At its flagship internationalisation workshop in Malta on 13/14th September 2022, the MED programme SHAREMED strategic project presented the framework guidelines and proposed actions to organize and synergize the cross-sectoral and cross-border articulation of a marine observation system of systems to assess and address environmental threats in the Mediterranean Sea, connecting marine research to society, and serving the wider interlinked contexts of security and control, monitoring and sustainability, including economic benefits.

Prof. Aldo Drago presented the document and led a dedicated roundtable discussion with expert panelists which included high profile participants from the southern Mediterranean countries.

The discussions dealt with the next steps to engage in collaborative and enduring efforts leading to the co-design and implementation of a regional system for marine observations supported by national endeavours, serving society and seeking a joint and coordinated action plan to address existing challenges and the sustainable use of marine resources in the Mediterranean within the context of the UN Ocean Decade.

SHAREMED is led by Prof. Cosimo Solidoro from the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Trieste).

For more info on the workshop and the Framework Document, you can visit the workshop webpages

On June 30 2022, more than 60 representatives from the WestMED Maritime community gathered in Salina Bay on Malta. It was an occasion to develop and discuss project ideas and learn the outcomes of the ‘WestMED in my country’ events.

Each WestMED National Hub presented the key takeaways from their ‘in-my-country’ event that had been organised in the previous eight weeks. The events covered a wide range of maritime topics; ranging from  diversification for fishers in Spain, cluster formation in Mauritania and Blue Economy opportunities for accelerators in Italy to bridging the Blue Skills gap in Malta.

The hackathons themselves consisted of targeted theme-based discussions focused on some of the  main issues that are currently at the top of the WestMED Initiative agenda: aquaculture, tourism, transport and ports, maritime clusters, blue skills and Maritime Spatial planning.

Each hackathon resulted in a number of concrete ideas with suggestions on how to take these ideas forward – also in light of current and upcoming funding opportunities

These ideas will be carefully studied for feasibility and followed-up by the respective National Hubs

You can already download the slides (pdf) used, containing both the main takeaways from the in-my-country events  as well as the main hackathon ideas.

You can also watch the recordings on the hackathon 22 page

For further information, please contact communications@westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu, or your nearest National Hub

Within the beautiful setting of the new museum Darwin Dohrn in Naples, on May 26th and 27^th 2022, the WestMED National Coordinators and the National Hubs organized the Italian ‘WestMED in my country’ event: “Blue Accelerators & Incubators: the main challenge for Blue Growth in Italy”.

With the practical support of Cluster Tecnologico Nazionale Blue Italian Growth and Federazione del Mare, the endorsement of the Department of Cohesion within the Presidency of Council of Ministers and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this was also recognized as an official EMD in my country 2022 event.

It was opened with speeches from the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi (former Dean of the University Federico II) and the Regional Counsellor for Research, Innovation and Start-ups of the Campania Region, Valeria Fascione.

Based on a structural gap in the Italian Blue Economy ecosystem, the idea proposed was implementing a national supply chain of support for innovation, new entrepreneurship and employability, based on an alliance that consists of Maritime Clusters, Accelerators & Incubators and Investors & Fund Managers (public & private).

Such a supply chain could facilitate and expedite the search for partners & financial resources by the promoters of a Blue Economy initiative, while national and regional maritime clusters could help mitigate the risks taken by investors and accelerators/ incubators. They could do so by helping to identify the most deserving and really innovative initiatives.

This two-day event gave the opportunity for Italian stakeholders to:

• become further acquainted with the WestMED Initiative activities in Italy and in the sub-basin over the last four years;
• become aware of the strategic agreement among the two national maritime clusters (proposed and supported by the WestMED National Coordinators and Italian National Hub) and the excellent results already achieved;
• network and meet, (Italian and foreign) representatives in-person from over 50 clusters, accelerators and incubators, venture capital companies, start-ups, research institutes, EU platforms, EU funds managing authorities.

More than 70 experts and professionals from the whole country joined in-person with an average of 40 participants who followed  the event online.

To complement the programme,  the visitors were treated to a guided tour of the museum by Prof Ferdinando Boero, who described the 150 years history of Stazione Anton Dohrn where he highlighted the significant contribution of the two scientists Dohrn and Darwin to marine zoology and their studies preserved in this museum, as well as drawing attention to the Gulf of Naples, as being the richest marine biodiversity site

All participants who joined in-person, received a free conference kit.

As a follow-up, the WestMED National Coordinators and Italian National  Hub are already undertaking the steps subsequent to the opportunities that emerged during this event.

For further info, contact Leonardo Mazari (National Hub Italy) : italy@westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu

Source: Interreg Mediterranean-Blue Growth

In the context of the INTERREG EURO-MED Academy, the Blue Growth Community is launching the next 16^th of May 2022, the online programme “Fostering and Managing Blue Growth Potential in the Mediterranean”.

This e-learning programme is addressed to the next Generation of Mediterranean Leaders on Inclusive and Sustainable Development both from the Northern and Southern shores. This entails a very wide audience having a direct relation to the Blue Growth sector, from young people involved in the blue economy governance to young entrepreneurs and practitioners working in business support organizations (BSOs), NGOs, research institutions, etc.

Therefore, all stakeholders coming from the public/private sectors and civil society interested on Blue Growth will have the opportunity to benefit of this free learning programme that offers a global coverage of all thematic areas of Blue Economy.

Using different training tools such as 7,5h of pre-recorded lectures, available side material for studying (documents, videos, links, etc.), assessment tools (short tests and an exercise), one live webinar and a final event (with key-note speeches and selected presentations of the participants and students), this programme will offer:

• Modules: 10 short modules structures in the following thematic:
  1. Potential of Blue Economy in the Mediterranean
  2. Marine Renewable Energy (1^st part)
  3. Marine Renewable Energy (2^nd part)
  4. Sustainable Tourism
  5. Greening the Ports
  6. Fisheries & Aquaculture
  7. Unlocking the potential of Blue Bioeconomy through biotechnologies
  8. Maritime Security & Maritime Surveillance
  9. Maritime Spatial Planning
  10. How to reconcile Blue Economy and Marine Environmental protection

• Course duration: 5 weeks (recommended)

Through a dedicated section under each Module, the participants will have the opportunity to overview innovative results and tools produced by the projects of the Blue Growth Community and beyond.

The Blue Growth Community e-learning program “Fostering and Managing Blue Growth Potential in the Mediterranean” will take place from the 16^th of May to the 11^th of July 2022.

Find more information here.

ENROL NOW!