PREP4BLUE

PREP4BLUE Pilot Action Gathering Report

ERINN — Thu, 22 May 2025 13:28:22 +0000

As part of the PREP4BLUE project, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) hosted a two-day gathering in Barcelona for five pilot actions funded in 2024 through the project’s citizen engagement funding scheme. The pilot actions aim to engage diverse publics in restoring the ocean and waters through creative, inclusive, and participatory methods.

The gathering was designed to foster mutual learning, peer exchange, and explore pathways for future collaboration aligned with the goals of the Mission Ocean & Waters. The two-day event combined formal presentations, collective discussion, local immersion, and facilitated co-creation activities, generating both interpersonal connections and conceptual outputs.

The first day, held at Centre de la Platja, opened with team presentations facilitated by PREP4BLUE partner Ifigeneia Giannoukakou Leontsini. Each pilot shared their project scope, methods, and future aspirations, followed by a Q&A and open discussion that revealed key cross-cutting values: emotional connection to the ocean, arts-based engagement, cocreation, and the importance of equitable and inclusive processes.

The second day, hosted at the ICM building, was dedicated to facilitated co-creation, led by Aua Plaza (Colectivo Posidonia). Participants explored synergies between their approaches and envisioned a future shared initiative through interactive exercises, mapping, and group dialogue.

Over the course of two days, the PREP4BLUE Pilot Actions gathering created a space where artists, educators, curators, scientists and researchers came together not just to present their work, but to connect, reflect collectively, and dream forward. What began as a series of individual citizen engagement projects quickly unfolded into something more connected: a constellation of aligned intentions, shared values, and mutual curiosity. Across storytelling, immersive experiences, education, and participatory design, participants discovered a common commitment to making the ocean felt, not just understood.

One of the clearest takeaways was the energy for collaboration. The co-creation sessions did not only surface ideas, they built momentum.

From this space emerged the early outline of a collective initiative tentatively called “Connect the Blue”, a modular and adaptable framework that could evolve into something larger. Among the concrete steps proposed was a joint application to DigiEduHack 2025, as a first opportunity to co-create in practice and bring wider visibility to this emerging alliance. What made this gathering remarkable was the atmosphere: generous, reflective, energising. Participants did not only share: they listened, offered support, and asked honest questions.

The full event report can be accessed here.

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PREP4BLUE Final Conference

ERINN — Thu, 01 May 2025 13:19:24 +0000

The final conference for the PREP4BLUE project was held on the 29^th of April 2025. The event was attended by over 70 stakeholders from across the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ (the Mission) ecosystem. To ensure that the event was accessible to attendees from across Europe, the conference was held online.

The final conference featured five thematic sessions which showcased project outputs including tools for citizen and stakeholder engagement, approaches for knowledge management, resources for enabling the scale-up of solutions in support of Mission objectives, communication strategies and recommendations for supporting the Mission’s future.

The conference concluded with a lively discussion on how PREP4BLUE resources will support stakeholders now and during the next phase of the Mission. Key reflections from participants included the importance of knowledge transfer and how it is critical to achieve impact from Mission-funded projects and initiatives. Linked to this was the need for Mission-stakeholders to make use of existing tools and resources rather than developing new approaches from scratch. Applications such as PREP4BLUE’s WaveLinks are key to enabling this, as stakeholders will be able to search for and access solutions from across the Mission ecosystem with ease. It was noted that as the first project to be funded under the Mission and the first to end, the insights and learnings from PREP4BLUE will be invaluable for Mission actors. Project coordinator, Cecile Nys (IFREMER, France) noted that these learnings have been captured in a report co-authored by PREP4BLUE and the four other Lighthouse CSAs.

The final conference was a unique opportunity for both PREP4BLUE partners and stakeholders to come together to explore the applications of project outputs and celebrate the collective achievements of the project.

The presentations from the different thematic sessions can be accessed below, along with a recording of the event.

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Atlantic-Arctic Pilot Stakeholder Assembly

ERINN — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 09:13:01 +0000

In November 2024, the PREP4BLUE project in collaboration with BlueMissionAA organised the Atlantic and Artic Pilot Stakeholder Assembly.

Hosted by the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the event brought together project managers from innovation action projects, policymakers, researchers, and civil society organisations from across the Atlantic-Artic Lighthouse for a day of discussion, exploration and collaboration.

The aim of the event was to discuss and deliberate on relevant solutions to boost stakeholder engagement and facilitate the achievement of the Mission Restore Our Oceans and Waters’ objectives by 2030.

Check out the highlights video below!

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Joint Workshop on “Harmonizing KPIs and approaches to support development of joint Mission Ocean and Waters monitoring framework”

ERINN — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 15:14:31 +0000

At European Ocean Days 2025, the five Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs) supporting the first phase of the ‘Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters’ co-organised an interactive workshop on Monday, 3rd of March. The aim of the workshop was to to take the first steps towards harmonizing KPIs and approaches to support the development of a joint monitoring framework for the Mission.

The European Commission was represented by Jacques Delsalle; PREP4BLUE, was represented by Caecilia Managò (ERINN); BlueMissionAA, the Atlantic and Arctic Lighthouse CSA was represented by Harald Hasler-Sheetal (ICES); BlueMissionBANOS, the Baltic and North Sea Lighthouse CSA was represented by Lotta Purkamo (GTK); BlueMissionMED, the Mediterranean Lighthouse CSA was represented by Nikos Streftaris (HCMR) and EcoDaLLi, the Danube River Bassin Lighthouse CSA was represented by Lisa Waldenberger (BOKU).

Across two separate panel discussions, representatives from other Mission-funded Projects discussed, the challenges in KPI Identification, implementation and scalability and, ensuring KPI adoption and integration into Mission projects. Panellists included Alexander Ziemba (Ultfarms), Sophie Jensen (BIOPROTECT), Marton Pesel (DALIA), Lorenzo Proia (SEACURE), Uroš Novak (REMEDIES).

When asked what dimensions might be overlooked in the monitoring frameworks, it was pointed out that “considering the local dimension and building on local communities’ knowledge is crucial” – the importance of communities was a key learning from the workshop.

In order to capture diverse stakeholder perspectives from the outset, presentations were combined with interactive sessions and supported by interactive Slido polls, where participants could share their views and insights.

The presented approaches and exchange in the panel discussion, were aimed at providing the wheels to drive the second, implementation phase of the EU Mission, so these can be taken up and would not need to be reinvented.

The presentations from the workshop can be access using the link below.

Download Presentation

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Analysis for impactful Knowledge Transfer, successfully concluded in PREP4BLUE

ERINN — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:09:42 +0000

The aim of Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ is to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments. To achieve this, the European Commission highlights that “Missions put emphasis on demonstrating, scaling up and replicating existing and new solutions including social innovations.”[1]. To foster the identification and uptake of knowledge towards the ambitious objectives and targets of the Mission, the PREP4BLUE (P4B) project has adopted a tried and tested Knowledge Transfer Methodology, developed by WP4 Leader ERINN (Ireland).

The ultimate goal of the Knowledge Transfer Methodology is to enhance uptake of solutions and thus foster impact. It is comprised of 3 main steps: Collection, Analysis, Transfer. The methodology can be used by Mission-funded projects, policy makers, applied researchers and industry stakeholders to ensure the take-up and application of their Mission-relevant solutions.

Collection involves the identification of potential sources of knowledge. In P4B this identification was AI supported by SDU (Denmark). This step also involves the identification and description of Mission Relevant Knowledge from the sources, through interviews with the Knowledge Owners For the selection of both, sources and Mission Relevant Knowledge and Analysis Criteria was developed and applied. Based on this AI-supported identification and selection, Mission relevant Key Exploitable Results (KER) were identified and described.
Analysis serves to provide a better understanding the landscape, actors, timelines, priorities etc. of the sector and/or industry through Expert Panels. Based on the Analysis Criteria developed by P4B, it is determined if a KER has potential to contribute to the Mission Objectives and Targets. High potential KERs are prioritised this way, for next steps.
Transfer is about enabling application of knowledge and understanding what key information is needed to do so; bringing the knowledge to the right person so that they can pick it up and carry it forward, moving it towards impact. Pathways to Impact per high Priority KER are defined to maximise uptake within the Mission Lighthouse (LH) Initiatives context. The Analysis Criteria are again used to identify the most efficient pathway, as well as for transfer impact monitoring.

In 2024, six Analysis meetings took place, where expert panels were convened to discuss Mission-relevant KERs and prioritise them for next steps. Of the more than 100 KERs described, about 50% are currently validated by the Knowledge Owner for upload from side of PREP4BLUE, on the Mission Ecosystem Database WaveLinks. The validated KER to date, were presented in these Analysis Meetings covering all three Mission Objectives (MO) and all four Mission Lighthouse Areas in a balanced Way. The Topics were as follows:

Contamination Remediation (focus on MO2)
Restoration and Protection (focus on MO1)
Innovation in Aquaculture (focus on MO3)
Data-based Solutions A – Acquisition & Repository (focus on MO1-3)
Data-based Solutions B – Software & Systems (focus on MO1-3)
Circular, low-carbon multi-purpose use of marine and water space (focus on MO3)

Furthermore, it was discussed, whether more impact may be achieved through prevention or restoration solutions.

We warmly thank the experts and contributions from P4B partner organisations CETMAR (Spain), CNR (Italy), IFREMER (France), UCC (Ireland) and VLIZ (Belgium), very much for the very insightful and rich insights and discussions.

The next steps in the Knowledge Management process in PREP4BLUE is to build on the very valuable contributions to effectively prepare the implementation phase of the Mission (2025-2030. Therefore, in PREP4BLUE informed pathways to Impact are developed, to build the basis for transfer of KERs in the Mission context.

[1] Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on European Missions (2021): https://cor.europa.eu/en/events/Documents/COTER/ec_communication_eu_missions.pdf; see Manago, C., & Ni Cheallachain, C. (2024). PREP4BLUE D4.2: Customized Knowledge Management Method for Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12527756

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PREP4BLUE at European Ocean Days 2025!

ERINN — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:04:18 +0000

The European Ocean Days is a week-long event with a series of dynamic and interconnected sessions relevant to maritime topics. Each day features distinct sessions focused on various key ocean-related themes, allowing participants to engage deeply with sustainable blue economy, considering fisheries science outcomes, showcasing Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters actions, blue investments, and dialogues with key stakeholders, including youth.

Alongside the other Mission Lighthouse CSAs, PREP4BLUE will have an active presence, as we work to share the latest project updates and results with Mission stakeholders. Across the week, you will find us at the following events:

Monday, 3rd March

During the ‘Waves of Collaboration – Matchmaking for the Mission to Restore Ocean and Waters by 2030’ event, PREP4BLUE will host two distinct, back-to-back workshops.

1. ‘Monitoring and Indicators’ – Based on the outputs of PREP4BLUE’s Work Package 4 and leveraging the Knowledge Management expertise of project partners ERINN Innovation, this workshop will explore how we can harmonize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and approaches to support the development of a joint Mission Ocean and Waters monitoring framework.

2. ‘Supporting an Enabling Environment’ – Based on the outputs of PREP4BLUE’s Work Package 5 and the extensive research carried out by partners, this workshop will focus on how we create the enabling ecosystem required for the Mission goals from a business, regulatory and economic perspective, and how we can accelerate the private and public investments needed in future projects.

Event details

When: 14:00-17:00, 3^rd March 2025

Where: Charlemagne Conference Centre, Rue de la Loi 170, 1000 Brussels Belgium

Tuesday, 4th March

During the third annual Mission Ocean Forum, PREP4BLUE alongside the other Mission Lighthouse CSAs will deliver a series of presentations to showcase project progress and highlight the plethora of resources that have been developed by these projects to support Mission-funded projects and stakeholders with the implementation of the activities towards the Mission’s objectives.

Event details

When: 9:30-18:00, 4th March 2025

Where: Charlemagne Conference Centre, Rue de la Loi 170, 1000 Brussels Belgium

Wednesday, 5th March

Wednesday, 5th March

PREP4BLUE will co-host an interactive workshop about WaveLinks. Learn more about the innovative WaveLinks platform, an application for mapping the research and innovation landscape of the Mission Ocean, fostering collaboration between projects and reinforcing links between academia, industry and society.

The workshop will take an interactive look into the features of the platform and what it can offer to you as a member of an EU-funded project. It will also be an opportunity for you to shape the future of this dynamic platform.

Event details

When: 9:00-11:00, 5th March

Where: Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie (MIFJC) – Rue du Trône 100, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium

Registration: Here

Thursday, 6th March

An interactive workshop on ‘Transferring knowledge and innovation to decision making: initial lessons from Mission Ocean-funded projects’ This interactive workshop will be co-organised by the projects CrossGov, Prep4Blue, EcoDaLLi, BlueMissionAA, BlueMissionBANOS and A-aagora.

