European Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership launches first Joint Call

The European co-funded Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), developed under the Horizon Europe Framework Program, launched its first Joint Call (JTC) on February 13, 2023, under the topic "The way forward: a thriving sustainable blue economy for a brighter future." The Call, organized in two phases, will have the first phase for submission of applications until April 14, 2023 (2 p.m. GMT). Approved pre-proposals will be invited to submit the full application in the second phase of the call for applications, until September 13, 2023 (2 p.m. GMT).

SBEP aims to design, guide, and support a just and inclusive transition to a regenerative, resilient, and sustainable blue economy, with a view to driving the necessary transformation towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, and productive blue economy by 2030, while creating and supporting the conditions for a sustainable ocean by 2050.

One of the main objectives of this Partnership is the launch of CTCs, co-financed by the European Union, which address priority areas within the scope of SBEP's Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).

The first SBEP CTC mobilizes national and regional financial resources through the participation of ministries and funding agencies from 23 countries responsible for financing research and innovation actions in the blue economy.  The FCT, the Regional Science and Technology Fund (FRCT, Azores), and the Regional Coordination and Development Commission of the Center (CCDR-Centro) are the national organizations participating in the first edition of Call, aimed at supporting transnational research and innovation projects in 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. Ocean Digital Twin (ODT) test use cases in EU sea basins and the Atlantic Ocean

Projects should contribute to the transformation of the blue economy towards a more resilient future that enables the achievement of carbon neutrality, and should be developed at a pan-European level and in the different European sea basins—the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean— as well as establishing close cross-sectoral cooperation between science, innovation, and economic sectors.

See the Call page for more information.