The open calls will be targeted at Communities of actors within EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Applicants must be entities established in the EU or Associated Countries and active in the Mediterranean basin. Activities must take place in the Mediterranean basin.

Eligible applicants include: regional and local authorities, NGOs, associations, research and education institutions, and companies (including SMEs) active in the eligible geographical areas.

Each organisation may submit only one proposal per call.
All applications must be submitted in English.
Applicants must comply with all EU sanctions and restrictive measures.

Number of required Beneficiaries per project: Consortia of minimum 2 legal entities, representing a Mission community.

Targeted CLA beneficiaries are typically entities focused on implementation and technology adoption: Ports and marinas (piloting zero-discharge solutions), Technology Developers and Municipalities and Regional Authorities (demonstrating novel technologies to prevent and eliminate pollution of our seas and waters) Aquaculture and Aquafeed producers (developing and testing climate-smart aquafeeds), Conservation organisations and Scientists (deploying biodiversity monitoring/restoration tools), Locally based companies and startups developing circular economy solutions, and research and education performing institutions among others.

All projects must be implemented in the Mediterranean Basin, with at least one partner from a Mediterranean country.
Detailed eligibility criteria are listed in the Annex 1 – Guide for Applicants.

Applicants are required to select a single primary Pillar for their project's focus. The entire proposal—including the project's challenge, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes—must be explicitly designed to achieve the goals of this chosen Pillar:

• Pillar #1: Protecting and Restoring Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems and Biodiversity
• Pillar #2: Prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas, and waters
• Pillar #3: Ensuring a Sustainable, Carbon-Neutral, and Circular Blue Economy

Further a list of inspired topics per Pillar is available here and applicants are expected to select a topic or propose one of their choice and commit to the targets aligned with their choice.

Community-Led Actions (CLA) will fund solutions that:

• Are at least at TRL5 (Technology Readiness Level) for scale-up and deployment;
• Demonstrate Business Readiness Level (BRL5) and Societal Readiness Level (SRL5), including citizen science components for awareness and acceptance.

We’re looking for projects that:

• 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

Selected projects will receive technical assistance, capacity-building, and access to TASC-RestoreMed’s expert network and facilities.
 Support services may include:

• Technical and scientific advisory services;
• Partnership facilitation and clustering with other Mission projects;
• Business plan development and funding guidance;
• Impact assessment support and alignment with SDGs;
• Access to relevant data, knowledge, and infrastructures;
• Coaching and mentoring sessions.

Community-led Actions will particularly benefit from business planning, impact assessment, and scaling support to ensure operational deployment.

Grants will be awarded as lump sums covering personnel and direct costs (e.g., goods and services, equipment, travel, subcontracting, and dissemination activities).
 Payments will be made in installments linked to project milestones and deliverables.

Community-Led Actions (CLA):

• Total funding available: €7 million
• Funding support: €200,000 – €1.4 million per project
• Maximum amount per Third Party: €500,000
• Minimum 5 projects funded
• Project duration: up to 24 months
• 40% pre-financing, 45% interim, 15% final payment after final report acceptance.

Applications will be evaluated by independent experts following the principles of transparency, equal treatment, and non-discrimination.

Each proposal will be assessed by at least three (3) external evaluators for the Community-Led Call.

Evaluation criteria will include:

• Excellence:
  • Quality of the objectives
  • Justification for scale-up and deployment
  • Quality of the methodology
• Impact:
  • Impact on the Mission Ocean objectives
  • Impact in the Mediterranean Sea
  • Wider Impacts
  • Quality of the dissemination, exploitation and communication plan
• Implementation:
  • Quality of the Work plan, its work packages, deliverables and milestones
  • Justification of the requested FSTP funding
  • Quality and completion of the consortium

For Community-Led Actions, evaluators will consider scalability, community engagement, and environmental and socio-economic impact.

Ranking will be based on consensus scoring. Then interviews will be conducted with the highest-scoring proposals selected from every Pillar of application. The final list of selected projects will be approved by the consortium and communicated to applicants.
Projects will sign a Sub-grant Agreement with  F6S - the TASC-RestoreMed partner handling the FSTP budget.

For more details regarding the evaluation and contracting process, refer to Annex 1 Guide for applicants.

All personal data will be processed in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Projects must adhere to the highest ethical standards and comply with EU and national legislation in all areas relevant to their proposed activities.

More details about the data protection and ethics aspects can be found in the Annex 1 – Guide for Applicants as well as in the respective Sub-grant agreement template.

The Open Calls will be launched and managed according to the TASC-RestoreMed project implementation plan.

Each call will remain open for approximately six (6) months. Evaluation and contracting will follow the internal roadmap of the project.

Opening date: November 27, 2025
 1 Info Webinar: pending
 2 Info Webinar: pending
 Helpdesk: pending
 Closing date: 27/05/2026 (17h00 CET)

Eligibility & Technical check:by mid June 2026
Application evaluation: until the end of July 2026

Online interviews and announcement of the results: by the end of September 2026
 Expected start of funded projects: from October 2026

Community-Led Actions projects may run for up to 24 months.