Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) Launches First Call for Proposals

The first co-funded call launched from (SBEP) aims to support transnational research and innovation projects lasting up to 36 months.

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) has launched its first transnational call for proposals, unlocking funding of approximately €50 million to support projects that will help Europe’s transition to a climate neutral blue economy.

SBEP is a Horizon Europe co-funded partnership that aims to boost the transformation towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive blue economy by 2030, while creating and supporting the conditions for a healthy ocean for all by 2050.

The first co-funded call launched from (SBEP) aims to support transnational research and innovation projects lasting up to 36 months. Projects should address one of the following five priority areas:

  1. Planning and managing sea-uses at the regional level.
  2. Development of offshore marine multi-use infrastructures to support the blue economy.
  3. Climate neutral, environmentally sustainable, and resource-efficient blue food and feed.
  4. Green transition of Blue Food production.
  5. Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs) test use cases at EU sea-basins and the Atlantic Ocean.

Projects must be developed at a pan-European level and in the different European sea basins: the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and establish close cross-sectorial cooperation in the science, innovation, and economic sectors.

A total of 36 research funding organisations from 23 countries are participating in the call. This consists of 19 EU Member-States: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, as well as four Associated Countries: Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Turkey, with financial support from the European Commission.

To be eligible, research consortia must include partners from a minimum of three independent legal entities from three different countries participating in the call. Self-funded partners including partners from countries (and/or regions) not participating in the call are eligible, but these do not contribute to the minimum eligible consortium size.

SBEP has developed a Partner Search Tool to enable potential applicants to find a partner or a project to join.

Eligibility requirements, national/regional topics of interest, eligible costs and funding provisions may vary according to the respective funding organisation’s regulations. Project partners must therefore refer and adhere to their own regional/national regulations and scientific remits, as detailed in the relevant regional/national announcements.

Pre-proposals for the first co-funded call must be submitted by the 14 April 2023 (15:00 CET) deadline.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)