Call for proposals
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund "Sustainable Blue Economy" - EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12
Objective and description
The
Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the European
Commission is launching a call for proposals titled "Sustainable Blue
Economy" EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12.
The general objective of this call for proposals is to accelerate
the implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy and the deployment
of the blue economy across Europe and in the Mediterranean as well as
to contribute to the implementation of the Joint Communication on
international ocean governance.
The funds will be allocated in four strands:
1. Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready:
This strand aims to
support demonstration projects based on innovative technologies
testing/deploying/scaling-up of new industrial or service applications
and solutions for the blue economy. Going beyond research/applied
research, applicants must explain how their proposals will help
innovative technologies and/or maritime services improve their
market-readiness and advance towards the commercial phase demonstrating
the benefit of a new product, service, process, and system to potential
clients in a real environment.
The action needs to have a sea
basin(s) focus and a specific blue growth related technology, domain or
value chain. The geographical are covered by this strand includes the
North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea
basins as well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas.
Technology
Readiness Level 6-9 is required. Priority will be given to proposals
that are based on the outcome of EU-funded research or applied research
projects and/or that are aligned with the objectives of the relevant sea
basin strategy or initiative.
2. Strand 2: Marine Litter:
This strand aims to
support the reduction, monitoring and quantification, removal and
recycling of marine litter, in line with Action 9 of the Joint
Communication on International Ocean Governance. It will build on the
results of relevant projects whilst specifically focusing on tackling
marine litter from sea-based sources.
Specifically, it aims at supporting projects that develop methodologies and technologies to:
· Reduce the amount and harmfulness of marine litter from sea-based sources;
· Monitor and quantify the contribution of sea-based sources of marine litter;
· Remove
and recycle, in an environmentally sound and resource-efficient way,
marine litter found in seas and oceans in the European sea basins/areas.
The
geographical area covered by this strand includes the North Sea, Baltic
Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea basins as well
as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals must concern one or
more of the above sea basins/areas. Activities can be extended into
neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU under specific
conditions.
3. Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
This strand aims to accelerate
the development of the blue economy in the Mediterranean through closer
cooperation between public and private maritime stakeholders such as
education and training institutes, maritime clusters and fisheries local
communities from the EU and its partner countries in the Mediterranean.
It will support skills, innovation, entrepreneurship as well as job
diversification and local communities' empowerment.
Applicants must select only one of the following specific objectives per proposal:
a) Specific Objective a: Promote
networking and collaboration between marine and/or maritime, port and
logisticsrelated education and training institutes in the Mediterranean
to develop relevant skills and promote maritime professions in
cooperation with business and public authorities;
b) Specific Objective b: Promote
networking between maritime clusters in the Mediterranean to produce
concrete results in terms of maritime innovation and maritime
technologies, business development and innovation (including boosters,
business angels and start-ups) and skills development;
c) Specific Objective c: Pilot
twinning of fisheries local coastal communities in the western
Mediterranean based on the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD)
approach to produce concrete results in areas such as diversification of
fishing activities, both within and outside commercial fisheries and
including tourism, pesca-tourism, sustainable aquaculture development
and skills development, with a particular emphasis on women and youth.
The geographic area covered by the call concerns the Mediterranean Sea basin.
4. Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED
The strand aims at
funding a project that will focus on the restoration of damaged or
degraded Mediterranean coastal and marine ecosystems in zones with a
particularly high potential to provide a wide range of marine ecosystem
services. A project that also addresses the development of (existing or
new) blue-green infrastructures will be given priority as part of the
evaluation process.
Applicants must undertake the following core activities as part of the project implementation:
· identify
and select at least one damaged or degraded coastal and marine natural
ecosystem in the Mediterranean Sea or along its coast;
· Identify and implement concrete activities to restore the selected area(s) and their capacity to provide goods and services;
· Establish
a partnership or develop an existing partnership, for example including
public authorities, NGOs, businesses, research bodies, local
communities and integrating local knowledge;
· Develop a robust method for evaluating the results of the project;
· Prepare
a detailed roadmap for a follow-up project that would be able to
continue the implementation and extend the activities piloted by this
project to significantly larger areas of restoration, as well as
building a more diverse partnership, that could also include further
forms of investment and donors.
This
strand will support projects in the Mediterranean Sea or along its
coast, which are based on a partnership between entities based in the EU
and in third countries in the Mediterranean.
Eligible applicants
Strand Specific Eligibility Criteria
1. Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready:
Applicants
must be legal entities. They can be public or private bodies.
Applicants must be active in the field of research and innovation,
and/or in the blue economy and related sectors (such as marine renewable
energies, blue biotechnology, coastal tourism, aquaculture, maritime
transport, shipbuilding and ship repair, shipping, offshore oil and gas,
fisheries or aquaculture etc.).
2. Strand 2: Marine Litter:
Applicants
must be legal entities. They can be public or private bodies.
Applicants must be active in the field of research and innovation, in
the blue economy and related sectors, environmental management or any
other field if their relevance for the project is duly justified in the
proposal.
3. Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
Applicants must be legal entities. They
can be public or private bodies. Applicants must be active in the field
of blue economy and related sectors (such as marine renewable energies,
blue biotechnology, coastal tourism, aquaculture, maritime transport,
shipbuilding and ship repair, shipping, offshore oil and gas, fisheries
or aquaculture etc.).
4. Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED
Applicants
must be legal entities. They can be public or private bodies.
Applicants must be active in the field of blue economy and related
sectors (such as marine renewable energies, blue biotechnology, coastal
tourism, aquaculture, maritime transport, shipbuilding and ship repair,
shipping, offshore oil and gas, fisheries or aquaculture etc.).
