Cooperation on multiple topics CL6-2026-01-BIODIV (-02, -03, -06, 02-two-stage, 04-two-stage)

Unibz can contribute within the listed topic to the following activities:

- assess and enhance agricultural and microbial biodiversity (from soils to groundwater) and its ecological and economic functions

- apply advanced biotechnological approaches including genome editing in fruit crops

- test sustainable solutions such as biostimulants to improve resilience, productivity, quality, and resource-use efficiency in agricultural and environmental systems

- develop participatory and scalable strategies for nature conservation and restoration

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The Free University of Bolzano-Bozen (unibz) is located in the heart of the Alps in one of the most fascinating EU regions, at the crossroads between the German-speaking and Italian economies and cultures. Unibz promotes trilingualism in teaching and research and is endowed with exceptional facilities, thus resulting in a high level of internationalization, an ideal study and research environment and consistently achieving top ranks in national and international rankings. UNIBZ is composed of 5 faculties (Economics and Management, Engineering , Education, Design and Art, Agriculture Environmental and Food Sciences) and 8 Competence Centres with specific research focuses relevant for the territory.

Despite its recent foundation (1997) unibz in the past few years has already established itself as an important research institution, both in Italy and abroad In 2024, for the eighth time in a row, unibz was placed first among the small (less than 5,000 students) non-state universities (Censis). At international level, in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings unibz ranked 68 among the 673 Young universities (less than 50 years). Our strongest pillars were "Citations" (with a score of 83,3 among the top 300) and "International outlook" (with a score of 74,2 among the top 300).

unibz has invested in state-of-the-art laboratories (currently 40) and equipment to carry out cutting-edge research in a dynamic environment (NOI Tech park) that gathers research institutions, companies and start-up, thus enhancing fruitful collaborations as part of the mission to initiate, develop, foster and support collaborative projects with public institutions and local, national and international companies.

Over the last 4 years, UNIBZ has attracted and secured over €50 million in external funding for R&I, including several international and local projects, with 66 Erasmus+ and 29 HORIZON projects (; 37 ERDF, 17 INTERREG, 5 projects funded within the EU Partnership AGROECOLOGY, 1 in the EU Partnership FutureFoods and 1 PRIMA project. Unibz, with the financial support of the Province of Bolzano, is currently managing 13 Individual Fellowships that were awarded the Seal of Excellence by the EU Commission.

unibz is Associate Member of the Bio-based Industries Consortium, partner of the EU Agroecology Partnership and partner of the University Alliance SUNRISE. Together with other 12 partners, Unibz is also member of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) hub at the NOI Techpark, with focus on artificial intelligence and related application areas, as well as AI-based technologies (e.g., knowledge and use of Large Language Models, Internet of Things, data hubs, 3D technologies and robotics). As part of the EDIH initiative, EDIH NOI offers a range of services to support, accelerate and optimise local industry’s innovation process