Deadline: 12-Jan-22
European Commission is calling for proposals for Black Sea Blue Economy Investment and Innovation Capacity Building Pilot.
Scope
- Proposals will bring together blue economy stakeholders in EU and eligible non-EU Black Sea countries to identify and tackle local capacity building needs to boost innovation, digitalisation and investment in the Black Sea blue economy.
- Proposals will seek to create a bridge between local stakeholders and activities developed at the level of the Black Sea CMA. In their proposals, applicants will clearly identify the local areas of the Black Sea on which the project will focus.
- The scope of the call encompasses traditional and emerging blue economy sectors with high potential for the development of the sustainable blue economy in the Black Sea. Proposals should primarily focus on the following sectors identified as priorities by the CMA Steering Group: coastal and maritime tourism, fisheries and aquaculture and maritime transport.
- However, proposals may also consider other blue economy traditional sectors, such as shipbuilding, as well as emerging ones such as blue biotechnology, marine renewable energies, etc. Proposals may also explore the potential for SMEs/start-ups in the development of ports as blue economy accelerators.
- In their proposals, applicants should describe target sectors and justify their choice, including in terms of their contribution to sustainability and decarbonisation. Only activities that make a substantive contribution to environmentally sustainable objectives and do no significant harm to any other environmental objectives will be considered in the scope of this call for proposals.
- In order to ensure the EU added value of the funded activities and to capitalise the efforts invested so far in enhancing a competitive blue economy in the Black Sea, the submitted proposals must take into due consideration the activities of those projects that already support the implementation of the CMA and that specifically focus on facilitating access to investments for Blue economy SMEs and start-ups.
Objectives
- In support of the implementation of the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea – endorsed by Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine – this call topic aims to boost innovation and digitalisation in blue economy sectors. The selected pilot project(s) will contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal objectives, the Digital Agenda and the EU Communication on Sustainable Blue Economy.
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Specific objectives are:
- Strengthening the capacity of blue economy SMEs and start-ups to identify and tap into potential public/private investors.
- Improving the visibility of investment opportunities in the Black Sea blue economy and capacity of public/private investors to identify SMEs and start-ups.
- Develop stakeholder capacity to establish/enhance concrete cooperation and networking approaches and methods to improve the business environment and strengthen value chains.
- Contributing to the development of a networked, multi-stakeholder blue investment and innovation ecosystem in the Black Sea.
Funding Information
Amount: EUR 1 000 000
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
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be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
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non-EU countries that are part of the sea basin strategies targeted in this call for proposals:
- Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey in Topic 2 “Black Sea blue economy investment and innovation capacity building pilot”
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