Programme Category
Programme Name
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
This call concerns empowering communities to implement and scale high-impact innovations that restore ecosystems, reduce pollution, and advance the Mediterranean blue transition – with active community involvement ensuring local needs and voices guide the process. Through its Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP), the TASC-RestoreMed project invites visionary stakeholders to co-develop, demonstrate, and replicate innovative solutions that restore and sustainably manage our seas and waters, in alignment with the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters.”
Detailed Call Description
All selected projects, regardless of type, must contribute to the overarching TASC-RestoreMed and Mission Ocean goals:
- Blue Doughnut Integration: Ensure the project concept balances ecological requirements (planetary boundaries) with societal needs (social foundation).
- Mobilisation and Engagement: Actively engage Communities of actors through effective support to accelerate progress towards Mission targets.
- Leveraging Investment: Position themselves to attract external and follow-up funding, leveraging FSTP grants to drive long-term investment.
The primary objective of the Community-Led Actions type is scale-up and deployment of innovative solutions that yield measurable results for ocean and water restoration. These projects are designed to demonstrate effective, on-the-ground interventions through active community engagement and local leadership. The ambition is to move solutions beyond the piloting stage (TRL 5) to become functional and replicable prototypes in an operational environment (targeting TRL 6-7 or higher).
Key objectives for CLA projects:
- Demonstrate Measurable Progress: Achieve verifiable progress toward Mission Ocean targets with clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will contribute to e.g. a 50% reduction in plastic litter or a 30% reduction in microplastics in the active area.
- Develop Commercial/Impact Viability: Develop a comprehensive impact case and business plan to ensure long-term sustainability and attract follow-up funding.
- Accelerate Adoption: Increase readiness at the local level to deploy innovative solutions at scale, actively involving communities and increasing social acceptance
CLA projects must focus on tangible outcomes and involvement of a local community: finalize the project plan with community input, fine-tune all activities, and establish the baseline for measuring the tangible outcome in collaboration with local stakeholders
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
The maximum funding per project is between €200.000 to €1.400.000.
The maximum funding per beneficiary is €500.000. The number of required beneficiaries per project is minimum 2 beneficiaries (no maximum limitation).
The expected number of projects to be funded is 5.
Thematic Categories
- Fisheries/ Aquaculture and Maritime Policy
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Businesses
- Chambers
- Educational Institutions
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Semi-governmental organisations
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
- Training Centres
Eligibility For Participation Notes
The open calls will be targeted at Communities of actors within EU Member States or Associated Countries. Eligible applicants include: regional and local authorities, NGOs, associations, research and education institutions, and companies (including SMEs) active in the eligible geographical areas.
Applicants must be entities established in the EU or Associated Countries and active in the Mediterranean basin.
Each organisation may submit only one proposal per call.
Activities must take place in the Mediterranean basin Eligible applicants must form a Consortium of minimum 2 legal entities, representing a Mission community (See Table 2, page 13 of the call document for community definition).
Beyond meeting the legal entity requirements below, the consortium must functionally include both a Technology/Knowledge/Solution Provider and a Technology/Knowledge/Solution Adopter.