships and form competitive consortia for the upcoming Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call topics.
Representatives of the department “Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine”, NRFU, in particular the Head of the department Igor Taranov and the Deputy Head of the department Nataliia Didenko, joined the event.
The brokerage event was organised with the aim of helping participants build strong partnerships and form competitive consortia for future competitive topics within the specified Cluster. The main theme was joining efforts to restore biodiversity for all types of ecosystems – marine, freshwater and terrestrial.
The event gathered more than 140 participants from 11 countries and had about 50 pitches.
Except for welcome speech from representatives of the organisers from 7 countries: Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Canada – the experience of Canadian partners who became an associated country to the Horizon Europe Programme was presented. The relevant Association Agreement was signed by the Government of Canada and the European Commission on July 3, 2024. This allowed Canadian researchers and organisations to participate in the Pillar II calls on the same terms as EU participants.
EC representative Lukas Varnas, REA B3 – Biodiversity, circular economy and environment, focused on the process of evaluating project proposals and how to form a successful application. Jolanta Revaitieneda, representative of the NCP of the Lithuanian Research Council on Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment of the Programme, brought to the attention of the participants information on the details of the calls selected for discussion and search for partners.
In addition, working groups (session rooms) were held with pitching presentations of the participants. Registered participants presented themselves and their organisations with an emphasis on future calls, emphasising their willingness to cooperate. The calls proposed for discussion were divided into three groups:
- Ecosystem restoration, nature-based solutions and citizen engagement
- Biodiversity decline, species, habitats and ecosystem knowledge
- Pollution, aquatic systems and bioremediation.
Participants heard excellent pitches and initiatives on citizen science, Living Labs, bioremediation solutions, IT tools, data collection, monitoring, harmonisation of approaches for agricultural and protected areas, groundwater, deep-sea ecosystems, villages and species in different types of ecosystems and much more.
In addition, certain complications arose during the event, but they did not stand in the way, but only emphasized the desire for cooperation. Specifically:
- Ukrainian researchers and innovators were able to connect and present their pitches even in wartime conditions and despite interruptions in heating and electricity supply
- time difference of more than six hours did not prevent Canadian colleagues from getting involved and actively participating in the event
- on the MS Teams platform, there were considerable difficulties with working in session halls, which were voiced by the organisers and will be taken into account in further work.
Everyone who participated in the event expressed their gratitude to the excellent team of organisers: Aimee (eye-mѣ) Beboso, Tamara Sone, Lasma Brenca, Aiga Salmina, Priit Kilgas, Laura Peri, Sussi Mikaelsson, Anni Kleino, Nataliia Didenko, Igor Taranov, EC REA representative Lucas Varnas, moderator Živileda Grabauskeda and NCP specialists: Lina Liepyteda, Deividas, Dalius Gudeika.
