The aim of this call from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment is to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector through the development of technical, scientific and organizational knowledge in aquaculture holdings.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment has published in the Official State Gazette the call for research aid in the National Aquaculture Plans, in the amount of EUR 2,000,000. The aid may be granted by public research bodies, public universities, public instruments of the autonomous public sector that carry out R & amp; D & amp; I activities and by the Technology and Technology Centres in support of technological innovation of a public and state level. These entities must set up clusters for the development of projects, which have to be of a strong innovative nature and a collective interest, with a maximum duration of 2 years. As project requirements, the projects should involve 2 or more entities belonging to different Autonomous Communities and should include, among their activities, the validation or testing in one or more companies of the product, equipment, process, technical or management system or organization to be developed. These projects will address the following issues, of particular interest to the aquaculture sector: environment, life cycle and new species, processes, management and organization systems and economic aspects of production. The evaluation of the projects will take into account a number of priority criteria, such as that they are aligned with the strategic objectives set out in the Multiannual Strategic Plan for Aquaculture and the Operational Programme of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), interest for the sector, the applicability of the projects or the autonomous interest. The aid will be financed from the budgets of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, with a contribution from the EMFF, according to the limits specified in the Community regulations. Applications for aid must be submitted within 15 days of the publication of the call extract in the Official Gazette of the State.