Pioneering Destination Earth for a Sustainable Future: Large-Scale Pilots and Demonstrators

Expected Outcome

• Actionable and widely tested research-to-action pilot solutions in addressing complex cross-sectoral problems caused and/or exacerbated by climate change in key socio-environmental and socio-economic sectors.
• Innovative use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by further development of the data lab infrastructure around Destination Earth in line with the AI continent Action Plan[1].
• Multi-country approach with real end user engagement to ensure solutions that are accessible, and effectively integrated into real policy, preparedness and response efforts.

Scope

The focus is on large-scale pilots and demonstrators to enable researchers, expert and non-expert users, including decision-makers, to experiment with and through the existing Destination Earth system and harness it to widespread cross-societal use through new innovative methods, practices, tools and services. It will also leverage on the recent AI Continent Action Plan and the further development of the data lab infrastructure by bringing together and federating data from different AI Factories, linking to the corresponding Common European Data Spaces and making this data available to AI developers and ensuring their access to large volumes of high-quality data.

The proposals should cover all following aspects:

• Planning, designing, and overseeing large-scale experimental pilots and demonstrators by using Destination Earth capabilities in critical impact sectors linked to public policy areas, tackling real-world challenges in relation to climate change adaptation and risk mitigation, and foster solutions that address clearly specified needs at European, national, regional and local scale.
• The pilots and demonstrators should improve the models and enable the coupling of models used in different sectors to combine cross-sectoral research and practice. They should consider the complex interrelationships emerging from the challenges caused and/or exacerbated by climate change, like for example climate-induced health effects or changes in the energy, agri-food or mobility sectors, and propose, test and analyse adaptation and risk mitigation measures in real-life scenarios to be able to respond effectively to these complex challenges in the future.
• The pilots should contribute to the data infrastructure around Destination Earth for new AI-enabled digital twins by using the Data Labs of the AI Factories and integrating them in the DestinE system. Involvement of SMEs and/or startups, active in AI and/or deep tech and working in close collaboration with scientific research community is strongly encouraged.
• The pilots and demonstrators should be co-designed and experimented in at least three Member States and/or Associated Countries in close collaboration between research scientists, AI developers, public sector policy experts and decision-makers.
• The solutions need to demonstrate sustainable set-ups, including through interactivity with digital twins, adapting to changing data and on-demand visualisation capabilities and answering to existing and emerging socio-environmental and socio-economic challenges and the use of AI in solving them.

The pilots and demonstrators should fully integrate place-based governance, socio-economic and identity characteristics and other context-specific data to ensure tailored, effective, and actionable responses. They should enable authorities to implement targeted, data-driven measures that enhance resilience, preparedness, and decision-making in their respective territorial contexts.

Proposals will need to adhere to the standards and best practices set by the Destination Earth initiative to enable interoperability with the Destination Earth system. To the extent possible, the Destination Earth platform should be used as to facilitate the deployment and scalability of the proposed solutions, while enhancing their accessibility and impact across multiple sectors and user communities across Europe.

To maximize impact, the work plan should include a scalability plan that drives the widespread adoption of the innovative use and solutions powered by Destination Earth, latest technologies, and scientific developments. It should be developed in close collaboration with the relevant public authorities and outline a clear, actionable pathway aiming to secure long-term commitments, including funding, governance and policy framework to ensure lasting impact beyond the projects’ duration.

The proposals should demonstrate a clear and credible pathway towards collaboration with the implementing entities of Destination Earth initiative (European Space Agency (ESA), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)), and other key initiatives active in the intended impact sectors, like Mercator Ocean International, leading the European Digital Twin Ocean initiative.

The proposals should also leverage the knowledge and solutions generated in the relevant Horizon Europe projects, in particular those selected from HORIZON-INFRA-2021-TECH-01, HORIZON-INFRA-2024-TECH-01 and HORIZON-INFRA-2025-TECH-01. Strong links with the aims, actors and projects serving the Horizon Europe missions, in particular the Climate Adaptation Mission, are encouraged. Synergies with the Common European Data Spaces[2] and in particular with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) are also encouraged.

Proposals should also aim to address the possible use of the project outcomes in existing or new service offers by the Member States, Associated Countries or the European Union, like the relevant Copernicus services.

Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5 or higher by the end of the project - see General Annex B.

[1] AI Continent Action Plan COM(2025)165 of 9 April 2025

[2] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-spaces