During the workshop, participants will:

Share experiences on the transfer of knowledge and innovation to a wide range of end-users as organized and carried out by projects.
Identify the main challenges and bottlenecks faced for transferring knowledge and innovation, as well as inspiring experiences and solutions proposed for addressing these challenges and bottlenecks.
Discuss possible recommendations that can guide future research and innovation projects in designing more effective knowledge and innovation transfer mechanisms and processes.

Event details

When: 9:00-13:00, 6th March 2025

Where: Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie (MIFJC) – Rue du Trône 100, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium

Registration for these events is managed by the EC through the Funding and Tenders Portal. You can register for European Ocean Days and associated side events using the button below.

The European Ocean Days is a week-long event with a series of dynamic and interconnected sessions relevant to maritime topics. Alongside the other Mission Lighthouse CSAs, PREP4BLUE will have an active presence, as we work to share the latest project updates and results with Mission stakeholders. Across the week, you will find us at the following events:

Monday, 3rd March

During the ‘Waves of Collaboration – Matchmaking for the Mission to Restore Ocean and Waters by 2030’ event, PREP4BLUE will host two distinct, back-to-back workshops.

Event details

When: 14:00-17:00, 3^rd March 2025

Where: Charlemagne Conference Centre, Rue de la Loi 170, 1000 Brussels Belgium

Tuesday, 4th March

Event details

When: 9:30-18:00, 4th March 2025

Where: Charlemagne Conference Centre, Rue de la Loi 170, 1000 Brussels Belgium

Wednesday, 5th March

Event details

When: 9:00-11:00, 5th March

Where: Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie (MIFJC) – Rue du Trône 100, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium

Registration: Here

Thursday, 6th March

During the workshop, participants will:

Share experiences on the transfer of knowledge and innovation to a wide range of end-users as organized and carried out by projects.
Identify the main challenges and bottlenecks faced for transferring knowledge and innovation, as well as inspiring experiences and solutions proposed for addressing these challenges and bottlenecks.
Discuss possible recommendations that can guide future research and innovation projects in designing more effective knowledge and innovation transfer mechanisms and processes.

Event details

When: 9:00-13:00, 6th March 2025

Where: Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie (MIFJC) – Rue du Trône 100, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium

Registration for these events is managed by the EC through the Funding and Tenders Portal. You can register for European Ocean Days and associated side events using the button below.

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First live Demonstration of the PREP4BLUE Knowledge Transfer Showcasing Module at the BlueMissionBANOS Arena III

ERINN — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:53:14 +0000

With many thanks to Submariner Network, Task Leaders in PREP4BLUE WP4, namely Alexander Dernild (University of Southern Denmark (SDU), René Berndt (Fraunhofer Austria (FhA) and Caecilia Managò (ERINN), had the opportunity to present the PREP4BLUE Knowledge Transfer Online Showcasing Module (KTOSM) live at the BlueMissionBANOS Arena III in Amsterdam on November 26, 2024.

The KTOSM is embedded in the Mission Ecosystem Database WaveLinks (, by SDU). The Module is aimed at facilitating and showcasing Knowledge Transfer activities in PREP4BLUE, led by ERINN, to foster uptake, application of solutions and impact towards the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ objectives and targets. A Semantic Network developed by FhA is at the core of the Module and establishes linkages across the Database.

A key feature of the KTOSM is that it matches Solutions with Stakeholders. In the demonstration workshop held in November, user feedback was collated on the current functionality and needs for potential future functions. The feedback was very positive, with stakeholders finding the module very useful, with great potential for further application.

Building on the success of this workshop, we are eager to keeping unlocking the potential and bring further improvements to the module.

Are you looking for stakeholder who could use the solutions developed by your Mission Ocean project? Then describe your solution via the online form on WaveLinks and see the results!

For any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to reach out: Alexander Dernild ([email protected]), Rene Berndt ([email protected]), Caecilia Managò ([email protected]).

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Innovative collaboration processes successfully tested in the Atlantic and Danube and Black Sea basins!

ERINN — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:39:57 +0000

PREP4BLUE partners actively participated in the testing of innovative collaboration processes through Pilot Stakeholder Assemblies.

The month of November has been particularly busy with the organisation of two major multi-stakeholder gatherings, to implement relevant stakeholder engagement methods and recommendations outlined in PREP4BLUE. They thus offered a strong foundation for impactful stakeholders’ participation in the projects of the Mission.

On 5-7 November 2024, kindly hosted by the Batumi State Maritime Academy, the Danube and Black Sea Pilot Stakeholder Assembly, took place in the beautiful coastal city of Batumi, Ajara Autonomous Republic, Georgia. Organised by the CPMR, in collaboration with the CNR and EcoDaLLi project, it gathered more than forty actors from the Danube and Black Sea.

The first day of the event fostered the exchange of good practices and key opportunities to strengthen collaboration among these actors for the preservation and restoration of marine and freshwater ecosystems in the Danube and Black Sea. In particular, Mr Jaba Putkaradze, Minister of Finance and Economy of Ajara Autonomous Republic, emphasised in a keynote speech the importance of boosting cross-border collaboration with non-EU countries and of including the Eastern part of the Black Sea basin in the Mission Ocean and Waters. Ms Andreea Strachinescu, Head of Unit, Maritime Innovation, Marine Knowledge & Investment, European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), presented an ocean of opportunities in the framework of the Mission Ocean, in particular, the Mission Calls and the EU BlueInvest platform to unlock innovation and investment opportunities in the blue economy. Representatives from the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea and Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), as well as from the projects of the Danube and Black Sea Lighthouse showcased relevant activities and potential cross-fertilisation activities, such as a Danube and Black Sea summer school. Dr. Tatiana Sitchinava, presented the key engagement of the youth through the Black Sea Young Ambassadors and highlighted the potential connection with the Danube Youth Council.

The World Café organised on Wednesday 6 November featured 4 round tables, addressing the main challenges related to nature-based solutions, innovation ecosystems, water systems and climate change and developing key recommendations, such as the promotion of open access to data for enhanced water management solutions, the creation of specialisation clusters, or the need to better link the blue economy and circular economy. The key outcomes of the round tables will be compiled in a dedicated roadmap and incorporated in the Danube Innovation Strategic Action Plan, the main outcome of the project EcoDaLLi. The event climaxed with a visit of the Kolkheti National Park, a wetland inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It offered the participants a memorable field experience, connecting the event discussions with the challenges of preserving a sensitive water ecosystem in Georgia.

The second Pilot Stakeholder Assembly organised in Bordeaux, France on 20 November, implemented an experimental approach to boost stakeholder engagement in the Atlantic and Arctic lighthouse, and thus enhance the implementation of restoration projects and marine conservation activities.

Hosted by the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, this event, co-organised by the CPMR and the CETMAR in collaboration with the project BlueMissionAA, counted on the active participation of Project Managers from the Atlantic lighthouse innovation action projects, policymakers, researchers, and civil society organisations.

Following a presentation of BlueMissionAA’s reflection on governance models and stakeholder engagement, Isabelle Perret, High-level Expert in Integrated Maritime Policy at the French General Directorate of Maritime Affairs, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, notably showcased “the sea in debate”, an unprecedented and large-scale public consultation exercise conducted this year in France, for the co-creation of the French strategy for the sea and the coastline 2024-2030, which successfully gathered more than 21 000 participants.

The CPMR presented the sea parliament model, piloted by several French regions, which particularly inspired the audience, as a relevant consultation process to be potentially replicated in other Mission lighthouses and countries.

After setting the scene, participants engaged in a role-playing game based on two scenarios inspired by case studies from the project CLIMAREST and OCEAN CITIZEN. Each scenario featured fictive characters representing various stakeholders from the quintuple helix model, aiming to identify potential solutions applicable to real-world situations. The game was developed with strong support from Synergie Littoral, a French startup specialising in mediation processes to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and conflict resolution. This collaboration enriched the game by incorporating key methods that fostered more impactful discussions.

As a back-to-back event to the Atlantic Stakeholder Platform Conference, the event provided key outcomes to potentially nurture the activities implemented within the Atlantic Strategy Pillar IV on a healthy ocean and resilient coasts.

All the presentations of the guest speakers and event outcomes are available on the respective event webpage:

These events complement two other stakeholder assemblies organised in PRPE4BLUE, in collaboration with the other CSAs, namely the PREP4BLUE and BlueMissionMed event ‘Sustainable Rivers: Bridging Local and European Initiatives water’, held in Rome on 21 May 2024, and the first Mission Arena organised in the framework of BlueMissionBANOS.

The key results of the Pilot Stakeholder Assemblies will be compiled in a dedicated PREP4BLUE report, providing impactful reflection on the stakeholder engagement methods tested and recommendations for future implementation of Stakeholder Assemblies in each Mission lighthouse. Stay tuned!

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PREP4BLUE Stakeholder Engagement Webinar Series

ERINN — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 09:13:10 +0000

At PREP4BLUE, we strive to foster innovative approaches and collaborative solutions for blue growth and sustainable marine environments. Namely, the PREP4BLUE project aim to develop R&D&I modalities of co-creation and co-implementation to inspire and engage citizens and stakeholders effectively.

To support this goal, CETMAR coordinated a series of six training webinars on “stakeholder engagement” to enhance the capacity of participants and support the Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters in mobilizing stakeholders. These webinars were specifically designed to address some of the critical needs identified by the project, such as advancing stakeholder engagement maturity levels and fostering co-creation among diverse actors.

Stakeholder discussions and recommendations address a central question: How can Stakeholder engagement improve the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters implementation?

To this end, within PREP4BLUE an adaptation of the Arnstein’ ladder [1] was done, following the Portfolio Analysis EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” [2]. As indicated in figure below, sensibilization actions imply a lower level of maturation in engagement, stakeholder engagement is needed for co-creation and co-implementation of actions, and when there is an urgency for solutions collaboration with local and regional authorities is recommended.

By sharing real-world examples, the webinars provided practical insights and actionable strategies to help future projects foster collaboration and innovation.

Since the Mission identified four Lighthouses areas: Atlantic and Artic, Danube, Baltic and North Sea and Mediterranean Sea, addressing a specific topic in each of them, an effort was made to choose one example from each Lighthouse area. The webinars’ topics have all a common nexus – stakeholder engagement – but applied to diverse needs, which are focused not only at coastal and ocean measures but also including freshwater management examples. As you can see in the graph below, two of the sessions targeted freshwater applications, one was about the Marine Biodiversity value, one about Blue Economy, one about Marine Protected Areas and another about stakeholder strategies applicable throughout two different Missions.

The recordings of the webinars are available on the PREP4BLUE website to inspire and support future projects enhancing their engagement practices and addressing similar challenges.

[1] S. R. Arnstein, ‘A Ladder Of Citizen Participation’, J. Am. Inst. Plann., vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 216–224, Jul. 1969, doi: 10.1080/01944366908977225.

[2] European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation., Portfolio analysis, EU mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”: analysis of a portfolio of projects financed by sixteen EU programmes contributing to the objectives and enablers of the mission ocean and waters. LU: Publications Office, 2023. Available: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/683

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PREP4BLUE at CommOcean 2024

ERINN — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 11:29:41 +0000

The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) attended the CommOCEAN conference from the 26th – 27th November. Taking place in Malaga, Spain, the aim of CommOCEAN is to foster effective communication within the marine science community and beyond.

Partners from VLIZ ran a session on ‘Communication and Citizen Science’. Led by Nancy Fockeday, this practical session equipped participants with the skills to effectively plan and implement aquatic citizen science activities in support of Mission Ocean.

The learnings and insights shared in this workshop are based on a report developed by VLIZ for PREP4BLUE titled “Beneath the Surface: A Collection of Recommendations and Good Practices in Aquatic Citizen Science to Support the EU’s Mission and Waters”. This report provides a comprehensive overview of good practices and recommendations for effective citizen science initiatives, specifically in alignment with Mission Ocean. It is evidence based and provides examples of good practice citizen science examples from across Europe. It has been very well received by Mission stakeholders to date, so the CommOCEAN workshop provided an excellent opportunity to share the learnings with new audiences.

The slides from the session can be access below.

Download slides

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PREP4BLUE and BLUEMISSIONAA workshop on Environmental advocacy & Justice in Mission Ocean

ERINN — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 11:32:57 +0000

Organised as a collaboration between PREP4BLUE and BLUEMISSIONAA, this workshop on Environmental advocacy and justice took place in Amsterdam on the the 27th of November 2024 as part of the BlueMissionBanos’ Mission Arena 3. The workshop integrated ideas of marine environmental advocacy with environmental justice, offering its youth participants a condensed yet comprehensive experience that equipped them with the skills needed to use ocean knowledge to drive change. By focusing on essential skills and practical application, the workshop aimed to create a dynamic learning environment that motivated and prepared teens and young adults to become effective advocates for both environmental and social justice issues.

