Closed

Maritime regional cooperation fostering Smart Specialisation and Innovation in the Sustainable Blue Economy (Topic 1)

EMFAF Project Grants

Basic Information

Identifier
EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-I3
Programme
Regional flagships projects supporting sustainable blue economy in EU sea basins - Smart Specialisation and Regenerative Ocean Farming and Algae Innovation
Programme Period
2021 - 2027
Status
Closed (31094503)
Opening Date
September 26, 2024
Deadline
February 18, 2025
Deadline Model
single-stage
Budget
€5,700,000
Min Grant Amount
Max Grant Amount
Expected Number of Grants
Keywords
EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-I3EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIPAir and water pollution controlAquacultureBlue BioeconomyBlue EconomyBlue biotechnologyCoastal And Maritime TourismCoastal tourismCross-Cutting Marine/Maritime AreasFisheriesFisheries and aquacultureInnovative Blue Growth Technology AreasInnovative solutions for maritime challengesIntegrated Maritime PolicyMarine LitterMarine Resource ExploitationMarine and Ocean ManagementMarine energyMarine, Coastal And Ocean PollutionMaritime ClustersMaritime Cooperation at Sea Basin levelMaritime InnovationMaritime PolicyMaritime Regional CooperationMaritime TechnologiesOceanOcean and Climate ChangeOffshore renewable energyPlastics, Marine Litter and Circular EconomyPort/HarbourSea-Basin StrategiesSeaweed / AlgaeSustainable Blue EconomySustainable Fisheries

Description

Objective:

The objective of this call topic is to animate and underpin the S3 Thematic Platform for Sustainable Blue Economy with strategic interregional partnerships that develop and implement highly innovative solutions addressing priorities in the EU sustainable blue economy (i.e. decarbonisation of the blue economy sectors, energy transition, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, circular blue economy, new forms of aquaculture, including algae, coastal resilience and marine litter prevention, sustainable food systems, and green coastal and maritime tourism). This call for proposal is complementary to strand 1 (Interregional Innovation Investments) of the I3 Instrument.

Eligibility & Conditions

Conditions

Admissibility conditions

Described in section 5 of the call document. Please see also the page limits and conditions on layout set out in the Application Form available in the Submission System.

Eligible countries

Please see section 6 of the call document.

Other eligibility conditions

Please see section 6 of the call document.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

Please see section 7 of the call document.

Evaluation and award

The evaluation and award procedure are set out in section 8 of the call document and in the online manual.

The award criteria, scoring and thresholds are set out in section 9 of the call document.

The indicative timeline for evaluation and signature of grant agreements is set out in section 4 of the call document.

Legal and financial set up of grants

Please see section 10 of the call document.

Support & Resources

For help related to this call, please contact [email protected] by 11 February 2025. Please include the call identifier EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP in the subject of your email.

Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals.

IT Helpdesk – Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.

Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.

Latest Updates

Last Changed: October 17, 2025

Launch of four new projects selected under the call EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP

Please see the 'Projects & Results' tab for information on the two projects selected under this call topic and the following CINEA article for more information on all four projects selected under the EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP call for proposals.

Last Changed: April 28, 2025

EVALUATION results

Published: 26.09.2024

Deadline: 18.02.2025

Available budget: EUR 5 700 000

In accordance with the call conditions, the evaluation was made looking at the criteria ‘Relevance’, ‘Quality’ and ‘Impact’. The threshold for per criterion was 6 points out of 10. The overall threshold (applying to the sum of the three individual scores) was set at 21 points out of 30.

The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:



EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-I3 (TOPIC 1)

EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-OCEANFARMING (TOPIC 2)

Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls)

16

10

Number of inadmissible proposals

1

0

Number of ineligible proposals

2

0

Number of above-threshold proposals

10

5

Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals (EUR)

17 026 547.26

4 906 077.61

Number of proposals retained for funding

2

2

Number of proposals in the reserve list

2

2

Funding threshold

26

26

Number of proposals with scores lower or equal to 30 and higher or equal to 26

2

2

Number of proposals with scores lower or equal to 25.5 and higher or equal to 24

3

2

Number of proposals with scores lower than 24 and higher or equal to 22

1

1

Number of proposals with scores lower than 22 and higher or equal to 21

4

0

Last Changed: February 19, 2025

Call EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP has closed on the 18th February 2025.

26 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:

  • EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-I3 (Topic 1): 16 proposals
  • EMFAF-PIA-2025-FLAGSHIP-OCEANFARMING (Topic 2): 10 proposals



Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in May 2025.

Last Changed: September 26, 2024

An Info Day on the call for proposals took place on 15 October from 14:30 - 16:45. The recording of the session is available here.



The submission session is now available for: EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-I3, EMFAF-2025-PIA-FLAGSHIP-OCEANFARMING

Maritime regional cooperation fostering Smart Specialisation and Innovation in the Sustainable Blue Economy (Topic 1) | Grantalist