Sustainable Blue Economy partnership (SBEP)

FWO participation and -funding addresses both the FWO fundamental (FO) and Strategic Basic Research (SBO) funding channels in this call. The type and scope of the proposed research project will determine the choice of funding channel for the research performed within Flanders (i.e. more fundamental in nature or strongly focused on valorisation potential). Non-compliance with the specific requirements per funding channel might lead to non-eligibility. Note that this is only an FWO requirement: European and/or international partners within the project consortium are free to choose their type of research.

For the fundamental funding channel the respective regulations apply. For the SBO funding channel the SBO regulations should be considered. The latter concern projects with a primarily economic and/or societal finality, of which ‘valorisation’ is an essential - and mandatory - aspect.

Research proposals are submitted to the SBEP call secretariat by making use of the submission platform, by consortia of European and international researchers, according to the applicable procedures and eligibility criteria included in the call documents mentioned above. There is also the possibility of using a partner search tool, which helps researchers with identifying potential consortium partners. Examples of pre-proposal and full proposal templates are also available on the SBEP call page, next to other informative documents.

In case the consortium includes more than one partner requesting funding from FWO, a single online form should be submitted by the PI/promoter, by using its personal e-loket, containing all relevant information from the different Flemish partners.

The deadline to submit the administrative application to the FWO is the same as the deadline of the joint transnational call (pre-proposal stage). To ensure the eligibility of the proposal, it is recommended to consult the FWO administration at least one week in advance.

The FWO is able to support two projects for a 36 months duration, with an available maximum budget of 350.000 EUR (overhead included) per project/consortium. The FWO budgetary rules, which differ per funding channel, are also clarified in the ‘National Contact Points and National/Regional regulations’ document (ANNEX B; from p. 9 onwards).

The cofund partnerships under the Horizon Europe framework programme provide for co-financing by the European Commission in addition to national/regional funds. This can result in additional support at the time of the funding decision, based on the final ranking after international peer review, which can generate additional projects – also for Flanders.

Some key points and deviations from the ‘regular’ FWO participatory framework to consider:

• Participation in the framework of the European co-funded partnerships does not interfere with the ‘regular/national’ FWO project submission framework, and is consequently not taken into account with regard to the max. available number of applications that can be applied for and the ones already running. However, researchers can only participate in a maximum of two different international consortia per call, provided they concern different subjects (additionally in this SBEP context: only 1x participation as ‘consortium coordinator’ is possible).
• Diverging overhead arrangements apply for what the fundamental and SBO funding channels are concerned, which is clarified in the ‘National Contact Points and National/Regional regulations’ document (ANNEX B; from p. 9 onwards).
• SBO projects aimed at developing a spin-off are not eligible in this context. As such, no mention of this option should be made in the FWO pre-registration document.
• An SBO ‘advisory committee’ is not mandatory in this context.
• Projects have a max. duration of 36 months and should be budgeted accordingly. Automatic extensions/no-cost prolongations are not accepted in this framework. Consequently, article 28 of the FWO research project regulations and article 14 of the SBO project regulations are explicitly excluded.
• The PI, for each of the participating institutions from Flanders, must hold an admissible appointment that fully covers the duration of the research project. With regard to the ‘FO’ projects, and more specifically regarding the ‘emeritus’ regulation (artikel 10, §7): it does not apply in this context.
• Research teams applying for funding from the FWO may involve ‘stakeholders’ (e.g. city/municipal authorities, public and/or private organisations focused on the blue economy in a broad sense) as subcontractors in a research project, including for non-routine tasks. Contact the FWO for further information if needed.

Researchers are strongly advised to contact the FWO before submission regarding the eligibility criteria. This to avoid the ineligibility of a researcher individually, and the project consortium as a whole.