To increase youth inclusion in Mission Ocean & Waters activities, the workshop was targeted to the university students in marine science, marine policy and related areas, Youth4Ocean and networks, as well as Early Career Ocean Professionals and local young people for participants. Participants in the workshop were empowered to address and advocate for local environmental justice issues. They built essential skills in campaign creation and community engagement, fostering a strong sense of agency and capability to drive change. The participants directly tackled local environmental and social justice concerns, connected advocacy efforts with social justice, and connected their campaigns with the objectives and targets of Mission Ocean and Waters. The campaigns were really creative, including messaging around cleaning up Amsterdam’s canals, writing love letters to the ocean in discarded plastic bottles, and more!

Following the workshop and in an attempt to make the participation as meaningful as possible, a group of 10 university students were supported to engage with attendees and panellists from other workshops across the Mission Arena Amsterdam. Finally, the university students reported on their general experience at the Mission Arena Amsterdam during the final plenary session in terms of inclusion and from the point of view of young people.

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Second Cycle of Technical Assistance to Support Communities of Actors to Achieve the EU Mission

ERINN — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 11:07:19 +0000

Objective

The technical assistance aims to support selected applicants in developing, facilitating and strengthening their actions contributing to one or more of the targets of the Mission Ocean and Waters. By participating in this call for technical assistance, selected projects will gain access to technical assessments and feasibility studies.

The technical assistance shall match the needs, capacity, and interests of applicants, providing tailored expert support for applicants’ projects on key dimensions such as regulatory, technical, economic, operational, environmental, and commercial feasibility.

The feasibility studies will provide an assessment of the overall viability of projects, defining risks, opportunities, and probability of success and analysing whether the planned projects are legally, technically, financially, economically, operationally, environmentally, and commercially justifiable and feasible. The studies shall also provide recommendations on how to improve the feasibility of selected actions.

Through the technical assistance, selected beneficiaries will gain a clearer understanding of the project feasibility and/or requirements to scale up and further develop the project.

Eligibility

The Call for Expression of Interest seeks to collect applications from relevant communities of actors, who wish to contribute to the objectives of the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ in one of the EU Mission lighthouses basins.

Applicants must be from one of the three target communities: ports, fisheries, islands. The eligible type of actors are:

Ports:

Local/regional authorities and/or similar bodies; Port authorities; NGOs or equivalent entities engaged in port development activities; Professional associations locally based or engaged in local development activities; Donors, philanthropic communities; Non-for-profits (different than NGOs); Private entities (small, medium / large), start-ups, accelerator clusters, consultancies; and Trade, business, or professional organisation.

Fisheries:

Local/regional authorities and/or similar bodies; NGOs or equivalent entities engaged in fisheries communities, local Action Groups described by the Community-led Local Development strategies; Professional associations locally based or engaged in local development activities in the region; Fishers, fishing vessel owners, operators and crew, fish processors, aquaculture producers; Research vessels and fishing and aquaculture vessels; Marine conservationists, researchers and scientists; Donors, philanthropic communities; Non-for-profits (different than NGOs); Private entities (small, medium / large), start-ups, accelerator clusters, consultancies; and Trade, business, or professional organisation.

Islands:

Local/regional authorities and/or similar bodies; NGOs or equivalent entities engaged in local development activities; Professional associations based on the concerning island or engaged in local development activities of the island; Donors, philanthropic communities; Non-for-profits (different than NGOs); Private entities (small, medium / large), start-ups, accelerator clusters, consultancies; and Trade, business, or professional organisation.

Actions must be located within the Mission lighthouses basins (Mediterranean, Atlantic, Arctic, Danube, and North & Baltic Sea).

* According to the evaluation and selection criteria set by the European Commission for delivering the technical assistance support, maximum three applications per Member States can be selected in total under both this cycle and the previous one. Please note that the application threshold has been reached for Italy and Croatia in the first cycle. Accordingly, while stakeholders from the target communities from these Member States are welcome to apply, they will not be eligible for selection in this second cycle.

Budget

No financial support will be offered under this technical assistance support.

Duration

The typical duration of the technical assistance delivery is between 4-6 months, commencing after the notification of selection.

Apply here

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Citizens can become key actors in the EU mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030, but challenges remain

ERINN — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 08:47:58 +0000

The European Union’s Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” (or Mission Ocean & Waters) is a cross sectoral framework that aims to improve the health of European ocean, sea, and freshwater ecosystems.

To do this, it has set ambitious targets for citizen engagement. This initiative calls upon Europeans to actively participate in restoring aquatic ecosystems through participation in citizens’ assemblies, aquatic citizen science, and activities to allow citizens to co-design the future of European coastal communities, while sustainably managing their marine resources.

Today, the Horizon Europe-funded project “Preparing the Research and Innovation Core for Mission Oceans, Seas, & Waters” (PREP4BLUE) has published an assessment of the state of citizen participation in Mission Ocean & Waters. This highlights several challenges to reaching the citizen engagement goals set by the Mission.

Dr David Whyte is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher with MaREI: The SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, University College Cork, Ireland, and leads the citizen engagement research with PREP4BLUE.

“What Mission Ocean & Waters is trying to achieve is quite unique”, David explains. “It is superficially an environmental project, but the way it goes about it – by establishing deliberative democratic initiatives, increasing social inclusion through its activities, and working with the European Investment Bank to unlock funding for marine restoration – make it potentially as much a political, social and economic transformation as an environmental.”

“We set out to study barriers to these transformations and found that they certainly can’t be taken for granted simply through the existence of the Mission Ocean & Waters framework.”

“Take gender inclusion as an example: PREP4BLUE’s research shows that while there is a strong gender balance observed among participants at Mission-related events, men tend to dominate the higher-level panels with politicians. A closer eye on the quality of roles given across diverse participants is necessary from an inclusion perspective.”

Key areas of focus for the Mission’s success in terms of citizen participation

To ensure meaningful progress, PREP4BLUE’s research suggests that Mission-related activities should prioritize the following areas:

Inclusion: Activities should be co-designed with target communities, allowing for collective problem-solving. It is critical to avoid tokenistic gestures of inclusion and instead ensure that participation and facilitation expertise are integrated from the outset.

Increasing Ocean Literacy and Mission Awareness: Raising awareness about the Mission itself and fostering emotional connections between citizens and aquatic environments are key to increasing engagement. Embodied and practice-based activities, such as artistic and food-based interactions with the ocean, can deepen emotional ties and improve ocean literacy.

Addressing Disparities Across the EU: A one-size-fits-all approach will not be effective in engaging citizens across Europe. The Mission must be flexible in its approach, recognizing the diverse starting points and infrastructures across Member States.

Strengthening Aquatic Citizen Science: It is essential to engage with the structural and cultural aspects of citizen science, ensuring that citizen-generated data can meaningfully contribute to policy and governance.

The Mission’s success in restoring Europe’s oceans and waters by 2030 depends on the active and meaningful engagement of its citizens. While the challenges are considerable, they can be overcome through targeted actions and collaborative efforts among the diverse actors working within the Mission. However, such progress will require sensitivity to Europe’s complex social fabric, as well as a willingness to co-create solutions with the citizens at the heart of this transformation.

This research has been published in the journal Maritime Studies in a paper called “Planning for citizen participation in the EU Mission to restore our ocean and waters by 2030”.

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PREP4BLUE Funding for Pilot Actions – Winners Announced!

ERINN — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:40:51 +0000

In May of this year, PREP4BLUE announced funding for piloting activities aimed at increasing citizen engagement with Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’. An incredible 33 innovative proposals were received from applicants across Europe. The proposals were shortlisted by evaluators before being presented to a final selection committee.

In total 6 mini-projects were selected and awarded funding to pilot their approach. The projects selected cover a broad range of topics and will increase citizen participation in Mission Ocean in a variety of innovative ways. Activities include music, hackathons, an oyster restoration project, an interactive workshop series, a training course on blue citizenship, a giant eco-friendly jigsaw puzzle, collages designed to educate citizens on the production of ecological hydrogen and a VR experience on marine noise pollution!

To support the projects with the development of their pilot activities, PREP4BLUE partners are running a series of webinars to introduce PREP4BLUE and the Mission objectives, explore strategies for designing and implementing effective citizen engagement actions and, explain how they can evaluate the impact of their citizen engagement actions to ensure effectiveness and sustainability. The pilots will run until November.

Updates on these exciting initiatives will be shared on the PREP4BLUE website so stay tuned for more!

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Sustainable Rivers: Bridging Local and European Initiatives

ERINN — Fri, 24 May 2024 10:55:37 +0000

The Four Rivers Fountain of Bernini in Piazza Navona was the image used by the organizers to open the “Sustainable Rivers: Bridging Local and European Initiatives” Event, jointly organized by National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Rotary Distretto 2080, Prep4Blue and BlueMissionMed as pilot to implement activities to address the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters Objectives on rivers system management and to amplify the impact from the local to Mediterranean and beyond.

The event started with the presentation of the Mission Ocean and Waters to the audience composed by local and regional authorities, representatives of National Ministries, associations of category, NGOs, students, educators, researchers, and SMEs for an audience of about 140 people attending in presence. Mrs. Claudia Pecoraro from DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, presented opportunities for community of actors in the Mission context and inspired the audience to be part of the Mission.

The focus of the discussion was on good practices for River management and on enabling condition to favor the deployment of virtuous approaches across basins and regional scale. The River Contracts model was presented by Massimo Bastiani, coordinator of Tavolo Nazionale dei Contratti di Fiume, a voluntary governance system already successful implemented in Italy. CNR is engaged in many Rivers Contract and in this context brought the experience on the activities developed for the Tiber area – as activity of the BlueMissionMed and Plastic Pirates Go Italy – in particular on the Contratto di Fiume da Castel Giubileo alla foce that is led by Città Metropolitana di Roma. During the event, the students of Liceo Scientifico Nomentano (RM) and Istituto Tecnico Tecnologico Midossi (Civita Castellana), that participated to the citizen science initiative promoted by CNR in collaboration with Legambiente and Marevivo, presented the results of the monitoring activity that they performed during the course of the past year.

After the students’ presentation, the dialogue expanded with a series of case studies from the Danube, Thames, Rio de Aveiro and Po rivers: representatives of the EU funded projects A-AAGORA, DALIA, INSPIRE, along with Thames21, provided high level example to protect biodiversity, restore and protect the quality of the rivers. The international dialogue proceeded with a roundtable discussion gathering perspectives from the Italian NGO Legambiente and international NGO OneWater, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), and with the contribution of EcoDalli and BlueMissionAA, CSAs funded by the EU to support the implementation of the Mission Ocean and Waters respectively in the Danube and Black Sea and in the Atlantic/Artic Lighthouses’ areas. The main outcomes highlighted the necessity to work systemically and to create communication channels with citizens and different actors in order to eliminate a knowledge gap and make everyone active on the issues of water protection and reduction of plastic pollution in our Ocean and Waters.

Afterwards, representatives from the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, University La Sapienza, ISPRA and ARPA Lazio presented the ecological state of the Tiber River, specifically the current legislative status, the movement of the litter present along the course of the river, how to decide the state of health of a river, and finally the systemic management of the water resource.

Ultimately, a final roundtable with local actors (Lazio Region, CdF Tevere urbano, CdF Media Valle del Tevere, Assessorato Ambiente of the Comune di Roma, Riserva Naturale Nazzano Tevere-Farfa, Autorità Distrettuale Appennino Centrale) centered the attention on the state of the art of the interventions on the Tiber between Rome and the Lazio Region, and the interventions in the Reserves.

The event proved the willingness of different stakeholders to collaborate at local, basin and European levels in order to reach the objectives of the EU Mission Ocean and Waters in a first of its kind experience!

Find the agenda here.

Article by Fedra Francocci, Elisa Conti, Gloria Consoli (CNR)

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A busy week for PREP4BLUE partners at the European Ocean Days

ERINN — Thu, 23 May 2024 16:02:17 +0000

Organised for the first time in 2024, the inaugural European Ocean Days took place from the 4th-8th of March in Brussels. The week-long event had a jam-packed schedule which included a matchmaking event, the 2nd Annual Mission Ocean Forum and BlueInvest Day.

Once again, PREP4BLUE partners were actively involved, attending many of the sessions organised throughout the week. Highlights included, a meeting where all 40 Mission Ocean projects came together for the first time to discuss the progress of the Mission and a meeting in the European Parliament where over 140 Mission Charter signatories united to call for a step up in action, to drive Mission progress and restore our ocean and waters by 2030.

