The envisaged co-funded partnership ‘A climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy’ is foreseen for inclusion in the Horizon Europe R&I framework programme 2021-27. To enrich the partnership’s co-design, stakeholders were invited to share their insights and suggestions on the first draft of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in an open consultation. As outlined in the draft report on the consultation, 212 total responses were received over the course of the consultation between 24 November and 16 December 2020. A majority of responses originated from respondents from research performing organisations followed by respondents from the private sector. The proposed thematic coverage of the partnership SRIA was endorsed by most respondents and the overall sentiment in the free-text replies was positive or neutral towards the SRIA. Thank you to all respondents!
The results of the consultation are currently weaved into the final draft of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda which is due by the beginning of February 2021. If the Sustainable Blue Economy partnership is approved for further development, an application procedure comparable to Horizon 2020 ERA-Net Cofunds is foreseen to be launched in 2022. The resulting partnership agreement will be valid for the entire Horizon Europe period and cover all cofunded joint calls and other activities of the partnership.
In 2019 the European Commission asked potential partners to further elaborate proposals for the candidate European Partnerships identified during the strategic planning of Horizon Europe. The process led to a portfolio of 49 European Partnerships. Among them is the Partnership ‘A climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy’, foreseen for inclusion in the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021-2022. The Partnership aim is to reduce fragmentation by linking existing activities and efforts to combine and align pan-European, regional and national investments and the identified socio-political priorities for R&I. This will offer a value proposition that signifies high return on public R&I investment through collaboration and prospect for sustainable economic development.