The General Assembly of the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership on 19 October approved four Intervention Areas that will guide the partnership’s co-funded calls and activities in 2024. These areas point to needs for Research & Innovation activities and investments that support the necessary transformation into a green and digital ocean economy.
The four Intervention areas in 2024 are: Digital Twins of the Ocean, Blue Economy Sectors, Managing Sea Uses, and Blue Bioresources.
The Partnership’s Intervention Areas are the link between the high-level Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and the practical implementation through R&I calls and other activities. They are thematic priorities and actionable routes for approaching the range of challenges, tensions, and opportunities that the Blue Economy is facing. Intervention Areas build on the SRIA research objectives and on countries’ priorities, and the Intervention Areas in 2024 are slightly revised versions of the areas in 2023.
This Intervention Area proposes a multidisciplinary, long-lasting research and innovation activity that focuses on the development of twin technology for spatially limited areas at sea-basin level. The activity aims to improve our understanding of the relations among essential systems at sea-basin level and ultimately support the development of AI based simulation and prediction capabilities for European oceans.
The Intervention Area covers all sectors of the blue economy, focusing on the prerequisites for a green and digital transition of these sectors and on the conditions for co-existence and multi-use of activities and infrastructures at sea. The main aim of the Intervention Area is to support the optimal use of resources in European oceans and seas in terms of space and material flows while ensuring the conditions for sustainability and reducing environmental pressures.
The Intervention Area addresses the need for innovative tools and approaches to the sustainable planning and management of sea-uses, interlinking maritime spatial planning (MSP), the marine strategy framework directive (MSFD), common fishery policy (CFP), and the marine protected areas (MPAs) with a focus on the regional dimension.
The Intervention Area addresses research and innovation needs to support a just transition to the sustainable production and utilization of blue bioresources, with emphasis on production and processes that minimise the environmental impacts while meeting the demand for healthy and affordable blue food, feed, and other biobased products.