Deadline: 16 February 2020
Total Budget: €20 million
The Blue Economy Window Call for Proposals 2020 is now open! Known as the EMFF BlueInvest Grants, the call offers a total budget of € 20 million
This call presents funding opportunities for SMEs across the European Union. You can get up to 70% co-funding for your project with an average EU contribution between between € 700,000 and € 2.5 million.
Here’s a link to the EMFF Blue Economy Window Call.
With this call, C-Voucher, a European project financed by the European Commission, is looking for 24 end-user SMEs (called Adopters SMEs from now on) from prioritized sectors (Manufacturing, Textile, Blue Growth, Agro-Food and Health) willing to approach the transition towards the circular economy business models. Projects bringing cross-sectoral and cross-border potential will be prioritized and are highly encouraged.
The Adopter SMEs selected to be enrolled in the 3-month programme will be creating Business Cases, allowing them to structure the business model changes and disruption of their current value chains.
The C-Voucher consortium is led by FundingBox Accelerator (FBA) and is composed of 12 partners from 6 European countries (Denmark, Romania, France, Poland, Spain, and Sweden).
More information on C-Voucher’s website
4 April – 4 September 2019
The call opened the 4th of April 2019 and it is classified as a Bio-based Industries Coordination and Support action (BBI-CSA)
CSA: actions consisting primarily of accompanying measures such as standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising and communication, networking, coordination or support services, policy dialogues and mutual learning exercises and studies, including design studies for new infrastructure, and may also include complementary activities of networking and coordination between programmes in different countries.
BLUE ECONOMY TOPIC: Clusters
The specific challenge is to design the appropriate tools and system to build the capacity of SME clusters so that they can train SMEs to devise excellent projects that are scalable, investment ready and which convey these qualities to potential investors.
Identify possible systems for enabling SME clusters to set up a platform where SME entrepreneurs in the bio-based industry and investors can exchange expertise and business opportunities that could lead to successful cooperation. The scope includes the necessary steps to ‘train the trainers’ as well as practical steps SMEs can use when preparing and presenting projects with a high level of investment readiness and building the capacity of SME clusters to build links with investors.
Proposals should devise a framework that can be used to select the best projects through a competition in which investors evaluate and select winning SME proposals at regional level. If the winner’s reward is a cash prize, its value is not an eligible cost in the framework of the grant agreement.
Proposals should also set the basis for a European final of regional winners, and hence, proposers should link up with relevant and interested regional authorities.
The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) will set up an industry and market expert group from among its members to provide expertise on the implementation and follow-up of the different tasks and help organise meetings. This expert group is not to be a part of the proposal, but will be offered to the project consortium to assist as needed.
4 April – 4 September 2019
The call opened the 4th of April 2019 and it is classified as a Bio-based Industries Research & innovation actions (BBI-RIA).
RIA: are actions primarily consisting of activities aiming to establish new knowledge and/or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. For this purpose they may include basic and applied research, technology development.
BLUE ECONOMY TOPIC: Marine Litter
Microorganisms and/or enzymes can be applied to biodegrade/decompose plastic waste, one of the major threats to our ecosystem. This is a key focus area to apply the concept of the circular economy, besides changing human behaviour and production systems.
Scope: Select and apply the appropriate microorganisms and/or enzymes to address one or both of the following issues:
▪ convert waste streams containing non-biodegradable polymers;
▪ remove non-biodegradable polymers from the environment.
Proposals may include tailored microorganisms and/or enzymes for co-digestion or co-fermentation of different feedstock, provided that the developed solutions result in sufficient yields in terms of: (i) breaking down the feedstock; and/or (ii) conversion into valuable products.
Proposals should address all requirements for RIA as shown in Table 3, pp.24-25, in the Introduction of the Annual Work plan 20199. The technology readiness level (TRL) at the end of the project should be 4-5 for the bio-based value chain in question. Proposals should clearly state the starting and end TRLs of the key technology or technologies targeted in the project. Industry participation in the project would be considered as an added value
4 April – 4 September 2019
The call opened the 4th of April 2019 and it is classified as a Bio-based Industries Innovation action – Demonstration (BBI-IA-DEMO).
Innovation actions – “Demonstration” aim to validate the technical and economic viability of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution in an operational environment. They contain mainly demonstrator activities corresponding to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) levels 6 to 7.
BLUE ECONOMY TOPIC: Aquaculture
Demonstrate the efficient and sustainable cultivation, recovery and processing of microalgae and downstream production of high-value chemicals and/or materials including food and feed ingredients. The scope of this topic excludes energy carriers (such as liquid fuels or hydrogen) as the main products. Proposals should aim for large-scale continuous cultivation and recovery of microalgae, as well as separation and purification of the targeted products. Proposals should also aim at reducing inputs for microalgae cultivation such as energy, water, nutrients and CO2 (or other carbon sources in case heterotrophic microalgae are envisaged). Proposals should valorise as many as possible of the valuable compounds contained in the microalgae through a cascading approach.
Proposals should address all requirements for IA – demonstration actions as shown in Table 3, pp.24-25, in the Introduction of the Annual Work plan 2019 . The establishment of a demo-scale production facility, being it a new installation, a substantially modified existing facility, or the use of existing demo facilities is mandatory.
7 May – 4 September 2019
The objective of this call for proposals is to support the establishment and implementation of Maritime Spatial Plans in line with the objectives pursued in the framework of the MSP Directive. More specifically, this action intends to support Member States in setting up maritime spatial plans and ensuring plans are coherent and coordinated across marine regions concerned.
Deadline for submitting proposal 04/09/2019
More information here
During its last meeting which took place for the very first time in Cairo (Egypt) on 29-30 January 2019, the Joint Monitoring Committee (decision-making body of the ENI CBC Med Programme composed of the representatives of 13 participating countries) approved a list of 41 projects recommended for funding by the Projects Selection Committee.
Based on the quality of the proposals assessed, the Joint Monitoring Committee has decided to increase the budget of the call, within the 20% limit set by the EU rules, and finance more projects. Overall, the value of the 41 approved projects is €110 million, of which €100 million of EU contribution. The initial EU contribution to the call was €84,6 million.
More projects lead by organizations from Mediterranean Partner Countries
One the key outcomes of this first call is the substantial increase of projects leaded by organizations from Mediterranean Partner Countries (8 in a single call against 6 during the whole 2007-2013 period): this positive trend highlights a growing ownership of the ENI CBC Med Programme by all 13 participating countries.
Out of 282 organizations involved in the approved projects, 61% are established in Mediterranean Partner Countries.
Special attention to young people and women
Based on the 11 thematic priorities addressed by the call, the 41 approved will implement concerted actions which reflect the most relevant challenges and needs of the 13 participating countries (Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia) in the fields of business development, innovation, social inclusion and fight against poverty as well as environmental sustainability.
Consistently with the objectives of the Programme, the approved projects pay special attention to young people and women in order to foster their participation in community and economic life through actions supporting the access to the job market and the development of professional skills.
Next steps
All 92 applicants involved in the second step of the call for proposals will receive a letter of the Managing Authority containing the results of the evaluation.
Selected beneficiaries will soon start the process towards the signing of the grant contract with the Managing Authority, allowing to start the implementation of the planned activities.
First call for proposals: list of approved projects (01.02.2019)
Source: http://www.enpicbcmed.eu/communication/first-call-proposals-41-projects-approved-funding
Source image: https://www.euneighbours.eu/en/south/stay-informed/news/mediterranean-sea-basin-programme-first-call-proposals-41-projects