Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA), the Foundation Centre of New Water Technologies (CENTA) and the Campus of International Excellence of the Sea (CEIMAR) have gathered about 30 experts in Blue Economy today in Cádiz to meet the needs of the sector and evaluate the national capacity in R&D to support its development.

The event was attended by the territorial delegate of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development of the Andalusian Government in Cádiz, Daniel Sánchez, the technical coordinator of the CEIMAR Foundation, Juan Vidal, the CEO of CTA, Elías Atienza, and the general coordinator of the CENTA Foundation, Álvaro Real.

This ‘Bootcamp’ is part of the European EMPORIA4KT project that is funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme aimed at promoting the transfer of knowledge between University, Government and Industry,  to boost the development of the Blue Economy in the Atlantic regions of Spain, France, Portugal, United Kingdom and Ireland.

Representatives of the triple helix (University, Government and Industry) related to Blue Economy in Spain have participated in the ‘Bootcamp’. The Blue Economy involves the production of living resources (fisheries and aquaculture), naval sector, ports and other emerging sectors (biotechnology and renewable energies). The participants have been organised into four working groups to detect the needs of the Blue Economy industry and collect good practices in knowledge transfer.

The NOVA University of Lisbon, coordinator of the EMPORIA4KT project, has also participated in the event, as well as the project partners Frontier IP Group PLC from the United Kingdom, Strane Innovation (STRANE) of France and the Portuguese Innovation Society (SPI).

The Blue Economy represents all the economic activities related to the oceans, seas and coastal areas and includes industries such as fishing, shipbuilding, tourism and ocean energy. According to the European Commission (EC), the coastal regions are home to 214 million people and generate 43% of EU GDP.

The European Blue Economy has been growing continuously in recent decades, generating opportunities both in established sectors such as tourism and shipbuilding, as in emerging sectors such as ocean energy or blue bioeconomy. However, investments in R & D & I are needed to manage ocean and marine resources in a sustainable way. Projects like EMPORIA4KT aim to boost the development of the Blue Economy while helping to protect the ocean and its resources.