The proposal for additional activities for the European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) responds to the Horizon Europe (HE) call HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1. Building on the work for enhancing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA, updated version publication foreseen in spring 2024), 74 partners (+14 compared to the existing GA) from 29 (+4 compared to the existing GA) countries among Member States (MS), Associated Countries (AC) and Third Countries (TC), with the support of the EC will continue implementing the R&I programme together with comprehensive management activities to support the transformation of the blue economy, enhancing impact and building capacities as well as further structuring the ERA. In continuation with the existing Grant Agreement (GA), in its 2nd cycle, corresponding to the second instalment of the HE Work Programme, the Partnership will contribute to the Expected Outcomes of the topic HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-02 by implementing two joint co-funded calls (in cash) together with a set of additional activities demonstrating European added valued to be carried out by deploying other type of assets. These entail: alignment of national thematic annual programming, alignment of monitoring programmes and sharing of research infrastructures through an open call for transnational access. As far as regards coordination and management activities, beside enhancing some existing tasks towards an increased impact, three new key tasks are foreseen on developing: (i) the Implementation Plan, (ii) thematic/regional portfolios (i.e. clusters) of projects supported through different HE calls as well as different programmes, (iii) future additional activities, e.g. on a European Ocean Observing System Knowledge Hub or an Early career PhDs network. In terms of priority areas, the new one on 'resilient coastal communities and businesses' adds to the four existing ones.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) brings the European Green Deal to life through inclusivity, aesthetics, and sustainability, evolving from grassroots efforts to impactful implementation. Central to this is the NEB Facility, which bridges research and innovation (R&I) with roll-out efforts, focusing on local neighbourhoods. NEB4All supports the Facility by strengthening a transnational network of Horizon Europe (HE) and Policy (POL) National Contact Points (NCPs), fostering collaboration, sharing best practices, and empowering NEB NCPs to deliver exceptional support to NEB Facility stakeholders. NEB4All unites 28 NCPs from 25 countries, combining the expertise of experienced and newly appointed members. Through tailored training, mentoring, and peer learning, it enhances NCP capacities, improving stakeholder support, increasing participation in NEB calls, and elevating proposal quality. Key objectives of NEB4All include: (1) Building NCP Capacity: Providing training and tools to align HE and POL NCPs and bridge knowledge gaps. (2) Raising Awareness: Equipping NCPs to engage national stakeholders and promote the NEB Facility effectively. (3) Improving Feedback Mechanisms: Creating systems to collect stakeholder insights and deliver actionable feedback to the European Commission. (4) Supporting Stakeholders: Empowering applicants through matchmaking events and stakeholder meetings. NEB4All lowers barriers to participation for stakeholders like municipalities, companies, researchers (from technical backgrounds and social sciences, humanities and arts), and civil society, fostering connections across the NEB ecosystem. By ensuring high-quality services and gathering actionable feedback, it enhances the NEB Facility’s visibility, accessibility, and impact, driving sustainable innovation and inclusive growth across Europe.

The NCP4HE project has been designed, on one hand, to bring together and support the needs of the NCP National Coordinators and Legal & Financial NCPs communities and, on the other, to boost a closer and more efficient coordination and cooperation among the different NCP configurations through the infrastructures inherited by the Bridge2HE project, namely the HE NCP Portal and the NCP Virtual Campus, which the project will continue maintaining and developing, enlarging them in content, functionalities and userbase. A large series of activities involving training events, e-learning courses, pre-meetings, meet and exchange workshops, coffee-talks, and mentoring activities, have been planned to provide horizontal support to the whole NPC community, improve mutual learning, and create a structured space for exchange, with a particular focus on newcomers. NCP4HE will also prepare the ground for NCPs in the transition from Horizon Europe to the next Framework Programme working closely with the European Commission and their agencies to ensure a proper interaction with NCPs during that preparatory process. NCP4HE brings together a wide and comprehensive consortium of 36 NCPs host organizations from 22 MS and 9 AS countries, spanning three continents. Additionally, 11 of the 15 widening member countries are represented in the consortium. The project includes a balance mix of NCPs from countries with extensive participation in Horizon 2020 with NCPs coming from countries with low level of participation. This wide spectrum of partners is there to ensure that the project activities and outputs serve as many NCPs as possible, but also that the whole community needs are taken into account when designing and implementing the planned actions.

The overall aim of EIT-BEST is to address the challenges faced by the network of EIT National Contact Points (NCPs), enhancing their capacity to provide efficient, harmonized, and accessible support services. The project aims to make the EIT and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) more visible, accessible, and comprehensible at national, European and global levels. By leveraging the expertise of a diverse consortium of 24 partners with varying levels of relevant experience, spanning 22 countries, EIT-BEST will empower NCPs to deliver standardized and high-quality support services. The project will focus on fostering collaboration with KICs, exchanging best practices, and creating synergies with other EU programs, ensuring the effective dissemination of EIT opportunities and resources. EIT-BEST will implement tailored actions, including targeted training sessions, toolkits for newcomers, and workshops, complemented by events aimed at capacity building and enhancing outreach. These measures will ensure the widespread accessibility and impact of EIT services, strengthening the network of NCPs and amplifying the visibility of the EIT Community.

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) aims to design, steer and support a just and inclusive transition to a regenerative, resilient and sustainable blue economy, boosting the transformation needed towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive EU by 2030. The SBEP will 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 through aligning national, regional and EU R&I priorities bringing together science, industry, policy and society. It will also contribute to accelerate the post-pandemic recovery and resilience. In line with the EC new approach for a sustainable blue economy in the EU, the SBEP rolls-out impact pathways to: catalyse the transformation of ocean economy value chains; deliver ocean knowledge and impact-driven R&I solutions; cooperate to respond to international, EU and national regulations, recommendations and policy strategies; contribute to the social and digital transition by developing innovative governance frameworks that benefit coastal communities, including by reinforcing skills and enhance ocean observation capacity contributing to EOOS and GEOSS. Together with the EC, 59 partners from 25 countries (MS and AC) in the first phase that raised to 75 partners from 30 countries (MS, AC and TC) in the seoncd phase, will join an unprecedent effort to pool R&I investments, aligning programmes at pan-European scale. The ambition is to launch 6 co-funded calls and implement relevant additional activities such as thematic annual programming, alignemnt of monitoring programmes, sharing of research infrastructures and developing portfolios of projects, over a seven-year timeframe to support R&I joint programming on thematic priority areas of interventions stemming from a co-designed SRIA. The SBEP will also identify additional mechanisms for alignment and look for further economic support of R&I programs leveraging other funding and finance streams. In parallel, a long-term structuring ambition will support the creation of a community of practice, fostering co-creation, coordinating all relevant initiatives at sea-basins/Atlantic ocean level and further promoting the EU blue economy at global level.