On 16-18 July, the Apulia Region hosted the 2nd Steering Committee meeting of the BLUE_BOOST project in Giovinazzo (BA) and organised the project’s 1st transnational Cross-Field Visit for delegations from 7 maritime territories in the Adriatic-Ionian region.
The BLUE_BOOST partners presented the state-of-the-art of the project and discussed the upcoming activities – Blue Labs, Blue Workshop Scenarios and Hackathon – aimed at identifying and addressing innovation challenges within the Blue Growth sector. Local MSMEs and start-ups operational in traditional and emerging Blue Growth sectors will be able to boost their innovation capacities and transnational cooperation with support from the Knowledge Providers, i.e. RD&I bodies and “new innovation agents” (fablabs, innovation hubs, living labs, etc.).
BLUE_BOOST transnational call for innovation vouchers will be launched at a later stage, where Blue MSMEs/start-ups, in collaboration with Knowledge Providers, will have an opportunity to apply for a voucher of up to 9.000 EUR to realise an innovation project.
The project also foresees 7 Cross-Field Visits. A first visit of this kind was held on 17 and 18 July in the Apulia Region in the field of aquaculture. Delegations from seven maritime territories of Italy, Croatia, Greece and Albania visited the Consorzio Gargano Pesca, a consortium of companies operating in sea aquaculture in Manfredonia; and Coispa, experimental laboratories for sea resources studies, in Torre a Mare. The Cross-Field Visit demonstrated both the business and research approach of developing good farming practices for sustainable aquaculture.
For more information: lombardo@cei.int
BLUE_BOOST is funded under the Interreg ADRION Programme. It aims at stimulating, coaching and funding innovation within the Blue Growth sector in the Adriatic-Ionian region. It is intended to improve the gap between the 7 ADRION regional maritime clusters and within their helixes through an open source, knowledge sharing, and community-based approach, resulting from cooperation with new innovation agents and RD&I bodies.
