The first meeting between the stakeholders of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (ITA) was organised online on May 12th, highlighting potential synergies and common intents between the parties.
A detailed presentation of ongoing projects financed by European funds, within the framework of Blue Growth and a wide range of possible synergies between stakeholders within the Blue Growth framework: this is the promising result that the BLUEAIR Project’s cross-fertilisation workshop
The event was organised in the framework of BLUEAIR project, financed by the Interreg ADRION Programme 2021-2027, which sees Area Science Park lead and involves 31 partners, representing the 8 countries of the Adriatic-Ionian area, with the aim of promoting, in the Adriatic-Ionian region, a common strategy of smart specialisation focused on Blue Growth.
The workshop was the first in the calendar of a series of stakeholders’ meetings aimed at laying the foundations for the establishment of a transnational innovation community in the context of Blue Growth.
Beside Area Science Park, in the workshop took part: the Authority of Harbour System of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, InCE — Initiative Center European, Maritime Technology Cluster FVG, OGS — National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics. 18 EU funded projects were presented covering a wide spectrum of fields: from the adherence to the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations to the monitoring of the environmental pressures of the marine areas, from the transnational innovation for SMEs to the objectives of the green and digital transition in ports.
The Central Directorate for Work, Training, Education and Family of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region concluded the event with a presentation focused on the Smart and Sustainable Specialisation Strategy (S4) of Friuli Venezia Giulia with a particular focus on Blue Growth.
The cross-fertilisation workshop was also enriched by an instant poll session, which highlighted a number of central aspects — in the opinion of the experts — on the topic of Blue Growth.
Among its findings is the identification of the most important challenges to the development of sustainable blue growth, identified in the high costs linked to the necessary technological development and the resistance to change in the practices/procedures of the sector, and the most important opportunities: in this context, all experts underlined the growing demand for clean technologies that reduce the environmental impact of existing economic activities and the possibility of expanding/expanding “blue” initiatives related to the circular economy. At macro-regional level, high importance is now devoted to the capacity to develop value chains. The meeting thus helped to provide a further set of elements of assessment and comparison for operators in the sector and guidance for BLUEAIR project activities.