PREP4BLUE project coordinator, Cecile Nys, had a particularly busy week. Not only was she active with networking and promoting PREP4BLUE at the project stand, but Cecile also sat on a panel session titled ‘Mission Ocean and Waters in action’ alongside the coordinators of the Mission Lighthouse CSAs. The panel took place during the 2nd Annual Mission Ocean Forum on the 5th of March and explored the necessary steps for the implementation and deployment of solutions for the Mission. Cecile took this opportunity to present the range of PREP4BLUE resources that have been developed to support Mission stakeholders with the implementation of their projects.

Overall, this was another busy week for PREP4BLUE partners. The conference presented a unique opportunity to connect with our Mission Ocean colleagues and explore new ways to collaborate and support the Mission goals.

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PREP4BLUE at the UN Ocean Decade Conference 2024

ERINN — Thu, 23 May 2024 15:17:05 +0000

Hosted by Spain and co-organised with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO), the 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference took place from the 10-12 April 2024 in Barcelona.

The 3-day, in-person event was co-led by a range of partners: Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council through the Barcelona Capital Náutica Foundation, and the Spanish National Ocean Decade Committee, which is led by the Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Spanish Research Council (CSIC).

PREP4BLUE was active across UN Ocean Decade locations. On April 9^th, PREP4BLUE co-organised four official side events, all taking place at PREP4BLUE partner Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC)’s beautiful campus in Barceloneta. The four events were all themed around citizen and stakeholder engagement and included:

Diving from local to global ocean literacy – Exploring, sharing and developing successful practices to know, feel and join the living ocean: The event presented inclusive and participatory methodologies and strategies developed by local and regional societal actors and stakeholders to promote behavioural change towards sustainability, including diagnoses, research and evaluation. Presented in the form of success stories, these methodologies and strategies encompass classical and digital arts, aquatic sports, social media influencers, blue business, traditions and rituals, ecological activism, artificial and natural intelligence, among others. The event also included a teaser video, poster exhibition and in-person presentations. Watch the recording here.

Empowering science, policy and society through co-design for sustainable ocean development: Exploring how co-design can support social inclusion and ocean sustainability. This workshop provided a space for dialogue and learning on the importance of working across the science-policy-society interface for sustainable ocean development. Comprising inspirational examples (from different perspectives on co-design), followed by working groups, it showcased how co-designed transformative ocean science and knowledge has contributed to sustainable ocean development. Watch the recording here.

Enbluement: Connecting science and arts to expand our belonging to the ocean: This two-part event explored new ways towards harmony with nature, expanding the scientific approach through sensory and artistic perceptions and interactions. In Part 1, was a workshop where artists and influencers shared ideas and experiences on how to raise general awareness on the essential role of the ocean in the living planet. In Part 2, these ideas were shaped out as a sensory participative and inclusive celebration in Barcelona’s Charles Darwin Square, through a 90-minute choreography of music, silence, image, motion and design. Watch the recording here.

During the conference, the PREP4BLUE team were also busy running Virtual Early Career Ocean Professional (V-ECOP) Days. PREP4BLUE’s team of mobile journalists were covering the conference live as part of this on live stream and social media – read more about this here.

Overall it was an exciting (and busy) few days for PREP4BLUE partners, who worked hard to support and compliment the UN Ocean Decade Conference with their activities. The conference presented a key moment for stakeholders to take stock of the achievements of the first three years of the Ocean Decade and define a collective vision for the coming years.

Photo credit: Laura Ponce (Web: lauraponce.es; Instagram: @yellowcalling)

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Meet the PREP4BLUE MoJos

ERINN — Thu, 23 May 2024 13:15:23 +0000

Last year, PREP4BLUE put out a call seeking enthusiastic content creators, age 30 and younger, to form a team of Mobile Journalists, or ‘MoJos’, to spotlight Mission Ocean and Waters through the lens of a younger generation. The goal was to motivate and engage new audiences, especially youth, in learning about and committing to the Mission through the creative and diverse storytelling of young professionals.

At the same time, the planning team for Virtual Early Career Ocean Professional Days 2024 (V.ECOP Days 2024) was preparing to spotlight ECOP contributions to the UN Ocean Decade at an official satellite event of the Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona; this event was partially sponsored by PREP4BLUE as a Mission Ocean event. The V.ECOP Days planning team also decided to hire MoJos to provide live coverage from the Conference during V.ECOP Days 2024.

The two MoJo teams’ content would be featured together across PREP4BLUE Mission Ocean and Waters social media channels as part of a larger campaign, “Generation Blue”, for the first two weeks of April 2024. Under this umbrella, the focus of the channels was dedicated to publishing stories either by young professionals, for young professionals, or both. Indeed, youth and ECOPs are integral to the success of the Mission and Decade, and this campaign was aimed at addressing that component for a larger impact utilizing social media as the driver.

The four PREP4BLUE Mojos came from across the different Mission Lighthouse areas and were tasked with creating engaging digital content to spotlight Mission Ocean-related stories. This new form of content allowed for different types of storytelling and perspectives to be shared with our growing audience to further foster and promote citizen engagement in the Mission across diverse demographics, especially by youth and ECOPs.

The V.ECOP Days 2024 MoJos also came from diverse backgrounds and countries and were tasked with moderating various V.ECOP Days 2024 sessions as well as covering multiple side- and on-site events through live and pre-recorded interviews with key attendees and leadership at the Ocean Decade Conference. The interviews were incorporated into the full 3-day V.ECOP Days 2024 program.

Working with PREP4BLUE partners and a specialist social media advisor, all of the MoJos received training on content creation, social media, and more. Their skill-sets were varied and included everything from the sciences to photography and videography, etc. Most importantly, each MoJo is passionate about protecting our oceans and waters and has a keen interest in conservation and sustainability issues.

Together, the MoJos’ content shed light on both Mission Ocean and Waters and the UN Ocean Decade through the eyes of young professionals who love our ocean – allowing PREP4BLUE to engage more people from across diverse populations to both better understand the Mission and Decade and to hopefully inspire them to join the collective efforts to help protect and restore our ocean and waters.

You can check out samples of the MoJo’s work below. All of the MoJo’s content can be found across the PREP4BLUE Mission Ocean and Water channels from April 1-14.

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PREP4BLUE pilot activity funding: Engaging citizens in Mission Ocean

ERINN — Fri, 17 May 2024 08:11:06 +0000

At the recent UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Prep4Blue (Funded by the European Union through its Horizon Europe Program, Grant No. 101056957) co-organised four official Satellite events dedicated to engaging citizens in activities that work towards achieving the aims of the EU’s Mission to Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030 (Mission Ocean): Cities with the Ocean – Ocean science for the sustainable development of coastal cities and ports; Empowering science, policy and society through co-design for sustainable ocean development; Diving from local to global ocean literacy: Exploring, sharing and developing successful practices to know, feel and join the living ocean; Enbluement: Connecting science and arts to expand our belonging to the ocean

These four events gathered three types of networks – coastal communities, ocean literacy and Ocean&Arts. To capitalise on the energy and discussions from the events and to catalyse the creation of a Mission Ocean citizen engagement Community of Practice, Prep4Blue is now offering small scale grants for pilot activity funding. Pilot actions should aim at engaging citizens in activities relevant to Mission Ocean, aimed at achieving its targets in terms of citizen engagement, and one or more of its overall objectives. The pilots will facilitate and/or develop success stories by a selected number of networks that could be replicated and/or upscaled in the future.

Selected proposals should aim at citizen engagement and mobilisation towards achieving one or more of Mission Ocean’s overall objectives, namely: 1) protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity; 2) prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and waters; 3) make the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular. It should do this in a manner that engages directly with one or more of the Mission’s priorities in terms of citizen engagement. These include fostering social inclusion across activities, involving citizens in participatory processes concerning their aquatic resources, and including citizens in ocean literacy initiative; see pages 35 – 36 of the Mission Ocean implementation plan for a thorough list.

The call for proposals will open on May 22, 2024 and will remain open until June 20, 2024. The total amount available for pilot proposals is 13,500 €, to be distributed in proposals of up to 2,250€* each. All proposing teams will be invited to participate in a series of webinars on methodologies and strategies for citizen engagement with Mission Ocean. These webinars, which are aimed at providing citizen engagement and good participative practice resources, will be carried out in July 2024.

Successful proposals will be notified no later than 26 June 2024 and pilot actions are to be carried out between July 1 and November 30, 2024. Successful proposals will commit to the following: (a) to participate in the webinar series; (b) to implement one or more evaluation tools to assess changes in citizen perception and engagement in alignment with Mission Ocean targets and objectives; (c) to participate in a virtual meeting or equivalent activity addressed to the community of practice (CoP); (d) to present a one-page summary on the progress of the pilot action by October 7, 2024; and (e) to present a final report on the activity no later than November 30, 2024 (maximum 6 pages, following a format to be provided).

Proposals should meet the following eligibility criteria:

Proposals should meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must represent an NGO, non-profit group or civil organisation.
- Applicants must confirm attendance at one of PREP4BLUE’s four Satellite events at the 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, either in person, online, or by viewing the recorded session (https://prep4blue.eu/un-ocean-decade-conference-2024/).
- Applicants are expected to complete their pilot activity and submit their final report by 30 November 2024.

Proposals are to be submitted via the specified Google form, which will include the following information:

1- Briefly present your proposal (max 100 words).

2- Indicate to which type of network is addressed:

- Coastal and riparian Communities
- Ocean literacy
- Ocean & Arts?

3- Briefly explain how your proposal connects to one or more of the Mission objectives (Mission Ocean Implementation plan, page 19), and its citizen engagement target outcomes (Mission Ocean Implementation Plan, page 36) (100 words).

4- Describe the methodology/strategy to involve citizens in the activity. Proposals that include co-design with participants, direct democratic elements and/or other deeply participative elements will be deemed strong (max 200 words).

5- Briefly enumerate the specific proposed outcomes (up to 3).

6- Briefly explain how you will assess the impact of these outcomes. (50 words)

7- Explain how you envision the proposal long-term impact and/or sustainability (200 words).

8- Briefly indicate how the awarded funding will be spent.

9- Explain your communication strategy within the selected type of network and beyond (100 words).

10- Briefly describe your previous experience (indicate links when appropriate) (100 words).

Evaluation criteria (100 points)

The scoring scale will be based on the quality and potential impact of the proposal, according to the following criteria:

Alignment with the Mission objectives: 10 points
Methodology & working plan: 10 points
Participative and inclusive strategy: 10 points
Specific outcomes: 10 points
Sustainability in time: 10 points
Impact assessment: 10 points
Budget: 10 points
Outreach: 10 points
Innovative aspects of the proposal: 10 points
Previous experience of the applicant: 10 point

*Please note that grants are inclusive of taxes i.e., each grant totals €2,250 with taxes included

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Technical assistance for communities of actors to support Mission objectives

ERINN — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 09:26:32 +0000

Objective

The objective of the technical assistance is to support selected applicants in developing and strengthening their actions contributing to one or more of the targets of the Mission Ocean and Waters. By participating in this call for technical assistance, selected projects will gain access to technical assessments and feasibility studies.

Through the technical assistance, selected beneficiaries will gain a clearer understanding of the project feasibility and/or requirements to scale up and further develop the project.

Eligibility

Detailed information on eligible applicants can be found in the Call for Expression of Interest downloadable below.

Applicants must be from one of the three target communities: ports, fisheries, islands.

Actions must be located within the Mission lighthouses basins (Mediterranean, Atlantic, Arctic, Danube, and North & Baltic Sea).

Budget

No financial support will be offered under this technical assistance support.

Duration

The typical duration of the technical assistance delivery is between 4-6 months, commencing after the notification of selection.

Please see the Call for Expression of Interest document that can be downloaded below for further details.

Find out more here.

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UN Ocean Decade 2024 Travel Grant

ERINN — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:26:56 +0000

PREP4BLUE will be funding 18 travel grants covering accommodation and per diem (14 burses up to 500 euros and 4 burses up to 550 euros), to facilitate participation in the satellite events being cohosted by PREP4BLUE during the UN Ocean Decade Conference 2024 in Barcelona this coming April.

Selection criteria include the following: past and current involvement with the Ocean Decade, background in activities promoting citizen engagement with the oceans and waters, being invited as a speaker at one of the four satellite events, statement of motivation. We will review each application carefully, and responses will be provided to those who will receive the funding only.

Please note that the deadline for application is March 26th 2024.

Finally, please note that following the UN Ocean Decade Conference there will be a call for proposals of pilot actions, related to the themes of the satellite events cohosted by PREP4BLUE. Applicants to these pilot actions will be required to have participated in person in the corresponding satellite event.

Apply here now!

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Guide on financing the green energy transition of fisheries and aquaculture

ERINN — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:46:05 +0000

Are you working in the fishing or aquaculture industry and looking for support to make your green transition? Good news! The European Commission has released a complete and easy to access guide, giving you a full rundown of the financial opportunities that are available to you.

