Digitalisation and Innovation for Resilient Marine Ecosystems Businesses, and Communities to Strengthen the EU Blue Economy’s Competitiveness

Home Funding Calls for proposals Digitalisation and Innovation for Resilient Marine Ecosystems Businesses, and Communities to Strengthen the EU Blue Economy’s Competitiveness Digitalisation and Innovation for Resilient Marine Ecosystems Businesses, and Communities to Strengthen the EU Blue Economy’s Competitiveness SBEP Grant Cascade funding Internal navigation General information Submission & evaluation process Further information Task description General Information Opening date 15 September 2025 Deadline model multiple cut-off Deadline dates 17 November 2025 15:00 (Brussels time) 17 June 2026 15:00 (Brussels time) Open For Submission Expected duration of participation Each cofunded project is expected to last three years Total funding available 43 495 835,00 € Project acronym SBEP Full name of the EU funded project A climate neutral, sustainable and productive blue economy Partnership Grant agreement number 101086379 Topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 - European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy Submission & evaluation process Submission procedures: A two-stage procedure will apply to this Joint Transnational Call; at stage 1 the submission of pre-proposals is mandatory, and at stage 2, applicants must submit full proposals upon invitation. (Pre-)proposals must be submitted electronically using the Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS): https://proposals.etag.ee/sustainable-blue/2025. The online system may experience high traffic volumes in the last hours before the submission deadline and it is therefore highly recommended to submit the final version of the pre / full proposal well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute technical problems. Requests for extensions of the deadline due to last-minute technical problems will not be considered. Any proposals not correctly submitted at this moment will be declared ineligible. Evaluation procedures: Detailed procedures are available in the call text. A two-step evaluation procedure will apply: pre-proposal stage (Step 1) and full proposal stage (Step 2). Pre-proposal stage (Step 1) The eligible pre-proposals will be evaluated by a minimum of two independent evaluators of the IEC, and as far as possible, by three independent evaluators of the IEC who will be assigned by matching expert profiles with the need for pre-proposals evaluation, on two criteria: -Excellence (Threshold: 3/5) -Impact (Threshold: 3/5) This Step 1 aims to identify the best proposals to proceed to step 2 and to ensure a balance between requested and available funds at the national level. The ranked eligible pre-proposals will be sent to the CSC and be divided into 3 groups, according to their scores: Group A (highest evaluation scores), Group B (medium evaluation scores), and Group C (under the threshold scores). All pre-proposals in Group A will be invited to Step 2. Among the pre-proposals in Group B, proposals will be selected for step 2, considering the ranking list, the representativeness of all PFOs, and the funding ratio limits. Group C will be dismissed for their low ranking and unavailability of funding. Full proposal stage (Step 2) All eligible full proposals will be subject to a scientific evaluation by at least three independent reviewers of the IEC who will be assigned by matching expert’s profiles with the need for full proposals evaluation. One of the IEC members will be nominated as a rapporteur. The evaluation of each full proposal will be based on the following criteria: -Excellence (Threshold: 3/5) -Impact (Threshold: 3/5) -Quality and efficiency of implementation (Threshold: 3/5) During the IEC meeting, the evaluators will present the evaluation results of each proposal. The IEC will discuss full proposals and agree on the final scores for each criterion. The final ranking list will be forwarded to the CSC, which will meet to decide on the projects to be recommended for funding by PFOs. Show more Further information Scope The 2025 Joint Transnational Co-funded Call is the third under the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership. It mobilises funding from 38 organisations across 28 countries plus EU contributions, aiming to boost research and innovation (R&I) that supports digitalisation, resilience, and sustainability of marine ecosystems, businesses, and communities. The call contributes to the EU Green Deal, Digital Strategy, Ocean Pact, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science. Proposals must address one main priority area and foster cross-basin collaboration to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the EU Blue Economy. Priorities Areas The third Joint Co-funded Call encompasses all the five Partnership Intervention Areas converted for this call into five priority areas as follows: - Priority area 1: Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs) at sub-basin scale - Priority area 2: Transitioning the blue economy sectors, and the development of the coexistence and the marine multi-use infrastructures - Priority area 3: Climate-Smart Planning and managing sea-uses at the regional level - Priority area 4: Blue Bioresources; sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and new bio-based products - Priority area 5: Resilient Coastal Communities and Businesses Each of these areas contributes directly to one or more of the Ocean Decade Challenges, supporting actionable knowledge generation, policy uptake, capacity development, and inclusive innovation in the blue economy context. Geographical coverage The proposals are strongly recommended to consider a minimum of two EU sea basins which are: the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea, and to assess the project proposal’s impact and potential replication/scalability on various sea basins. Proposals can target European regional seas such as Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, the Arctic, Barents Sea, Celtic Sea, etc. but they must be from a minimum of 2 different EU Sea basins. FOR MORE INFORMATION: The call is published on the Partnership website at https://www.bluepartnership.eu/funding-opportunity/sustainable-blue-economy-partnerships-third-joint-transnational-call. Interested applicants must carefully read the relevant national regulations in Annex with the Call text. Each applicant to the call must ensure that its contribution to the overall project conforms to these regulations. Task description -