Additional activities for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP)

The opportunity titled "HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01: Additional activities for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP)" is part of the Horizon Europe program. This call for proposals represents a continuation action and is set to open on January 14, 2026, with a deadline for applications on April 15, 2026. The total funding available amounts to €38 million, allocated as €22 million in 2026 and €16 million in 2027.

Eligible applicants for this opportunity are strictly limited to the existing consortium coordinators from previous funding rounds (HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1). Additional partners may be included to enhance the scope of the proposed activities. The funding is provided as a grant through a budget-based structure, with a co-funding requirement of 30% from other sources, meaning participants must secure 70% of their project costs independently.

The call is intended for projects in advanced stages, focusing on continuation and scaling of existing initiatives rather than new developments. The activities will primarily target sectors related to ocean health, sustainable fishing, blue biotechnology, climate adaptation, and the circular economy.

The application process is a single-stage submission, which requires a detailed proposal demonstrating how new activities align with the aims of the SBEP and enhance ongoing efforts in promoting a climate-neutral, sustainable blue economy. The consortium, that successfully applies, can also provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, with amounts potentially reaching up to €10 million per recipient.

Successful evaluation and grant agreement amendment processes will be crucial for beneficiaries, which involve a two-stage assessment conducted by an evaluation committee with representatives from EU institutions. The collaboration and alignment with EU policies, including the European Green Deal and missions related to ocean restoration, are emphasized throughout the project scope.

This opportunity reflects a collaborative framework aimed at fostering sustainable ocean economies through integrated research and innovation involving diverse stakeholders, including governmental bodies, industry, research institutions, and civil society organizations.

The opportunity is HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01, titled "Additional activities for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP)". It is a call for proposals under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically Call 03, which is a single-stage call for 2026 (HORIZON-CL6-2026-03). The type of action is HORIZON-COFUND, which falls under the HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions. The type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]. The deadline model is single-stage. The planned opening date is 14 January 2026, and the deadline date is 15 April 2026 at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcome of this topic is the continuation of the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), specifically the EU contribution in Work Programme 2026. This is the third instalment of the partnership and is expected to contribute to the outcomes specified in topics HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1.

The scope of this action is to continue providing support to the European Partnership for a climate-neutral, sustainable, and productive Blue Economy (SBEP), which was identified in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2021-2024. It was first implemented under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02: European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy. The funding is specifically for additional activities, which may be undertaken by additional partners, in accordance with Article 24(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.

Given that this action is a continuation of an existing topic and involves amending an existing grant agreement, the proposal should primarily focus on presenting additional activities, including any new partners, to be covered by the award through grant agreement revisions.

The consortium that received funding under HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1 is uniquely positioned to submit a proposal for this continuation. This consortium not only submitted the initial proposal that led to the partnership's identification in the Horizon Europe strategic planning 2021-2024 but has also implemented the partnership through co-funded calls in 2022, based on this planning. The current consortium possesses particular expertise in relation to the objectives of the Partnership, the activities to be implemented (especially FSTP calls or other calls/scope of calls clearly required/envisioned pursuant to the initial proposal/partnership), and other relevant aspects of the action. Realistically, another consortium could not continue the activities of the Partnership without significant disruption.

The application scope for this call should focus on the 2023-27 programmes, aligning with the partnership’s co-created strategic research and innovation agenda for seven years. It should aim to align, cooperate, and structure research and innovation efforts across EU and national levels, focusing on regional seas and the objectives of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and the European Ocean Pact. This is to support a just and inclusive transition to a regenerative, carbon-neutral, and circular blue economy, and to foster knowledge exchange and co-creation of actions with regulators, policymakers, and businesses. The call should also continue or expand the priority areas identified in the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda, promoting R&I alignments across national, regional, and EU levels, and fostering integration across science, industry, governance, and society.

The partnership will focus on multiple strategic areas, including ocean health, sustainable blue economy, digital twins, and citizen well-being, while aligning with EU policies such as the European Green Deal and other directives. It should recognise the diversity of citizens to be involved and the vulnerability of different groups when approaching different analyses, and develop more inclusive recommendations. The Partnership should consolidate relevant structuring activities and propose additional ones (potentially done by additional partners) aiming at promoting Blue Economy Innovations, contributing to the development of the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS), for instance by facilitating and promoting coordination of cross-border ocean and coastal observations programmes, at increasing the availability of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) data for environmental, climate and blue economy purposes, at exploiting the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies, etc.