Organisations and businesses in the fishing and aquaculture sectors are under pressure to phase out their dependence on fossil fuels. By doing so, they will not only make a valuable contribution to the overarching objectives of the European Green Deal, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, but they will also be making positive changes that will enhance the sectors’ financial viability and resilience.

The new ‘Guide on Financing opportunities for the Green Energy Transition of Fisheries and Aquaculture’ helps users understand the diverse funding opportunities that are available to them. It caters to a wide range of businesses and organisations, including small and large-sized enterprises, public administrations, research institutions, and civil society organizations seeking EU funding for their energy transition projects. It covers a spectrum of areas of support, including innovations for vessels, improvements in energy-efficient gear and equipment, and energy management enhancements for aquaculture. It also covers industry-related infrastructure transformations that can help reduce carbon emissions, as well as training and capacity-building that can help ensure a fair and competitive transition.

The guide is set out in a way that makes it straightforward for users to determine what they are eligible for and how to apply. As a handy reference, it also features an A-Z of each funding programme, including information on context, scope, overarching objectives and outlines of how each fund can be used for financing the green transition.

Download the guide and get the full picture on the funding opportunities that are available to your organisation.

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The EU Blue Parks Helpdesk is here!

ERINN — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:31:50 +0000

The EU Blue Parks Helpdesk is a service for the members of the EU Blue Parks Community of Practice.

It is accessible for question submission from EU BPC members.

About the helpdesk

Via the EU BPC helpdesk, a scientific/thematic expert team will provide answers to the questions submitted.

The helpdesk initially will focus on providing scientific advice on the following topics:

Improvement of the management of existing and effective management planning for the new marine protected areas
Creation and design of representativeness and connectedness between marine protected areas 
Territorial knowledge and monitoring support for marine protected areas
Setting of effective social engagement processes between communities of user, planners, and other sectoral actors in marine protected areas while building participatory support for new ones 
Information on financing opportunities to support biodiversity conservation in marine protected areas

The questions submitted will be answered in a short manner by project experts, to the extent possible directing author of the question to relevant key publications from international literature and to ongoing EU projects and networks working on the concrete topic.

Please submit your question:

[email protected]

Please include the following information when submitting a question to the helpdesk:

Contact details (name, email)
Organization 
Topic of assistance (see list above or “other”)

To save time, and provide quick guidance on the most popular topics, the helpdesk will also provide a list with frequently asked questions. The FAQ list will be updated on quarterly basis.

FAQ

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Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership’s second joint transnational call

ERINN — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 16:19:59 +0000

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership has announced its second joint transnational call entitled “Unified Paths to a Climate-Neutral, Sustainable, and Resilient Blue Economy: Engaging Civil Society, Academia, Policy, and Industry”.

The vision of the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership, a European partnership under the Horizon Europe Programme, is to design, steer and support a just and inclusive transition to a regenerative, resilient, and sustainable blue economy. This EU Partnership aims to boost the transformation needed towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive, and competitive blue economy by 2030 while creating and supporting the conditions for a sustainable ocean for the people by 2050.

This second co-funded call aims to support transnational research and innovation projects of 36 months duration, addressing one of the four priority areas below (subject to funded priority areas by participating funding organisations, see Annex):

(1) Digital Twins of the Ocean at regional sub basin scale

(2) Blue economy sectors, development of marine multi-use infrastructures

(3) Planning and managing sea-uses at the regional level

(4) Blue Bioresources

Projects in this co-funded call must be impact-driven contributions to the transformation into a blue economy for a more resilient future and towards carbon neutrality targets, following an impact pathway approach.

The proposals are expected to consider a minimum of two European sea basins and to assess the project proposal’s impact on various basins. Proposals can target European regional seas such as Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Arctic, Barents Sea, Celtic Sea, etc. but these regional seas must be from a minimum of 2 different European Sea basins which are: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The second co-funded call of this EU Partnership pools national and regional financial resources through the participation of 38 funding organisations from 26 countries combined with the contribution from the European Union. 20 Member-States, 5 Associated Countries and 1 Third Country are participating: Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Tunisia, and Türkiye. The total estimated budget is about EUR 40 million.

To be eligible, each consortium must be composed of eligible partners from at least three different countries participating in the call and requesting financial support from at least three different funding organisations participating in the call. In addition, the projects must involve at least two independent legal entities from two different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries (as recipients of the financial support, at the time of the closing of the call by 10/04/2024) eligible for EU funding in this call for (pre-)proposal. Self-funded partners, including partners from countries (and/or regions) not participating in this co-funded call, are allowed but do not contribute to the minimum eligible consortium size.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to involve stakeholders (i.e., small, and medium enterprises (SMEs), industries, authorities, public administrations, associations, as well as civil society organisations) as partners or self-funded partners (according to national/regional regulations) in their proposal. Stakeholder engagement in the research projects will enhance innovation, policy, and societal relevance and ultimately the impact of the projects.

A general information webinar will be organised on the 15 February (14H00-16H30 CET) to answer your questions regarding the call. You can register here.

Find out more here.

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PREP4BLUE Helpdesk

ERINN — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:27:09 +0000

PREP4BLUE is delighted to announce the launch of the new ‘PREP4BLUE Helpdesk. Developed by PREP4BLUE partners from CETMAR (Spain), the helpdesk aims to provide Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ stakeholders with access to PREP4BLUE’s extensive repository of communication resources and tools.

The Helpdesk comprises a library of useful PREP4BLUE-developed resources that will support stakeholders with the communication and dissemination of their Mission funded projects. This includes, the PREP4BLUE Toolbox for Citizen Engagement, Mission Ocean Social Media Toolkit and Citizen Science Glossary amongst many others.

Furthermore, there is a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section to address commonly asked questions, and provide insights and clarity on a range of project-related topics. Any unanswered questions around the implementation of Mission projects can be posed to a dedicated panel of PREP4BLUE experts by using the Contact Form or by emailing [email protected].

PREP4BLUE partners are delighted to present this Helpdesk. Over the course of the project we will work to enhance and improve this platform. The Helpdesk is free to use, so feel free to begin asking questions today.

Access the Helpdesk

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1st Mission Arena in Sweden | BlueMissionBANOS takes place in Gothenburg

ERINN — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:10:58 +0000

Blue Mission BANOS’ 1st Mission Arena took place from the 14-16 November 2023 in Gothenburg (Sweden).

The aim of the 1st Mission Arena was to inspire, engage and support a wide range of stakeholders across the Baltic and North Sea in making the Blue Economy carbon-neutral and circular by 2030. The 1st Mission Arena focused on the local and regional communities of Germany (Baltic | Schleswig-Holstein), Denmark (East) and Sweden (South).

The two-day event featured a range of different activities to address the main themes of blue food, bioresources, biotechnology; low-trophic aquaculture and products; ocean and coastal plans in the region; multi-use solutions; renewable energy and citizen engagement.

The opening and closing panels were steered by BlueMissionBANOS coordinator Angela Schulz-Zehden (Submariner Network) providing a consistent framework for the arena. Within this framework of the arena, the three days were packed with panels, workshops, pitching sessions, showcasing and stands, as well as plenty of opportunities for networking and connecting with stakeholders of the Baltic and North Sea – all activities aimed at finding solutions for a carbon free circular economy, which is the Mission Objective in this Lighthouse Area.

All PREP4BLUE (P4B) Partners were kindly invited to the Arena through direct collaboration between the CSAs, especially through the Submariner Network.

Mission Arena 1 also served as the Pilot Stakeholder Assembly for the Mission (Task 6.3), specifically through the voting on blue priorities for the region held during the final plenary, whose results constituted the 1 Mission Arena Roadmap (https://bluemissionbanos.eu/1st-mission-arena-after-event-materials/). Technical Work Packages (WP) of PREP4BLUE were well represented.

Raquel Costa (SDU) – P4B WP4 – represented the PREP4BLUE ‘Mission Ecosystem Database’ and celebrated the launch of WaveLinks (wavelinks.eu) with a stand for it. Caecilia Manago (ERINN) – P4B WP4 – presented the PREP4BLUE Knowledge Management Methodology (WP4) in the session ‘From research solutions to disruptive innovation – tools and gaps’. This session focused on how to ensure that research solutions become disruptive innovation that is actually used. It was discussed how to facilitate research uptake in the market and public realm, at the stage before a solution is sold or a start-up established. Gaps between a “research project” and a “start-up” were identified and addressed from a research funder perspective, a venture capital perspective and a research performing perspective..

Jochen Theis, Dennis van Liempd (SDU), Frode Frode Dal Fjeldavli (JPIO), Matthias Sandra (VLIZ) and Alberto Terenzi (s.Pro) – P4B WP5 – organised a dedicated workshop on Business Models and approaches to support the sustainable blue economy. The workshop presented the findings of PREP4BLUE and other projects in terms of proposing novel business models and funding approaches to support the bioeconomy, also looking at transferrable examples from other sectors. Stakeholders were invited to share their experience, voice their needs, and comment on the interim research conducted by SDU. A summary of the session’s findings is available here

Susana Bastón (CETMAR) – P4B WP6 – was a speaker in the session ‘How to close the gender-gap in the blue economy’. Data regarding the role, contributions and opportunities for Women in the Blue Economy is still often unavailable for many regions and sectors across the EU. This workshop discussed the ways this data will start being gathered across the BANOS region, with active collaboration from the audience through discussing the needs for mainstreaming appropriate legislation and policy initiatives to ensure a gender-equal Blue Economy.

For further insights into results of the Arena, please find all resources at this link

This was the Blue Mission BANOS’ 1st Mission Arena since the project kick off meeting, which was held in Brussels in September 2022. It was a great opportunity for partners to connect and discuss the next steps for the project.

Save the Date for the second BlueMissionBANOS Arena in Tallinn, April 25, 2024 – April 26, 2024: 2nd Mission Arena in Tallinn | #MissionArenaBANOS2 – Blue Mission BANOS

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Introducing WaveLinks!

ERINN — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:24:27 +0000

WaveLinks is a new platform that maps the research and innovation landscape of the Mission Ocean, fosters collaborations between projects and reinforces links between academia, industry and society. This exciting new platform has been developed by partners from PREP4BLUE, BlueMission AA and Blue Mission Banos!

The main objective of WaveLinks is to ensure that valuable insights and discoveries from EU funded research are findable and have chance to become catalysts for innovation and progress.

Who is it for?

Whether you are part of a project related to the Mission Ocean, pledged to the Mission Ocean charter, work in the blue area or are simply interested in the blue domain, this application is for you and can help you to share knowledge and create real impact in restoring our oceans.

Key Features

WaveLinks focus on providing you an effortless experience when searching for the latest knowledge and making links between academia, industry, policy and society.

Decide what you want to see – With a personalised dashboard, you are able to select the information that is most relevant to you so that you are up to date in your interest field

Powerful searches – You can use long texts to find what you are looking for, while still being able to use filters and keywords.

Save your interests – Find an interesting and want to save it for later? Think you’ve found your next project partner? Just use the save button to not lose any of these information

Get suggestions – According to what you save in your profile the app will suggest some more projects, events or people you might be interested in. We also send you notification so that you don’t miss anything.

Co-design – Just by clicking on a thumbs up or down button, your feedback will help us to improve the app and make sure each search and suggestion gives you valuable information

PREP4BLUE partners are delighted to present this first version of WaveLinks. Over the course of the project we will work with you to evolve this platform and make it even better. WaveLinks is free to use, so start exploring today at WaveLinks.eu

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Launch of ‘EU Blue Champions’ Scheme

ERINN — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:02:24 +0000

The European Commission, in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB), is launching the new pilot scheme ‘EU Blue Champions’. It will be supported by the BlueInvest platform.

Through this new initiative, the EIB Advisory Services, in collaboration with the EIB Projects Directorate, will provide financial advisory to selected projects in the blue economy. Each project selected should display the potential to contribute strongly to the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters its three objectives:

Restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity
Eliminating pollution
Decarbonising the blue economy

The aim is to identify 20 innovative projects, which have the potential to interest public or private finance providers and possibly qualify for an EIB financing.

To be eligible, projects need to be aligned with at least one of the Mission’s objectives. Other selection criteria will depend on the lending product (e.g. venture debt, corporate loan, project finance) that the project might be considered for.

Find out more here.

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Get involved with Mission Ocean and Waters calls for proposals and funded projects

ERINN — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 16:14:39 +0000

So far, 40 multinational projects from the first two Mission Ocean and Waters calls for proposals (years 2021-2022) are receiving over €270 million to contribute to the objectives of the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and waters’: protect and restore biodiversity, reduce pollution, support a circular and sustainable blue economy.

