Articles

underwater ray of light

Survey for Nautical Companies to Understand Potential of Innovative Marine Robotics

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Blue Roses is an EU funded project, developed by a consortium of research institutions and companies (Navigo and Aninver – IMC Worldwide among them), to use state-of-the-art marine robotics to develop innovative and sustainable underwater services for marinas and leisure boats.

The aim of the project is to facilitate access to the underwater environment through the use of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and associated ICT. This ‘new dimension’ will help marinas attract and grow interest from diversified users. The robots can be used in a variety of functions, including yacht hull monitoring, remote access to underwater sites, monitoring of sea beds and many other applications.
The three scenarios considered by the project, in which we seek to identify and analyze innovative services and business models, are:
1. Remote access to naturalistic and/or cultural underwater sites (Pilot 1)
2. Robotic-based waters and seabed monitoring inside marinas (Pilot 2)
3. Robotic-based monitoring of yacht hulls for security and support to refit and dismantling

This survey is part of the research to understand the potential of innovative marine robotics services and business models. Your collaboration is highly appreciated. Your personal data will only be used for statistical purposes and none of the consortium members will store or further use this information.

Take me to the survey here

screenshot malago-how newspaper - econmia azul article

La economía azul genera 300.000 empleos en Andalucía

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Source: Málago hoy

La economía azul, es decir, la relacionada con mares y océanos; genera en Andalucía 300.000 empleos y 17.000 millones de euros, lo que supone un 10,5% del PIB de la región, sólo dos puntos menos que el turismo. Estas son los principales datos que se extraen del informe La Economía Azul en Andalucía que ha elaborado la Confederación de Empresarios de Andalucía(CEA). 

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report cover with people swimming

Report: The future of Mediterranean tourism in a (post) covid world

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Mediterranean tourism is now at a crossroad. Severely impacted by travel restrictions due to the COVID19, its future is now decided and faces a fundamental question: back to Mass Tourism or leapfrog towards Sustainability?

Download the report that has been prepared by the Eco-Union. This can also be found on a dedicated page of Eco-Union’s website.

man holding pile of cardboard boxes

The EMFF will move from EASME to CINEA per April 1, 2021

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With the implementation of the new long-term EU budget (link removed/ inactive page), some EASME managed programme are moving to the new European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).  From 1 April, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Life Programme, Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency and partly Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge ‘Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials will by managed by the new Agency.

Read the full article on the EASME website

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Lanzamiento convocatoria Proyecto Blue Crowdfunding

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En el marco del proyecto Blue Crowdfunding – “Capacity Building of BLUE Economy Stakeholders to Effectively use CROWDFUNDING”, aprobado en el marco del programa europeo Interreg MED, la Cámara de Comercio de Sevilla lanza la presente convocatoria con el objetivo de impulsar iniciativas económicas relacionadas con el sector de la economía azul en nuestra región a través del crowdfunding. La convocatoria está dirigida a Pymes, Startups, emprendedores y profesionales del sector de la economía azul.

La Cámara de Sevilla seleccionará de 3 a 6 iniciativas conforme a los criterios de selección establecidos en la convocatoria. Las propuestas seleccionadas serán tutorizadas para poner en marcha su campaña de crowdfunding a través de la plataforma de Goteo, tendrán acceso a una serie de recursos en términos de formación en crowdfunding y comunicación de campañas, tutorías y asesorías personalizadas durante toda la fase de ideación, lanzamiento y seguimiento de las campañas.

Convocatoria : https://www.goteo.org/channel/bluecrowd/faq/terms

https://camaradesevilla.com/programas/internacionalizacion/blue-crowdfunding/

blues.summer.school.poster

Blues Summer School – now accepting applications | 10 selected participants free of charge

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The Jean Monnet Module titled “The Blue Economy and Sustainability – the EU and the Mediterranean” (BLUES) supports the running of a summer school on the sustainable blue economy for 3 consecutive summers (2021, 2022 and 2023).

This June, EMUNI will run a dynamic and engaging BLUES summer school, offering a combination of distance learning, supervised research or entrepreneurial work, face-to-face interactive teaching and field trips subject to the conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The goal of the summer school, jointly organised with the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) in Italy, is to support the creation of stable and attractive career pathways and skilled talents that will be needed to support the expansion of marine and maritime sectors by improving professional skills and competences, fostering networks and partnerships, and encouraging the active contribution to positive change for the conservation and sustainable use of the Mediterranean Sea.