The partnership is expected to continue organizing joint calls as part of the additional activities and therefore it should factor in ample time to run the co-funded projects.

The partnership's additional activities are expected to be designed and described in such a way that it is clear how they will increase scientific contributions, applicable in a legal/regulatory context, and how they will facilitate the use of scientific knowledge by regulators and policymakers and support the development of a sustainable blue economy. The additional activities are expected to be implemented through the multi-actor approach and ensure adequate involvement of researchers from different disciplines, advisors, local, regional and national authorities, government representatives, industry and businesses, including SMEs, knowledge institutions and citizens, civil society organisations including NGOs, and other relevant actors of the value chain, supported through Open Science practices and an inclusive governance, policy and decision-making.

While the award of a grant to continue the Partnership in accordance with this call should be based on a proposal submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02: European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy and the additional activities (which may include additional partners) to be funded by the grant should be subject to an evaluation, this evaluation should take into account the existing context and the scope of the initial evaluation as relevant, and related obligations enshrined in the grant agreement.

Taking into account that the present action is a continuation of topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1 and foresees an amendment to an existing grant agreement, the proposal should also present in a separate document the additional activities and additional partners, if any, to be covered by the award in terms of how they would be reflected in the grant agreement. The proposal should also describe the specific activities foreseen to strengthen the synergies with other related Missions and Partnerships.

Admissibility Conditions include: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

Eligible Countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Note that some non-EU/non-Associated Countries have specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Other Eligible Conditions: The proposal must be submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1. This does not prevent the inclusion of additional partners.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Evaluation and Award: The evaluation committee will include representatives of EU institutions. If successful, the next step involves grant agreement amendment preparations. If the amendment preparations result in an award decision, the coordinator of the existing consortium will be invited to submit an amendment to the grant agreement on behalf of the beneficiaries. Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Legal and financial setup: This action will amend the grant agreement concluded under topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02. The funding rate for additional activities is 30% of eligible costs.

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants. As a co-funded European Partnership, FSTP is a core activity, and therefore the EUR 60,000 threshold laid down in Article 207 of Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 does not apply. The maximum FSTP amount for any single third party is EUR 10 million, justified by the primary activity of FSTP, the expected duration of 7–10 years, and experience from predecessor partnerships.

The starting date for grants may be the submission date of the application, with applicants needing to justify the need for a retroactive starting date. Eligible costs may be considered from the starting date of the action and reflected in the amendment's entry into force date.

Additional information is described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes and the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and Evaluation: Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including the Standard application form (HE COFUND Top-up). Evaluation form templates, including the Standard evaluation form (HE COFUND), will be adapted as necessary.

Guidance documents include the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (HE MGA, HE Unit MGA, Operating Grants MGA), call-specific instructions, and information on financial support to third parties (HE).

Additional documents include: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes, EIC Work Programme 2026, ERC Work Programme 2026, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, and EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement.

The budget overview for the call includes several topics:

HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01: HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions, with a budget of EUR 16,000,000 in 2027 and EUR 22,000,000 in 2026, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 1 grant and contributions around EUR 38,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-02: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of EUR 10,800,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 2 grants and contributions of EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-03: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, with a budget of EUR 9,000,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 3 grants and contributions around EUR 3,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-04: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, with a budget of EUR 4,500,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 1 grant and contributions around EUR 4,500,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-05: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of EUR 7,000,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 1 grant and contributions around EUR 7,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-06: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, with a budget of EUR 6,000,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 1 grant and contributions around EUR 6,000,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-07: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, with a budget of EUR 5,400,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 1 grant and contributions around EUR 5,400,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-08: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of EUR 15,000,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 2 grants and contributions around EUR 7,500,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-09: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions, with a budget of EUR 7,000,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 2 grants and contributions around EUR 3,500,000.
HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-10: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of EUR 9,800,000, single-stage, opening on 2026-01-14 and closing on 2026-04-15, with an indicative number of 2 grants and contributions of EUR 4,000,000 to EUR 5,000,000.

