The event was organised by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions – Intermediterranean Commission (CPRM-IMC), partner of both BlueMissionMed and the Innovative Sustainable Economy Mission with the support of CNR, IFREMER, FVA, and Emilia-Romagna Region.
On Tuesday 8th of July 2025, the webinar Boosting synergies for innovative solutions in water management, depollution and restoration in the Mediterranean Basin took place, bringing together members of the BlueMissionMed and Interreg Euro-MED communities.
The event aimed to synergise the Innovative Sustainable Economy (ISE) Mission with EU Mission ‘Restore Our Ocean & Waters’ Mediterranean Lighthouse. Two different worlds with similar policy and sustainability objectives in the field of water management, restoration and depollution.
More specifically, the webinar was the first in a series of cross-fertilization activities meant to develop synergies across BlueMissionMed, the governance project implementing the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean & Waters Mediterranean Lighthouse, and the governance projects of the ISE Mission. Led and moderated by Francesco Camonita – CPRM-IMC – the webinar promoted cross-learning between EU funding programmes, support to the capitalisation approach, and encouraged future cooperation at various levels. In this collaborative environment, various actors took the floor to present their work, and a dedicated space was set aside for exchanges between Thematic projects within the Interreg world.
The event opened with a presentation by Loïc Blanchard – Directorate General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. Mr. Blanchard introduced the framework and objectives of the EU Mission ‘Restore Our Ocean & Waters’ and referred to the Commission’s recently adopted strategic guidance documents, the European Ocean Pact and the EU Water Resilience Strategy, which will address water-related challenges in the coming years.
Fedra Francocci – CNR, Lead Partner of BlueMissionMed – then introduced the context of the project, which aims to create a Mediterranean ecosystem for implementing the objectives of the EU Mission ‘Restore Our Ocean & Waters’. The report Depolluting the Mediterranean, which offers the latest information on potential anti-pollution solutions in key economic sectors, was also mentioned as part of the project. A space was dedicated to the Support Programme for solution providers and seekers, presented by Irene Alonso – ECORYS. The Programme acts as an engine to provide targeted support through different streams, spanning from acceleration and scale-up of Innovative Transformative Solutions, to match-making and support to potential solution implementers.
The event continued with an in-depth look at the world of Interreg, beginning with an opening speech by Isabelle Nobio – Interreg Euro-MED Joint Secretariat. After introducing the architecture of Euro-MED, Ms. Nobio clearly emphasised the blue and green vocation of the Programme, which aims to promote climate neutrality through various initiatives and projects, including Strategic territorial projects focused on water management.
After that, the focus turned to the governance projects of the ISE Mission: Dialogue4Innovation and Community4Innovation. Maria Caldero Pascual – BETA/UVIC, Community4Innovation Lead Partner – presented the nature of the Mission, which aims to strengthen and emphasise the impact of 23 Thematic projects and ensure their solutions are adopted at the policy level. Alessandro Daraio – Emilia-Romagna Region, Dialogue4Innovation Lead Partner – then presented some relevant opportunities from the ISE world that could contribute to improving sustainable water management in the Mediterranean. These include the Catalogue of ISE Solutions, the ISEC Hub, the future Transformative Policy Labs (TIPLabs) on sustainable water and the MedCoopNet targeted analysis, financed by ESPON.
The second part of the event showcased projects from the Interreg Euro-MED Missions that address water management issues. Participants had the opportunity to engage in an interactive session facilitated via an interactive Miro board. Changemakers from the Interreg Euro-MED community, working in various sectors such as aquaculture, fisheries, blue biotechnologies and marine renewable energy, presented their solutions across different categories:
- Support to technical deployment, scale-up and replication of solutions (technological expertise, pilot implementation assistance, feasibility studies, etc.)
- Support to finance and business (cascading funds, help to accelerating business plan/financial pitching of solutions, opportunities for sponsored replicability, etc.)
- Support to policy and governance (policy labs, recommendations, policy papers, etc.)
- Support to societal engagement (citizen science, engagements, labs, activities, societal awards, etc.)
The aim was to foster mutual understanding of current developments at the Euro-Mediterranean level and explore the possibility of including these solutions in the BlueMissionMed’s future Catalogue of Services & Experts to increase visibility and capitalization of results.
Among the ISE projects particularly relevant was the participation and contribution of some of the Thematic projects of our Marine resources cluster:
- 2B-BLUE shared information on its demonstration sites for testing blue biotechnologies and highigheted the future creation of research units for public-private cooperation in testing blue biotechnologies solutions
- AquaBioNets introduced the future Living Labs for capacity building for different stakeholders (Public Authorities, SMEs, Research institutions, Civil Society)
- AZA4ICE highlighted the development of Aquaculture business model to facilitate the transition to more sustainable models.
The event provided a clear overview of the current state of the two Programmes with respect to Mediterranean water management. It highlighted a shared purpose and a desire to continue aligning strategies and actions. This relevant, concrete, synergistic initiative enhanced mutual understanding between different EU funding programmes and projects, paving the way for future cooperation and joint actions.
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