The application deadline is 6 April 2021 at 14.00 (CET) and is open to postgraduate students of any discipline related to the Blue Economy with a demonstrated interest in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

10 selected participants will be able to attend in person the summer school free of charge. To apply and find out more, go to: BLUES project – EMUNI

poster.blue.skills.workshop

Call for participants oinline training on blue jobs and cross-cutting skills for young professionals and graduates of the med countries

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14-15 April 2021 | Limited places available

Blue Skills required in the future are diverse: soft, technical, digital, social media, environmental, security, entrepreneurial, socio-economic, multi-disciplinary, languages, statistics, law, maritime spatial planning. This programme will be useful for students and young graduates from a wide range of academic backgrounds, and will cover topics relevant for a diversity of sectors and careers:
● Business and incubators
● Smart Specialization Strategies
● Technological innovation for sustainable blue growth
● Talent circulation and Partnership Building
● Best/ Good Practices

Target: Alumni OGS – HOMERe – young professionals and researchers; post-graduates in the field of marine sciences and maritime sectors (blue growth/ blue economy related). The places available are limited. The selection will be on a rolling basis.

Language: Simultaneous interpretation in English, French, and Arabic

Download the pdf with all information

Call for Participants: online registration form (open until 01.04.2021) – https://ufmsecretariat.org/registration-form-ufm-homere-blueskills-workshop/

poster of sea with ministerial endorsement text

Ministerial Declaration recognises the WestMED Initiative for the development of the Blue Economy in the Mediterranean

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On February 2, 2021, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) held its Second Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Blue Economy aimed at improving maritime governance and at intensifying joint efforts to foster the sustainable blue economy development in the Mediterranean.

The Conference also intended to address the growing environmental and climate-related challenges that the Mediterranean region is facing, and tackle the unprecedented socio-economic crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic has generated.

In the framework of this Conference, Ministers from the 42 UfM States have adopted a new Declaration on Blue Economy, where they recognise the WestMED initiative as a successful example of cooperation and a catalyst for the development of sustainable blue economy.

Hence, the WestMED initiative has been recognised as a key tool for the sustainable development of the blue economy in the Mediterranean, “focused on clear goals, priorities and measurable targets”.

The WestMED initiative will continue contributing to the main objective of the Declaration, which is to make more resilient and sustainable blue sectors such as tourism, fisheries and aquaculture while promoting sustainable investments in areas such as green shipping to meet the evolving needs and challenges of the blue economy sectors.

 

Second Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Blue Economy: https://ufmsecretariat.org/ufm-ministerial-conference-blue-economy/

Ministerial Declaration on Blue Economy: https://ufmsecretariat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Declaration-UfM-Blue-Economy-EN.pdf

bridge of ship with navigation equipment

The year ahead for the WestMED Initiative

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A new Technical Group on Aquaculture, a Maritime Clusters cooperation scheme, a webinar with a focus on blue skills and another WestMED Stakeholder Conference. These are some of the main activities foreseen in 2021. So, stay tuned!

During the last WestMED Steering Committee meeting, on December 16, 2020, its members outlined a roadmap of activities and initiatives to be carried out in the year to come. 2021 has just started and a number of exciting developments in the framework of the WestMED initiative are already taking shape and will be launched soon.

Two new cooperation frameworks will be initiated. They are based on the successful Technical Group on Sustainable Transport – Green Shipping with key stakeholders, that kicked-off last year. They already convened four times to discuss key developments and will continue their activities in 2021.

The new frameworks will focus on two policy areas which are pivotal for the sustainable development of the Blue Economy in the western Mediterranean. One focused on Aquaculture and one on Maritime Clusters cooperation with the aim of further strengthening ties between Northern and Southern countries within the western Mediterranean.

These initiatives directly build on the insights gained during the stakeholder webinars that the WestMED Assistance Mechanism organised in December 2020, namely the webinar on Sustainable Aquaculture and the virtual stakeholder meeting on Maritime Clusters.

Given the impact and wide range of opportunities generated by these events, a new WestMED webinar will be organised focusing on Blue Skills will be held this spring.

Moreover, another large-scale Stakeholder Conference will be hosted in 2021 – either virtual, hybrid or in-person, depending on the covid-19 developments.

More details concerning all these activities will be coming up soon, so stay tuned through our website and/or Twitter!