There are partner search announcements available, and LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests.

The submission system is planned to open on the date stated on the topic header.

This opportunity is essentially a continuation grant for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) under the Horizon Europe program. It's designed to provide additional funding to the existing consortium to further their work on creating a climate-neutral, sustainable, and productive blue economy. The focus is on expanding activities, potentially including new partners, and aligning with EU objectives for ocean restoration, a circular economy, and the European Green Deal. The funding supports research, innovation, and coordination efforts to promote a sustainable and productive blue economy, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and knowledge sharing among various stakeholders.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant type is primarily a consortium. Specifically, the coordinator of the consortium funded under HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1 must submit the proposal. However, the inclusion of additional partners is explicitly allowed and encouraged to expand the scope and impact of the partnership. This suggests that the eligible applicant types include research institutions, universities, SMEs, large enterprises, NGOs, governmental bodies, and other relevant actors in the blue economy value chain, provided they are part of a consortium led by the specified coordinator.

Funding Type: The primary funding mechanism is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Programme Cofund Action (HORIZON-COFUND) and HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]. This involves co-funding, where the EU provides a portion of the funding, and other sources, typically national or regional, provide the remainder. Additionally, the beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required, although the call is specifically targeted at the existing consortium coordinator from previous funding rounds (HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1). Additional partners can be included to enhance the partnership.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is broad, encompassing EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries, as the call mentions that "A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide." Therefore, the geographic scope is EU, associated countries, and potentially other countries based on specific provisions.

Target Sector: The program targets the Sustainable Blue Economy. This includes multiple strategic areas like ocean health, sustainable blue economy, digital twins, and citizen well-being. It also encompasses areas such as climate-neutrality, circular economy, marine and maritime research, and innovation across various sectors, including science, industry, governance, and society. Specific technologies and focus areas mentioned include Artificial Intelligence, digital twins, and the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS).

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity is open to EU member states and associated countries. The text also mentions "non-EU/non-Associated Countries" that may have specific provisions for funding.

Project Stage: The project stage is primarily continuation and expansion. The call aims to fund additional activities and potentially include additional partners to build upon the existing Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP). Therefore, the project stage is beyond the initial research phase and focuses on development, implementation, and scaling up of existing initiatives.

Funding Amount: The total budget allocated for the HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01 topic is EUR 38,000,000, with EUR 16,000,000 budgeted for 2027 and EUR 22,000,000 for 2026. The indicative number of grants is 1. The funding rate for additional activities is 30% of the eligible costs. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP), with a maximum amount of EUR 10 million that may be awarded to any single third party.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage call, meaning applicants submit a full proposal at once. The call is specifically targeted, initially, at the coordinator of the existing consortium, but allows for the addition of new partners.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant to fund additional activities. They may also provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage, where a full proposal is submitted. If successful, the process moves to grant agreement amendment preparations.

Success Rates: The success rate is not explicitly mentioned, but given that the call is specifically targeted at an existing consortium, the success rate for that consortium is likely high, assuming a strong proposal.

Co-funding Requirement: Yes, co-funding is required. The funding rate is 30% of the eligible costs, implying that the remaining 70% must come from other sources.

Summary:
This Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01) aims to provide continued support and expand the scope of the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP). The call is structured as a co-funded action, with the EU providing 30% of the eligible costs, and the remainder expected from other sources. The primary applicant is expected to be the coordinator of the consortium already funded under previous calls (HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02 and HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1), but the inclusion of additional partners is encouraged. The call focuses on aligning research and innovation efforts across the EU and national levels to support a climate-neutral, sustainable, and productive blue economy. Key areas of focus include ocean health, the blue economy, digital twins, and citizen well-being, aligning with EU policies like the European Green Deal. The funding mechanism is a grant, and beneficiaries can provide further financial support to third parties (FSTP) through grants, up to EUR 10 million per third party. The application process is a single-stage submission, with the total budget for the topic being EUR 38,000,000. The call is open to EU member states, associated countries, and potentially other countries with specific funding provisions. The project stage is focused on the continuation, development, and scaling up of existing initiatives within the SBEP framework. The call emphasizes a multi-actor approach, involving researchers, industry, policymakers, and citizens in the co-creation of actions for a sustainable blue economy.