SBEP Call 2026

SBEP is a co-funded European Partnership developed under the Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Program whose vision is to design, guide and support a fair and inclusive transition to a regenerative, resilient and sustainable blue economy. The partnership aims to drive the transformation to a climate-neutral, sustainable and innovative blue economy in Europe by supporting research, innovation, and collaboration across marine and maritime sectors.

One of SBEP's main ambitions is to launch an annual Joint Transnational Call (JTC) co-financed by the EU, intended to fund Research and Innovation (R&I) projects in areas within the scope of the Partnership's 2024 Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.

SBEP's 2026 JTC brings together 34 ministries and national and regional organisations supporting Research and Innovation (R&I) from 28 countries, which ensure a financial commitment of around 39 million euros.

The general theme of the JTC 2026 is “Building a sustainable and innovative Blue Economy: mastering digital opportunities and fostering resilience”. Research and innovation proposals submitted under the JTC 2026 are required to address at least one of the following topics:

1. Transitioning the blue economy sectors for sustainability and strategic autonomy
2. Managing sea-uses by advancing digital and ecosystem-based approaches
3. Promoting sustainable blue bioresources through innovation in marine production and harvesting
4. Building resilience in coastal communities with infrastructure and businesses

Projects in this call must be impact-driven contributions to the transformation into a blue economy for a more resilient future and towards carbon neutrality targets, following an impact pathway approach.

The proposals are strongly recommended to consider a minimum of two EU sea and to assess the project proposal’s impact on various basins. Proposals can target European regional seas such as Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Arctic, Barents Sea, Celtic Sea, etc. however the recommended sea basins to address are: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The following are individual or co-promotion beneficiaries:

a) Non-entrepreneurial entities of the R&I system, namely:

    i. Higher education institutions, their institutes and R&D units;

    ii. State, Associated or International Laboratories with head office in Portugal;

   iii. Non-profit private institutions whose main object is R&D activity, including Collaborative Laboratories (CoLab) and Technology and Innovation Centres (CTI).

   iv. Other non-profit public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.

b) Companies of any type and under any legal form.

The information contained in this section does not exempt you from consulting Article 3 of FCT’s Regulation No. 999/2016, in its current wording, i.e., as amended and republished by Regulation No. 5/2024 and corrected by Rectification Statement No. 366/2024/2, of 23 May 2024 (see FCT Regulation in Call Documents and the applicable national and European Union legislation).

The JTC 2026 has two phases, the submission of pre-proposals (1st phase) and full proposals (2nd phase). Only the pre-proposals submitted by the transnational consortia in the 1st phase may be invited to submit full proposals in the 2nd phase.

Each Proposing Institution (PI) that is part of a transnational consortium can only apply for funding from the Participating Funding Agencies (PFA) of its country or region. See the call Text and National Annexes (under Call Documents), for information on the eligibility rules of each PFA and on the transnational eligibility rules. For a proposal to be eligible, it must comply with the national and transnational eligibility rules.

To submit their application, each Portuguese PI wishing to apply for funding from FCT should:

1. Consult the Call Documents area.
2. Consult FCT eligibility rules (see the National Annex).
3. Submit, by the transnational consortium coordinator, the proposal form on the application submission platform (see Important links) until 14h in mainland Portugal on 16/11/2026.
4. Send to FCT, within 10 working days after the deadline for submitting the application, a Statement of Commitment (SoC) completed and signed by the Portuguese Researcher in Charge (RC) identified by the PI and by a qualified representative of the PI. The SoC should be sent to the email address indicated in Contacts.

Please note:

• Failure to send the SoC to FCT on the date referred to in paragraph 4, or the unjustified delivery of the SoC after that deadline, or the delivery of an incomplete SoC, without one of the two parts – RC and PI – that make it up or without the signatures of the Portuguese RC and/or a qualified representative of the Portuguese PI, will result in the application being declared ineligible.
• If two or more Portuguese applicants from the same transnational consortium apply for funding from FCT, each must send a completed and signed SoC to FCT.
• One SoC must be sent to FCT for each application submitted by the same RC and PI.
• Portuguese partners of transnational consortia that do not apply for funding from FCT do not need to submit the SoC to FCT.
• The PI stamp or white seal is only required on manually signed SoC.

The information on this page is only a summary of the call, does not exempt the candidates from carefully reading all the call documents available on this page and on the call website (see Important links) and refers only to FCT’s participation in this call, unless expressly indicated.

Eligibility

The eligibility check of applications is carried out at both stages of the call (pre-proposal submission stage and full proposal submission stage):

• National/Regional Funding Agencies check national eligibility of applications, ensuring compliance with the formal requirements in the applicable national/regional regulations and other applicable documents (see FCT Regulation, Normas de Execução Financeira and national annexes in the Call Documents area).
• Transnational eligibility check of applications will be performed by the Call Secretariat, according to the transnational eligibility criteria presented in the Call Text in the Call Documents area.

Please note:  For a proposal to be declared eligible it must fulfil both the national and transnational criteria.

Evaluation

The call includes two evaluation phases:

• Pre-proposal evaluation stage
• Full proposal evaluation stage

Proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria described in the Call Text in the Call Documents area.

The participating national/regional funding agencies, will decide, according to the stage the call is at, which 1) pre-proposals to invite to submit a full proposal and which 2) proposals to recommend for funding.

• FCT financial commitment for the call: 1.000.000,00€
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese coordination: 250.000,00€
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese participation: 150.000,00€

Please note:

• Portuguese institutions funding must follow FCT’s Regulation No. 999/2016, in its current wording, i.e., as amended and republished by Regulation No. 5/2024 and corrected by Rectification Statement No. 366/2024/2, of 23 May 2024 (see FCT Regulation and Normas de Execução Financeira in Call Documents and the applicable national and European legislation).
• If more than one Portuguese applicant from the same transnational consortium applies for funding from FCT, the combined budget requested from FCT by the Portuguese applicants may not exceed the maximum funding limit for a consortium with Portuguese coordination (250.000,00€) or with Portuguese participation (150.000,00€). The Portuguese applicants of the same transnational consortium will have to share the funding that will be granted by FCT.
• +The dedication (FTE) in transnational projects is not considered for the 100% (FTE) dedication to national projects.
• Under the terms of number 2 of Article 7 of the Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds, payments made directly or indirectly to companies through the Proposing Institution cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the company’s participation.

• Call website
• Partner search tool
• Application submission platform
• Partnership page on FCT website
• Partnership website
• Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

Marta Norton
marta.norton@ai2portugal.pt
Tel: (+351) 213 911 565

Luísa Peixoto
luisa.peixoto@ai2portugal.pt
Tel: (+351) 213 911 532