A full overview of the projects can be found on the Mission Ocean and Waters service portal. The funding comes from Horizon Europe, the EU’s programme for research and innovation.

A further, 85 proposals for the Mission Ocean and Waters 2023 calls were submitted by the deadline of 20 September 2023. Evaluations are ongoing, with the assistance of external expert evaluators. The results will be communicated to proposers probably before the end of the year.

These projects will also play a key role in developing the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). Developed as part of this Mission, the European DTO brings together physical, chemical, biological, and socio-economic data and models to create a virtual replica of the ocean. Announced by President von der Leyen at the One Ocean Summit in Brest in February 2022, it is one of the enablers of the Mission, together with broad public mobilisation and engagement. Its ambition is to make ocean knowledge readily available to citizens, entrepreneurs, scientists and policy-makers by providing them with an innovative set of user-driven, interactive and visualisation tools. 

New Mission Ocean and Water calls are being prepared – publication of these calls is expected in February 2024 so stay tuned!

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Mission Ocean and Waters service portal

ERINN — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:19:57 +0000

The Mission Ocean and Waters service portal is a centralised resource hub, offering a range of critical information and support services. These services encompass knowledge sharing, financial advice, dissemination of information and innovative solutions related to the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters. Furthermore, it provides access to knowledge for all citizens and extends support and technical assistance to Mission signatories actively involved in the Mission’s implementation.

The portal will help you:

Keep track of the Mission’s progress toward its objectives.
Follow various Mission actions and activities across Mission Lighthouses.
Find a space for identifying and facilitating financial and investment opportunities related to the Mission.
Access the Mission library to learn about and share innovative solutions for ocean and water restoration.
Engage with citizens and stakeholders through outreach, dissemination and Mission events.

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Join the EU Blue Parks Community!

ERINN — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:58:44 +0000

The EU Blue Parks Community, as part of the Blue Parks Initiative, welcomes participation from national and regional marine and environmental agencies, researchers in marine conservation, sea basin organisations, NGOs, international bodies, and donors and sustainable investors.

This Community aims to contribute to the identification and overcoming of challenges, the sharing of tools and solutions, good practices, and the promotion of innovative approaches to push forward progress in marine protection and restoration in the EU sea-basins, while enhancing cooperation in order to protect 30% and strictly protect 10% of EU sea areas by 2030.

The Community is geared to:

Sharing knowledge on innovative approaches to marine protection and effective marine protection management.
Supporting the expansion, interconnectivity, and strengthening of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the EU.
Creating new opportunities for marine conservation and restoration.

Why be a part of it?

The Community will meet at biannual workshops to engage in a variety of themes, from identification and establishment of marine protected areas, increasing their interconnectivity, improving their effective management, governance and financing. The Community’s focus and activities are shaped by member inputs.

The EU Blue Parks Community provides an opportunity to exchange knowledge, enhance governance, explore funding opportunities, and refine the management of marine protected areas. Members can bring their expertise and learn from others across EU sea basins, enhancing conservation efforts and effectively addressing common challenges.

As of today, we are pleased to introduce our new helpdesk – a free service for the EU Blue Parks community, providing scientific advice on specific topics on marine protection.

Learn more about how this special service can serve you here.

Join the EU Blue Parks Community today and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of EU marine protection.

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PREP4BLUE Communication Toolkit

ERINN — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:28:24 +0000

PREP4BLUE’s objective is to support the R&I goals of Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and facilitate its successful implementation during the first phase. Through a series of pilots at the Mission’s demonstrator or Lighthouse sites, PREP4BLUE is developing tools, guidelines, and methodologies to be used by stakeholders on all Mission funded projects to optimise and create synthesis across Mission activities and solutions, ensuring cohesion and connectivity across sectors, and between European citizens and stakeholders

This Mission Ocean and Waters Communication Toolkit was prepared by PREP4BLUE to help you, our partners, grow your digital media skills and capacities. By expanding our network of communicators, we can better showcase Mission Ocean and Waters relevance through engaging and inspiring content.

Some of the materials noted in this Toolkit can be edited and adapted to match individual communication styles and priorities. Additionally, most of this information, including graphic files and videos, is found online on the PREP4BLUE Trello Board at https://bit.ly/MissionOceanSocialMedia.

We encourage you to visit the Trello Board for easy viewing and access to important files as well as links to relevant websites and other resources, including our Digital Academy that offers free tutorials and other tools.

Additionally, those who have endorsed the Charter have exclusive access to the European Commission (EC) Mission Ocean and Waters Group folder via CIRCABC. All the details you need are included below, so read on!

Download the Toolkit

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“One Ocean, One Mission, One Decade – One Voice” – PREP4BLUE at EurOCEAN 2023

ERINN — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 14:42:29 +0000

The EurOCEAN 2023 conference will take place this week on 10 -11 October 2023 as an in-person event in Vigo, Spain. PREP4BLUE partners from EUROMARINE, MaREI and ERINN Innovation will attend to represent the project, learn more about the work being done to support the objectives of the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030 and explore opportunities for collaboration with other Mission stakeholders.

The aim of the EurOCEAN 2023 is to highlight the synergies between the Mission, other EU research initiatives, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The conference will provide a forum for the marine and maritime research community and wider stakeholders to interact with European and Member State policymakers and strategic planners. Stakeholders in attendance include marine policy makers, marine scientists, science communicators, maritime industry representatives and European and national decision makers and programme managers.

Conference topics will address:

Enabling ecosystem-based management for fisheries and conservation
Addressing pharmaceutical pollution from inland to sea
Transforming ports at the interface between land, society and the Blue Economy
Ensuring ocean knowledge in the age of the Digital Ocean
Changing humanity’s relationship with the ocean: youth and art as agents of change
Resilience of coastal cities
What’s next: rallying actions for our Ocean and Waters

The conference programme and speakers’ biographies are now available for this event. A series of side events will also take place throughout the week. Further information is available here.

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Second PREP4BLUE Consortium Meeting takes place in Venice

ERINN — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 08:42:34 +0000

The second PREP4BLUE Consortium Meeting took place from the 27^th– 28^th of September 2023. The meeting was held in the ISMAR Istituto di Scienze Marine in Venice, Italy, and was hosted by PREP4BLUE partners CNR (Italy).

The two-day event featured a range of different activities. To open the meeting PREP4BLUE coordinators IFREMER (France) gave a brief welcome speech and provided an overview of project progress to date. This was followed up with an update on the Mission landscape and presentations from the Mission Secretariat, the four other Mission CSAs: BlueMissionMEDBlueMissionBanos, BlueMissionAA and EcoDaLLi and, MIP Ocean.

After the opening session, the meeting proceeded with presentations from partners on the progress achieved by each of the project’s six work packages to date. Each presentation was followed up by a Q&A session.

The first day concluded with a networking dinner for all partners.

Day two saw further discussions on work package progress, cross-cutting issues and on next steps for PREP4BLUE. The day concluded with a series of workshops for partners. The first workshop provided an overview of the Mission Ecosystem Database being developed by partners from WP4, while the second workshop focused on demonstrating the stakeholder engagement tool that is being developed by WP6

The meeting took place in hybrid format to facilitate those who could not be there in person. This was the first full consortium meeting since the project kick off meeting, which was held in Brussels in September 2022. It was a great opportunity for partners to connect again and discuss the next steps for the project.

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First PREP4BLUE Knowledge Analysis Workshop

ERINN — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:07:40 +0000

We are delighted to share that in July 2023 PREP4BLUE held its first ‘Analysis Workshop’. The aim of the workshop was to work with experts to identify pathways towards impact for innovative solutions collected from EU funded research projects. These solutions were identified as having potential to contribute to the objectives of EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters. The systematic collection of these solutions, dubbed ‘Knowledge Outputs’, and their subsequent analysis are all part of the Knowledge Transfer methodology being applied in PREP4BLUE. The methodology was developed by Knowledge Transfer experts and PREP4BLUE project partners, ERINN Innovation. The Analysis Workshops mark a major achievement for the project and is the culmination of months of work from PREP4BLUE partners, who worked to identify innovative solutions that would contribute to the Mission objectives. This particular analysis meeting focused on Knowledge Outputs that would contribute to the area of contamination remediation. Future meetings will focus on a range of topics including restoration, the blue economy, energy and aquaculture.

The approach applied in PREP4BLUE will ensure that innovative solutions from across Europe are identified, managed and effectively taken up by stakeholders to address Mission challenges.

We were honoured and grateful to have the opportunity to present the Knowledge Outputs identified to the analysis panel. The panel comprised deep domain, highly experienced experts from within PREP4BLUE partner organisations. Experts included Marisa Fernández (CETMAR) and Simone Cappello (CNR). The meeting was facilitated by Caecilia Manago and Sarah Sarsfield (ERINN Innovation) and had active contribution by PREP4BLUE Knowledge Fellows Andreu Blanco (CETMAR) and Greta Capelli (CNR).

For the Knowledge Outputs brought forward for analysis, the insights gained during the discussion will help identify the next steps towards application and broader impact. Furthermore, all participants had the opportunity to learn from the discussions and further enhance the PREP4BLUE Knowledge Transfer tools and methods. In particular, we would like to warmly thank the experts who volunteered their time for this meeting and are looking forward to continuing the fruitful collaboration.

Read more about the PREP4BLUE Knowledge Management.

For further information, please contact the Task 4.3 leader ERINN Innovation via Caecilia Manago, [email protected].

Photo: First PREP4BLUE Task 4.3 Knowledge Management Analysis Workshop

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Second P4B consortium meetings takes place in Venice

ERINN — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 13:50:14 +0000

The latest PREP4BLUE partner meeting took place from the 27-28 of September 2023. The meeting was hosted by PREP4BLUE partners CNR, in the amazing city of Venice.

The two-day meeting featured a range of different activities including an introduction from the project coordinator, presentations from the Mission Lighthouse CSAs, updates on project progress from work package leaders, plenary discussion and a working dinner for all partners. The meeting took place in hybrid format to facilitate those who could not be there in person.

The meeting was a great opportunity for partners to connect in person. In between meetings, partners were able to enjoy everything the city has to offer, alongside good weather, good food and good company.

Thank you to Caecilia Manago from ERINN for the photographs.

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A-AAGORA Call for Associated Regions

ERINN — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 10:30:25 +0000

A-AAGORA are pleased to announce the launch of a call for Associated Regions to participate in the A-AAGORA project. The A-AAGORA consortium aims at supporting 7 ’Associated Regions’, considering the maximum financial support of EUR 70,000, ranging the 4 referential basins (Atlantic+Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean, Danube/Black Sea). A minimum of 1 representative of each basin is expected to be selected, whereas a minimum of 2 for the Atlantic-Arctic basin shall be selected.

The A-AAGORA project will engage and work with selected ‘Associated Regions’ to showcase the feasibility, replicability and scale-up of the solutions developed within the project in other areas with ecosystems that can benefit from the demonstration activities.

These ‘Associated Regions’ should endeavour a bidirectional involvement in/with the project, in which their access to innovative ideas, techniques and results shall enhance (and eventually steer) their genuine motivation to plan and implement significant activities in the near future. ‘Associated Regions’ will also become active members of A-AAGORA Community of Practice (CoP), a forum for the exchange of experiences and best practices for sake of the sustainability and extension of its objectives beyond these project’s duration.

Call opening: 24th July 2023

Call closing date: 24th September 2023

For more information, see the Guide for Applicants below.

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PREP4BLUE is Hiring Content Creators

ERINN — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 08:37:32 +0000

Video Content Creators & Mobile Journalists Wanted to Spotlight Mission Ocean Stories & Projects

Under the guidance of PREP4BLUE, and on a contractual basis, you will create engaging videos and images to promote the EU’s initiative Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030, including spotlighting partners, projects, success stories, etc. around Europe to generate public recognition of, appreciation for, and engagement with Mission Ocean. This is a role for those age 30 or younger, and selected content will be integrated into our upcoming social media campaign focused on youth and early career ocean professionals in the Mission.

Content Creators & Mobile Journalists (MoJo)

Do you love our ocean, rivers, and waters? You’re possibly an early career ocean professional or studying a relevant subject?

Do you love creating and telling stories on social media? Maybe you are an influencer in your own right?

Are you looking for a short-term, paid project that allows you to creatively combine your passions and build your portfolio on a major level?

We are looking for eight Mobile Journalists (MoJos) age 30 or younger to create and tell engaging stories for our social media channels. The goal is to engage younger generations in Mission Ocean by sparking awe, wonder, and awareness around our ocean and waters through captivating storytelling, thereby driving engagement in protecting these resources.

