As many as 50 applications have been submitted in the second seed money call, covering a wide range of ideas for projects that could contribute to saving the sea, connecting the region and increasing prosperity, the three main objectives of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
Good ideas for better projects
Seed money is funding provided by Interreg Baltic Sea Region to support the preparation of projects in line with the Action Plan of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). With seed money support, projects can be prepared for any funding source available in the region.
Almost all Policy Area and Horizontal Action Coordinators pre-selected the maximum possible number of draft applications: four, and submitted them to the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat in the first step. As the EUSBSR Action Plan is under a revision process a close communication between the applicants and the Policy Area and Horizontal Coordinators was needed for development of project ideas in line with the future actions.
Way ahead
In the second step, the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat (MA/JS) invited the lead applicants of the pre-selected proposals to submit a full application. All in all, 50 full applications have been submitted. They are currently being assessed by the MA/JS and the results will be presented to the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Monitoring Committee. The Monitoring Committee is expected to select seed money projects for funding on 17-18 June 2020.
In this call, the applicants request EUR 2.04 million of the European Regional Development Fund. The available funding EUR 1 million allows for approval of approximately half of the applications. The applications include also a request of EUR 44,000 from Norwegian national funding and EUR 41,140 from European Neighbourhood Instrument/Russian national funding.
