On 12-14 November, the Albanian Development Fund organised and hosted the 5th Steering Committee Meeting in Tirana and the 6th Cross-Field Visit of the BLUE_BOOST project in Vau-Dejës, Shëngjin and Vlora (Albania). Transnational delegations, consisting of project partners from 6 other ADRION regions and their respective Blue Growth experts and company representatives, had the chance to learn more about best practices and innovation challenges in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture in the country by visiting prominent local businesses and examining their work.
On the first day of the Cross-Field Visit in Vau-Dejës and Shëngjin, participants were acquainted with Mare Adriatic and Ittica San Giovanni, two SMEs that shared and presented know-how regarding the process of packaging and placement on the market of anchovies, sardines and shrimp. On the second day in Vlora, participants visited Almarine – OR and Alb-Adriatico, aquaculture farm-based companies that are cultivating and marketing saltwater fish species, represented by seabream and seabass. Delegations were able to see first-hand a modern structure of circular basins used for fish farming at a strategic point of the Vlora Bay.
In addition, partners had the chance to discuss the state -of-the-art of the project, especially the progress of more than 30 companies from the ADRION area that had been awarded with a €10.000 BLUE_BOOST Innovation Voucher each for the implementation of small-scale innovation proposals in traditional or emerging Blue Growth sectors. The implementation of awarded proposals is still ongoing and will last until February 2020.