Location of MoJos

We are specifically looking for creators in the following major sea/river basins (two per basin):

– Atlantic-Arctic

– Mediterranean Sea

– Baltic-North Sea

– Danube-Black Sea

The Role

Working with the PREP4BLUE project staff and a specialist social media advisor, you will visibly shape social media efforts to promote the EU’s initiative “Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030,” including spotlighting partners, projects, and success stories through various video and image formats to generate public recognition of, appreciation for, and engagement with the Mission. Ideally, content will focus on spotlighting ECOP and youth efforts to implement the Mission goals of protecting, restoring, and sustainably using our marine and freshwater spaces through engaging, interesting, and informative content.

Being a MoJo

You will be provided with on-boarding and training when you join the team.
You will be required to work on your own initiative, but you will be assigned a mentor and possibly a Lighthouse content representative to help you discover issues/projects/people to cover.
You will be given a two-month employment contract and $500 to support your content creation (the latter budget is based on pre-agreed expenses and productivity; in specific instances, a higher sum can be requested).
You will get to network and collaborate with the other MoJos and various subject experts on this project.

Requirements

You are age 30 or younger, passionately believe in protecting our oceans and waters, and have an understanding of/interest in ocean/river sustainability issues.
Excellent, proven history of social media proficiency across all main platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) including reach, engagement, ability to grow followers, and influence behaviour, especially among those age 30 or younger.
Expertise in social media tools and creating quality written and video content.
Ideally, at least some experience in planning a social media campaign, including calendar, strategies, goals, KPIs, ad development/purchasing/placement, reputation management, engagement with followers, etc.
Self-driven with excellent time management skills and a “team-player” attitude
Personal and professional demeanor, including ability to confidently/politely interview and direct subjects.

Project Deliverables

Attend mandatory social media training
Read and follow social media briefs provided
Provide regular updates to your social media mentor
Source 4 compelling stories from your Lighthouse area that align with Mission Ocean
Create 8 Social Media Mobile Video Stories from your Lighthouse Area (length and content TBD)
Shoot at least 24 photos which are captioned with 75 words each
Repurpose these videos for other social networks (Instagram Carousel, Tweets, Facebook Status updates, etc.)

Remuneration

Employer: You will be working for the PREP4BLUE project and have a contract with the German Marine Research Consortium e.V. (KDM) based on German employment law.

Hours: You are free to set your own schedule with the understanding that over the two-month contract you will meet the project deliverables on time.

Location: Work remotely from your location within one of the above-mentioned river/sea/ocean Lighthouses.

Duration: Two months in the time period September 2023 to early 2024. The initial contract is for two months. In some cases, an extension is possible, depending on factors including content quality and public traction.

Applications

If this sounds like a match for you, please apply by completing this form.

Closing date for applications is midnight CEST on 28 July 2023.

All applicants will be notified if they are successful in reaching the interview stage.

Interviews will take place on Zoom in August. Selected candidates will receive training at the end of August in order to start the role at the beginning of September.

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PREP4BLUE Survey on Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies

ERINN — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 14:04:39 +0000

One of the objectives of PREP4BLUE is to support the creation of an enabling ecosystem, from a regulatory and economic perspective, that will allow for private and public investments in initiatives that promote a low-carbon and circular blue economy in line with the Mission’s objectives.

Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), which prioritise areas for investment in a region, are valuable tools in the hands of national and regional authorities. It allows them to strategically direct investment to regions which have a competitive advantage in particular areas. To collect insights from stakeholders on how to foster an enabling environment for the implementation of the Mission Ocean, especially from a regulatory and economic perspective, PREP4BLUE is inviting you to take part in a survey.

It is hoped that the results will contribute key learnings on the role played by the regions in the Mission and will nurture the analysis conducted in PREP4BLUE Work Package 5, led by S.Pro, to provide key recommendations on how to make the best use of various funding mechanisms, including the Interregional Innovation Investment (I3) Instrument financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), to support the Mission and future demonstration projects.

For further information on the questionnaire, please contact [email protected] and [email protected]

Access the survey here

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Knowledge Management in PREP4BLUE to foster impact towards the Mission Objectives

ERINN — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 14:30:20 +0000

The Knowledge Transfer (KT) process in PREP4BLUE (P4B), applies a tried and tested methodology, developed by WP4 Leader ERINN Innovation (Ireland), supported by innovative, AI-based information systems. The methodology is adapted to the needs of PREP4BLUE to build an effective tool for ‘Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters’.

The ultimate goal of the Knowledge Transfer Methodology by ERINN is to enhance uptake of solutions and thus foster impact. To achieve impact, the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on European Missions highlights that “Missions put emphasis on demonstrating, scaling up and replicating existing and new solutions including social innovations. This will ensure a tailor-made innovation approach including social innovation, in which solutions will be fully adapted to fit local circumstances. Furthermore, incremental changes will not be sufficient. These challenges require disruption, new ideas and risk-taking. Missions fully embrace out-of-the-box thinking by stimulating experimentation and bottom-up, multiple solutions to reach their objectives, also embracing education and training institutions for their key role in developing citizens’ talents, knowledge and skills”.

The WP4 activities are deeply aligned to this vision. Solutions are identified with innovative AI-supported tools developed by FHG (Leader of Task 4.1) and SDU (Leader of Task 4.2). Knowledge is transferred by a dedicated group of ‘Knowledge Fellows’ led by ERINN (Leader of Task 4.3) in collaboration with CNR and CETMAR.

In a value driven approach, the first months of work within WP4 were focused on building an ontology, developing aMission Ecosystem Database (DB), training the knowledge fellows, while also trialing and adapting the methodology to the needs in PREP4BLUE. Initial results are now ready to be shared: based on the AI supported DB-based identification of relevant projects, synergies with 24 innovative projects have been established and over 90 research outputs have been identified with potential contribution to the Mission Objectives which will be again showcased in the DB.

In the second year of P4B these efforts will continue using an agile approach. Moreover, expert panels are now being organised with the partners involved in Task 4.3 to identify the outputs with high potential to contribute to the mission objectives. With these, Knowledge Transfer activities will be undertaken subsequent scale-up in the Mission Lighthouse Areas and in collaboration with the projects funded under the Mission. The alpha version of the DB is foreseen to go live in October ’23.

The co-creative and co-implementative nature of PREP4BLUE is put into practice in WP4 to prepare the ‘Research & Innovation Core for Mission Ocean, Seas & Waters’.

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PREP4BLUE Citizen Engagement Webinar Series – Recordings Available!

ERINN — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 09:52:21 +0000

PREP4BLUE has just completed its first webinar series on citizen engagement titled “Planning for Citizen Participation in Mission Ocean & Waters”. With over 500 participants registered, the series was a great way to launch the first of many webinars planned within the PREP4BLUE project.

The four sessions explore a range of different topics to support participants in the design of a project, work package, or programme of activities in alignment with the citizen engagement targets of the EU Mission: Restore Our Ocean and Waters By 2030. The webinars are packed full of practical examples and guidance on where to access further resources.

The European Commission’s ambition in relation to citizen engagement with Mission Ocean falls under a handful of clear themes. Each of the webinars in this series is structured around one of these themes. Overall, the series equips the audience with the knowledge required to orient project proposals and restoration, anti-pollution, and other related activities towards the Mission’s targets in relation to citizen engagement.

The webinar series will be of interest to anyone applying for Mission Ocean funding under Horizon Europe. It will also be of interest to current Mission-funded projects, as well as those working on citizen engagement in marine and freshwater-related activities across the NGO, industry, research, community, citizen science groups, and local government sectors.

For queries on this latest webinar series please contact [email protected].

Recordings of the webinars are now available here!

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EUROMARINE pledges to the Mission Charter

ERINN — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:18:50 +0000

PREP4BLUE partners EUROMARINE, the European Marine Research Network, have pledged to the Mission Charter. With ten different actions pledged, EUROMARINE is continuing to show its commitment to supporting Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ objectives.

Pledging to the Mission Charter is a great way for organisations to show their support for the Mission and take part in a joint European effort to protect our ocean and waters. All actions pledged to the Mission Charter are welcome and should fall into one of the following categories:

Research and innovation
Evidence-based knowledge and data and/or access provision to knowledge and data
Upscaling, deployment and replication of solutions
Citizen engagement, citizens-science, youth-led initiatives, communities of practice, ocean and water literacy, outreach, awareness raising and participatory approaches
Education and training

To capture the full spectrum of their activities, pledging organisations are encouraged to make as many pledges as they like. Pledges can be based on new or existing activities.

Under ‘Education and Training’ for example, EUROMARINE have made two pledges to organise two different Summer Schools. The first pledge is on the EuroMarine Summer School on “Emerging topics in coastal marine ecosystems” which will be held in July 2023 in Cádiz (Spain). Aimed mainly at PhD students, the main objective is to provide broad and interdisciplinary training on a series of emerging topics in the study of coastal marine ecosystems including climate change, mitigation measures, anthropogenic impacts, the use of marine technologies and the management of Marine Protected Areas.

The second pledge is on the Euromarine Summer School on “Interdisciplinary Ocean Transformation”. The audience for this course is Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The training aims to support ECRs in developing the interdisciplinary skills needed to enhance the impact of their research beyond their disciplinary expertise by addressing complex ocean challenges through collaborative projects.

Under the ‘Research and Innovation’ category, Euromarine has made pledges to run a series of Foresight Workshops which will provide an opportunity for research teams to scope and collaborate on an existing or emerging topic in marine science research that would support the Mission. These workshops will address a range of topics from deep-sea mining to developing Pan-European response to aquatic Invasive species.

This is just a snapshot of some of the activities pledged by EUROMARINE. To read more about their planned actions, head on over to Marine Forum to find out more.

For more information about the benefits of pledging and how to submit actions, please visit the PREP4BLUE website.

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New Portfolio Analysis identifies over 800 EU-funded projects contributing to the Mission!

ERINN — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 09:45:53 +0000

The European Commission has published a new Portfolio Analysis which has identified over 800 EU-funded projects contributing to the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”. The projects are from across 16 different funding programmes including Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, Interreg, LIFE 2027, EMFAF and ERASMUS+ 2027.

The Report highlights innovative solutions as well as gaps and synergies that could require further support at the EU level.

The report alongside an accompanying dashboard have been made available online. The dashboard allows user to “interact” with data and access more detailed information as needed. Both the report and dashboard can be access by clicking on the buttons below.

Access the report here

Access the dashboard here

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PREP4BLUE Toolbox for Citizen Engagement

ERINN — Mon, 29 May 2023 13:36:39 +0000

Public mobilisation and engagement are crucial elements of the European Commission’s Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’. There is a wealth of approaches that facilitate this engagement including co-production of knowledge, citizen participation, activation and training, hackathons and citizen science initiatives.

With so many different approaches, it can be challenging to maintain an overview of methodologies, let alone choose a method to use among the many possibilities. To support this, PREP4BLUE partners from Nordland Research Institute and MaREI have developed a Toolbox for Citizen Engagement that maps the different ways in which participation can be facilitated and offers guidance on choosing an approach for different situations.

The toolbox is aimed at stakeholders including funding authorities, European projects under the Mission, individuals and organisations working on citizen engagement and the wider R&I community.

The toolbox includes a review of the underpinning theory and typology of citizen engagement approaches, an explanation of key terminology, a three-step framework for managing citizen engagement and, examples of tools and advice on aligning activities with the Mission.

The toolbox is available to all Mission stakeholders and can be downloaded for free by clicking on the button below.

NOTE: This is an evolving document and will be added to as PREP4BLUE progresses, making use of feedback from Mission Ocean project participants and other users, until final delivery in 2025 (2022-2025 development and piloting’ phase 1), when the toolbox ought to be available for deployment in the second phase of the Mission (2026-2030 deployment and upscaling’ phase 2)

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Open Consultation: United Nations Ocean Conferences

ERINN — Tue, 02 May 2023 15:54:39 +0000

The Third UN Ocean Conference will take place in Nice in June 2025. It is chaired jointly by the governments of France and Costa Rica. This follows the first and second UN Ocean Conferences, respectively held in New York in June 2017 and in Lisbon in June 2022.

It is recognised that in order for the conference to create transformative change, participation and input from civil society and NGOs is essential. To drive this, a global consultation is now open until 15th June 2023. All civil society organisations working on ocean issues around the world are invited to share feedback and expectations for the upcoming Conference.

If you would like to take part, you can access more information and share your insights here.

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How to increase citizen participation in marine and freshwater initiatives across Europe

ERINN — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:20:36 +0000

From October 2022 – January 2023, the PREP4BLUE team undertook an analysis of citizen participation in marine and freshwater activities across Europe and its waters. The survey was translated into 11 languages and disseminated through research, advocacy, industry, and community networks around Europe.

The aims of the study were to examine the organisations and projects working on citizen engagement in the space, and to assess their needs in terms of resources and training. The results will be useful to those planning citizen-focused activities in marine and freshwater initiatives. The overall goal is to place citizen engagement at the core of marine and freshwater ecosystem restoration, pollution reduction, and making the blue economy carbon neutral and circular, in line with the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030.