Eligibility conditions for consortia
5. Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium (partnership) of minimum 2 legal entities established in a different eligible country,
one of which must be an EU Member State. The consortium coordinator
must be established in an EU Member State. The consortium must comprise
at least one business partner in the sense of a profit-making legal
entity.
6. Strand 2: Marine Litter:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium (partnership) of minimum 2 legal entities established in a different eligible country,
one of which must be an EU Member State. One of these must act as the
consortium coordinator, while the other(s) will act as partner(s).
7. Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of minimum two legal entities from two different countries. The coordinating entity (lead partner) must be established in an EU Member State.
In addition, specific eligibility criteria apply for each of the specific objectives under this strand:
a. For specific objective a)
of this strand, proposals must include a transnational partnership of
applicants from at least 3 different eligible countries. Of these, at
least two must be from different EU Member States and at least one must
be from an eligible Mediterranean partner country.
b. For specific objective b)
of this strand, proposals must include a transnational partnership of
applicants, which must be private or public legal entities, from at
least 3 different eligible countries. Of these, at least two must be
legal entities qualifying as maritime clusters, whether from an EU
Member State or from an eligible third country.
c. For specific objective c)
of this strand, the coordinating entity (lead partner) must be a
Fisheries Local Action Group established according to Article 32(2)(b)
of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and art. 61 of Regulation (EU) No
508/2014. The proposals must include a transnational partnership of
applicants from countries adhering to the WestMED Initiative. It shall
include participants from at least one of the following EU Member States
(France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) and one eligible Mediterranean
partner Country (Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco).
8. Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of minimum two legal entities from at least two different eligible countries,
of which at least one must be based in an EU Member State and at least
one in a non-EU country, both of which shall be bordering the
Mediterranean Sea basin/area, excluding volatile regions. The
coordinating entity (lead partner) must be established in an EU Member
State.
For the specific geographical restrictions of eligible applicants of each strand you can find more information here: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/sites/easme-site/files/call_blue.pdf .
Budget and duration
The indicative total budget for this call for proposals is EUR 14.500.000 divided as such:
Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready:
The total budget for this strand is 8.000.000 EUR. Normally up to EUR 1.000.000, with an absolute maximum of EUR 1.500.000 per project. The maximum co-funding rate is 65%. EASME expects to fund approximately eight proposals.
Strand 2: Marine Litter:
The total budget for this strand is 2.000.000 EUR. Between EUR 200.000 and EUR 500.000 per project. The maximum co-funding rate is 80%. EASME expects to fund approximately six proposals.
Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
The total budget for this strand is 3.000.000 EUR. For
specific objective a): between EUR 400.000 and EUR 500.000 For specific
objective b): EUR 500.000 and EUR 700.000 For specific objective c):
between EUR 300.000 and EUR 400.000.. The maximum co-funding rate is 80%. EASME expects to fund at least one proposal per objective.
Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED:
The total budget for this strand is 1.500.000 EUR. The maximum co-funding rate is 80%. EASME expects to fund one proposal.
This budget might be increased by maximum 20%.
The duration of the projects is expected as such:
Sustainable Blue Economy
|
|
Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready
|
24 or 36 months
|
Strand 2: Marine Litter
|
12 or 24 months
|
Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
|
24 or 36 months
|
Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED
|
36 months
|
Projects are expected to start January 2019.
Deadline for proposals’ submission
All deadlines for submission of applications specified below:
Sustainable Blue Economy
|
|
Strand 1: Demonstration projects making blue technologies market and investor ready
|
28 February 2018
|
Strand 2: Marine Litter
|
8 February 2018
|
Strand 3: Blue networks in the Mediterranean:
|
28 February 2018
|
Strand 4: Restoring marine ecosystems in the MED
|
8 February 2018
|
Proposals must be submitted:
· Either by Registered Post. In this case the postmark or the date on the deposit slip will be proof of compliance with the deadline.
· Or by Courier. In this case the deposit slip of the courier office will constitute proof of compliance with the deadline.
· Or by Hand Delivery.
In this case Proof of receipt, signed and dated by the official in the
central mail department who takes delivery will constitute proof of
compliance with the deadline.
Registered Post:
European Commission
EASME
Unit A3 – EMFF
Ref:
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S2 MARINE LITTER
or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S4 RESTORING MARINE ECOSYSTEMS IN THE MED
or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S1 DEMO PROJECTS
or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S3 BLUE NETWORKS IN THE MED
Place Charles Rogier, 16
B-1049 Brussels
BELGIUM
|
Courier services or Hand delivery:
European Commission
EASME
Mail Service
Ref. EASME/EMFF/2017.1.2.1.12/[include strand reference code] :
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S2 MARINE LITTER or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S4 RESTORING MARINE ECOSYSTEMS IN THE MED
or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S1 DEMO PROJECTS
or
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12-S3 BLUE NETWORKS IN THE MED
Avenue du Bourget 1
B-1140 Brussels
|
In addition to the submission on paper, the applicant is requested to submit an electronic copy of the proposal and all its annexes on a CD-ROM or USB-stick in the same envelope as the paper version.
Further information
Please find attached the corresponding call documents.
More information can be found here:
https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/sustainable-blue-economy
Kind regards,
Flora
Flora Stavropoulou
Junior Officer
European Office of Cyprus
Rue du Luxembourg 3, 2nd floor
B-1000, Brussels
Tel/Fax: +32 (0) 2 280 22 85
E-mail: eoc.brussels2@ucy.ac.cy
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).