Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership’s fourth joint transnational call

• Full proposal submission deadline: 14/06/2027.  

Eligible applicants: 

A consortium must be composed of eligible partners from at least three different countries participating in the call and requesting financial support from at least three different funding organisations (PFOs) participating in the call. The projects must involve at least two independent legal entities from two different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, both of which must be eligible for EU funding in this call at the time of the full proposal deadline (14 June 2027). Self-funded partners, including those from countries or regions not participating in this co-funded call, are allowed but do not count towards the minimum consortium size. They must provide a letter of intent/commitment with the full proposal, demonstrate willingness or evidence to self-fund their activities, and cannot act as consortium coordinator. 

Eligible applicants must be based in one of the 28 countries participating in this call: Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. 

Budget: 

This fourth joint transnational call has a total provisional budget of 38 million The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) is a Research and Innovation (R&I) Partnership under the Horizon Europe Programme. SBEP aims to deliver solutions to strengthen EU and international science-policy interfaces in marine and maritime-related domains of the EU Green Deal and Digital Europe strategies by aligning national, regional, and EU R&I priorities and bringing together science, industry, policy, and civil society.  

SBEP has released their fourth joint transnational call. This call, co-branded by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development aims to stimulate new initiatives in co-designed and co-delivered knowledge and solutions for a sustainable ocean economy.  

Objectives: 

This fourth call aims to support transnational research and innovation projects, which address one of the four priority areas of:   

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.  

Proposals are strongly encouraged to address at least two EU sea basins (the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North Sea) and to assess their potential impact, replication and scalability across different basins. Projects may focus on European regional seas, such as the Adriatic, Aegean, Arctic, Barents or Celtic Seas, provided they involve at least two distinct EU sea basins. 

Note the following deadlines:  

• Pre-proposal submission deadline: 16/11/2026 

EUR. Partners applying in a consortium cannot request more than the maximum amount stated by the PFO from which they seek funding. Please refer to Annex B of the call announcement.  

Duration: 

Awarded projects are expected to start between December 2026 to June 2028. Project duration is 36 months.  

Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership  

SBEP fourth joint transnational call 

SBEP fourth joint transnational call announcement

sbep.call-secretariat@uefiscdi.ro   

National contact points are in SBEP national contact points (Annex B)  

Technical queries regarding the submission procedure: epss.sbep@g.etag.ee