A snapshot of the results and recommendations can be found here. If you have any questions, please get in contact with PREP4BLUE project partner David Whyte at [email protected].

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Launch of the Danube & Black Sea Lighthouse

ERINN — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:41:03 +0000

The EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ officially launched a new ‘lighthouse’ in the Danube and Black Sea. It will bring together community and sectoral stakeholders in the region to find solutions to restore the health of the water system.

The event took place in the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest (Romania) on 3^rd and 4^th of April 2023 and was attended by over 200 participants. It was co-organised by the European Commission, the Romanian government, and the EcoDaLLi CSA.

Mission lighthouses are sites to pilot, demonstrate, develop, and deploy the Mission activities across EU seas and river basins. With the support of EcoDaLLi, the Danube-Black Sea lighthouse will aim to centralise governance structures along the Danube river basin, and foster a stronger innovation ecosystem for improved ecological restoration, protection and preservation.

Pictured below is PREP4BLUE partner Justine Brossard (CRPM) who represented the project at the event.

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JPI Oceans pledges three actions to the Mission Charter

ERINN — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 17:00:56 +0000

JPI Oceans has submitted its first set of pledges to the Mission Charter. In so doing, JPI Oceans is showing its commitment to contribute to the objectives of Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’

The EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investment. JPI Oceans is actively involved in supporting the Mission as a partner in PREP4BLUE, a Horizon Europe project, which aims to facilitate the successful first phase of the Mission. By pledging to the Mission’s Charter, JPI Oceans and its member states are showcasing their commitment to contributing resources and knowledge in support of the Mission objectives.

Pledging to the Mission Charter is one way for organisations to show their support for the Mission and take part in a joint European effort to protect our ocean and waters. JPI Ocean’s first set of pledges address ‘Cumulative Effects of Human Activities’, ‘Ecological Aspects of Microplastics’ and ‘Underwater Noise in the Marine Environment’. To capture the full spectrum of activities, the Mission encourages stakeholders to make multiple submissions to the Charter, and JPI Oceans is already planning to pledge further actions to the Mission.

All actions pledged to the Mission Charter are welcome and should fall into one of the following categories:

Research and innovation
Evidence-based knowledge and data and/or access provision to knowledge and data
Upscaling, deployment and replication of solutions
Citizen engagement, citizens-science, youth-led initiatives, communities of practice, ocean and water literacy, outreach, awareness raising and participatory approaches
Education and training

Under the ‘Evidence-based knowledge and data’ category, JPI Oceans’ first pledge on ‘Cumulative Effects of Human Activities’ is a Knowledge Hub for national experts from six JPI Oceans member countries. Together they will generate a report with guidelines and recommendations on how to assess cumulative effects of human activities on the marine environment.

Their second pledge on ‘Ecological Aspects of Microplastics’ is a commitment of €18.2 million euro, since 2014, from fifteen European countries and Brazil, which under the framework of the JPI Oceans Joint Action has financed 10 pan-European research projects. This falls under the ‘Research and Innovation’ category.

Their third pledge on ’Underwater Noise in the Marine Environment’ is on a joint call for proposals which resulted in five projects. These projects recently gathered in Brussels for a kick-off event on 14 February to present their project plans, identify common challenges and seek harmonization opportunities. This pledge will also contribute ‘Research and Innovation’ in support of Mission objectives.

The European Commission is calling on all stakeholders to adhere to the Mission Charter by submitting actions for achieving the Mission objectives. Pledges can be based on new or existing activities. The Charter is non-binding and open to any public or private interested parties wishing to pledge actions contributing to the Mission objectives.

For more information about the benefits of pledging and how to submit actions, please visit the PREP4BLUE website.

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First Annual Mission Ocean Forum

ERINN — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 14:20:47 +0000

The first Annual Forum for EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” took place in Brussels, on the 17^thof February. The flagship event is the largest annual gathering of the Mission. Forum attendees had the chance to discover more about innovative approaches being applied to restore our ocean and waters, grow their network and learn how to be part of the Mission community.

The forum was a great opportunity for Mission actors, to meet, collaborate and find new ways to work together to promote the restoration of our ocean and waters. During the day a meeting took place between the coordinators from Mission CSAs BlueMissionAA, BlueMissionBANOS, BlueMissionMED, EcoDaLLI and PREP4BLUE, coordinators of the Mission Implementation Platform and the Mission managers John Bell and Kęstutis Sadauskas. During that meeting it was decided that all parties would work together, keep communication channels open and coordinate to promote the Mission to all stakeholders.

The second annual Mission forum will take place in early 2024.

A recording of the event can be found here.

Meeting between the Mission CSAs, Mission Implementation Platform and Mission Managers John Bell and Kęstutis Sadauskas

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Aligning Smart Specialisation Strategies with Mission objectives

ERINN — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 10:27:50 +0000

Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), which prioritise areas for investment in a region, are valuable tools in the hands of national and regional authorities. It allows them to strategically direct investment to regions which have a competitive advantage in particular areas. Last December, PREP4BLUE project partner CPMR launched a questionnaire to its members to assess the alignment between Smart Specialisation Strategies and Mission Ocean’s objectives.

The questionnaire will be followed by targeted interviews conducted with regional authorities in February 2023 to deepen the analysis of region’s S3s and assess their potential to contribute to the ambitious objectives of the Mission.

The resulting study will provide concrete elements on the role played by the regions in the Mission and will nurture the analysis conducted in PREP4BLUE Work Package 5, led by S.Pro, to provide key recommendations on how to make the best use of various funding mechanisms, including the Interregional Innovation Investment (I3) Instrument financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), to support the Mission and future demonstration projects.

For further information on the questionnaire and the interviews, please contact [email protected] and [email protected]

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Mapping EU Projects to the Mission Ocean Objectives and Next Steps

ERINN — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:11:36 +0000

PREP4BLUE aims at preparing the Mission Ocean for a successful start. To achieve this goal, PREP4BLUE needs to identify high potential solutions, ensure citizen participation and guarantee stakeholder engagement. Led by SDU RIO, task 4.2 aims at building the tools to support the accomplishment of these needs. The tools will provide mappings and insights on European and international fundings, stakeholders, research and innovation activities and initiatives that are relevant to the Mission Ocean. The tools will also allow the efficient exchange of expertise and best practices, and the exploration of synergies and complementarities, creating a potential model to track and visualise the mission progress.

SDU RIO has already started to support partners in WP4 to find innovative solutions and engage with the knowledge owners, by doing a first selection of projects relevant to the Mission Ocean. Using a machine-driven approach we analyzed Horizon 2020 projects and highlighted more than 1500 projects matching at least one of the three Mission Ocean objectives.

SDU RIO is now building the mission ocean ecosystem database which will allow continuous updates with new activities and actors relevant to the Mission. SDU RIO is also building the web platform where PREP4BLUE partners will be able to visualise and explore the database in a user-friendly way.

We are looking for datasets of initiatives, projects and/or stakeholders acting within the marine and freshwater fields. If you have a dataset or list and would like to share it with us in order to contribute to the Mission Ocean and give those projects and actors a higher chance to bring impact to our oceans and waters, feel free to contact Maéva Vignes from SDU RIO at [email protected].

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Launch of the Charter for the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”

ERINN — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:13:45 +0000

The launch of the charter for Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” took place in Lisbon at the Oceanário de Lisboa on the 30th of June 2022.

Members States, regions, and relevant stakeholders were invited to discover the charter and further engage with actions for a successful implementation of the Mission and its lighthouses.

Among participants were Charlina Vitcheva, Director-General, DG MARE, European Commission, Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, European Commission, Jose’ Maria Costa, Secretary of State of the Sea – Economy and Sea Ministry, Carlos Moedas, Mayor of the Lisbon City Council, and Maria da Graça Carvalho, Member of the European Parliament.

You can find the Charter here or click the green button below if you would like to endorse it.

Endorse the Charter

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‘Mission Ecosystem Database’: Knowledge Transfer in PREP4BLUE

ERINN — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:00:33 +0000

One of PREP4BLUE’s overarching objectives, is to develop a ‘Mission Ecosystem Database’ – a best practice knowledge management system that will ensure innovative solutions that can support the goals of the Mission and protect the health of our waters are identified, managed and effectively transferred to Mission stakeholders. Partners in Work Package (WP) 4, will support this Knowledge Transfer (KT) process using a tried and tested methodology developed by WP4 Leader ERINN Innovation (Ireland).

Using ERINN’s approach, PREP4BLUE partners will collect novel R&I solutions, including methods, tools, data, information, technologies and processes, that can be used by Mission stakeholder to help realise Mission goals. To pilot the KT-process, partners in SDU (Denmark) launched an AI powered search to identify over 416 projects with innovative solutions which could contribute to furthering Mission objectives. This search will be expanded overtime to build a universe of similarly innovative solutions at EU, country and local scale, as well as in different sectors, such as civil society, policy, industry and ‘R+D+i’. Initial knowledge collection will start in December 2022 and continue on in the project. To support with this process an interdisciplinary team of ‘PREP4BLUE Knowledge Fellows’ from CETMAR (Spain), CNR (Italy) and ERINN has been established to meet with the coordinators of these projects to find out more about their research and the innovative solutions developed during their projects, to identify the key-learnings to be then transferred.

To prepare the fellows for the next steps, the group participated in an interactive ‘knowledge collection’ workshop, delivered by ERINN, at the end of November 2022. The hands-on workshop was a great opportunity for the Knowledge Fellows to come together and lay the foundations for the work ahead.

If you are involved in research, industry or policy, contributing to the ‘EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters’ and would like to share your findings and enhance the visibility of your activities, please feel free to contact the T4.3 lead ERINN via Caecilia Manago, [email protected].

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Launch of New Survey on Citizen Engagement

ERINN — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 15:56:23 +0000

Since June 2022, PREP4BLUE WP3 has been busy preparing the ground for the mass involvement of citizens in Mission Ocean and Waters activities. The work package is led by MaREI SFI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, University College Cork.

The WP3 team has recently developed and launched a survey to assess the needs of those that attempt to engage citizens in marine and freshwater matters. The team will use the results to design a series of free training supports, resources, funding, and networking opportunities that will be offered free of charge to those involved in citizen engagement in marine and freshwater matters.

We invite anyone interested to take part in the brief survey (7-10 minutes) that will help us design our resources to be most useful to you. All data and results are anonymized. The survey can be accessed by clicking on the green button below.

The survey is available in 10 languages (Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish). To change language, use the box at the top right of the introduction page of the survey. Please send to your contact lists as appropriate! Any questions can be directed to [email protected].

Access survey here

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PREP4BLUE: Progress towards EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030

Kode88 — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 14:06:36 +0000

An exciting project to enable the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030 is underway. PREP4BLUE (Preparing the Research & Innovation Core for Mission Ocean, Seas & Waters) project partners met in Brussels on 14 and 15 September to share initial results and plans for next steps in this €4.9 million, three-year project supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe funding programme.

Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030 seeks to protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas, and waters, and make the Blue Economy sustainable, carbon neutral, and circular. PREP4BLUE aims to inspire, engage, and involve citizens and stakeholders to interlink, leverage, and optimise activities among Mission projects, in particular in specific “Lighthouse” areas: Mediterranean Sea, Baltic and North Seas, Danube River basin, and the Atlantic/Arctic Sea basin.

Dr François Houllier, CEO of the Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (Ifremer), welcomed the participants at the French Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Dr John Bell, the European Commission’s Healthy Planet Director opened the meeting by emphasising PREP4BLUE’s key role in the implementation of the Mission: “Working at scale, on the ground, with citizens, promoting innovation to create impact [together we need to ensure] systemic, irreversible change towards the mission objectives”.

Partner discussions at the meeting focused on the practical steps needed to develop the methodologies, tools and resources that will underpin all initiatives hoping to respond to the Mission objectives. The goal for PREP4BLUE is to provide robust methodologies and practical guidance that will enable all citizens and stakeholders to engage in the co-creation and co-implementation of activities to support Mission objectives.

Project Coordinator, Natalia Martin Palenzuela, Director of International and European Affairs at the Ifremer said,

“Bringing the PREP4BLUE partners together for their first in-person meeting was an exciting milestone. There was a real buzz in the room with stimulating conversations and collaborations that were much more dynamic face to face compared to online. It was clear that everyone is both committed to the project and motivated to develop tangible, practical solutions that will support the entire EU community to achieve its Mission. I’m looking forward to the next stages of the project!”

To stay up to date with progress, follow @PREP4BLUE on Twitter and check out the project website, prep4blue.eu, coming soon. To engage with Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030, follow @eumissionocean on Twitter, and visit EU Missions in Horizon Europe to learn more about all five EU Missions.

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