News

On the 4th of December in Algiers, Ministers of 10 Western Mediterranean countries, at the presence of the European Commission and the Union for the Mediterranean, adopted a declaration to strengthen maritime regional cooperation under the WestMED initiative. The declaration, which also includes a roadmap to develop sustainable blue economy in the region, identifies the key programme initiatives to contribute to the WestMED cooperation strategy “by sharing its experience deriving from the results achieved by the projects funded within the previous programming period and those to be funded within the 2014-2020 Programming period.” (source: enpicbcmed)

Declaration of Algiers: https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/

On the eve of the ministerial meeting, the Managing Authority participated in the stakeholder conference “Towards concrete blue actions in the western Mediterranean”. The cooperation and funding opportunities in the blue economy sector were presented to over 300 participants. The conference fostered exchange of project ideas among regional maritime stakeholders (businesses, researchers and institutes, national and local authorities).

Further information: http://www.westmed-initiative.eu/ 

Sustainable economic development is one of the three priorities of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM). In accordance with this priority, the Assembly decided to grant an award to a young entrepreneur from the Mediterranean partner countries who has been supported by her or his local/regional authority (LRA). This initiative is being proposed by the forthcoming draft ARLEM report on youth entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean.

To encourage LRA and young entrepreneurs to work together to ensure the dynamism of the region's economy, the award is aiming at showcasing successful examples of young entrepreneurship (up to 35 years old) in the Mediterranean region* (*Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey).
The winner will be announced at the award ceremony at the 10th ARLEM Plenary session in Seville on 26-27 February 2019.

More information: https://cor.europa.eu/ga/news/Pages/ARLEM-young-entrepreneur-prize.aspx

Towards concrete ‘blue’ actions in the western Mediterranean
Monday 3rd of December 2018 - Alger Centre, Algeria

This  conference aims to facilitate the exchange of project ideas and promote concrete project development among stakeholders in the region operating in the maritime sector (businesses, researchers, institutes, national and local authorities belonging to the western Mediterranean Countries).

The project ideas, concrete proposals and potential partnerships  discussed will benefit of the support put in place by the Assistance Mechanism set up by the European Commission to boost the implementation of the WestMED Initiative.

Agenda: http://www.westmed-initiative.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Preliminary-Programme-WestMED_English_24.10.2018-2.pdf
Registration: https://rsvp.digitevent.com/#/westmedconferencealger
More information: http://www.westmed-initiative.eu/

The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund has launched a new call of a total budget of €18,7 million.

The call focuses on three topics:

• Blue Labs (link)
• Blue Careers (link)
• Blue Economy (link)

You can receive up to 80% co-financing for your project (65% for Blue Economy topic).
The call opened for submissions on 23 October 2018 and applications can be submitted via the "Funding and opportunity Portal" until 31/01/2019.

Information day on the new Blue Economy call - 22 November 2018 in Brussels (link).

More information on: website

On the 18th and 19th of October 2018, the Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS in Trieste (Italy) hosted the 6th GSO Meeting of the 5+5 Dialogue for Research, Innovation and Higher education within the western Mediterranean region.
The delegates discussed about the implementation steps of the current work plan approved in Tunis in 2017 for the biennium 2017-2018 and begin the preparation of the forthcoming ministerial conference that will take place in Italy on March/April 2019 in Rome (Italy).
 

OGS is glad to announce that 10 scholarships will be available for outstanding candidates selected among the applicants to the second edition of the Advanced Master in Sustainable Blue Growth (2018/2019).
The scholarships will be dedicated to students coming from the Dialogue 5+5 member states (Western Mediterranean countries: Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia) and Central European Initiative member states (Balkan countries).

The Advanced Master on Sustainable Blue Growth is jointly organized by  the University of Trieste and the OGS, the Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics for researchers, scientists and managers. The aim of the Master is to support the creation of stable and attractive career pathways and highly skilled talents that will be needed to support expanding marine and maritime sectors. The focus of the Master is on strengthening professional skills and enhancing competencies in fields related to the blue economy.

The application deadline is the 15th of October!

Click here for the online form.

The European Commission (EC) published the first annual report on the state of the EU blue economy. The report shows that the European maritime economy is a driver of economic growth, jobs and innovation.

Representing 1.3% of the total European Gross Domestic Product, the maritime economy is a dynamically growing sector with a turnover of €566 billion, generating €174 billion of value added and providing jobs for 3 and a half million people in Europe.

For the purposes of the report, the blue economy represents all economic activities related to oceans, seas or coastal areas, such as fisheries, aquaculture and tourism as well as emerging industries, like ocean energy and blue biotechnology. In several EU member states, the blue economy has grown faster than the national economy in the last decade.

The report, which was co-authored by the EC's Joint Research Centre, presents the current status and recent trends in the six established blue economy sectors in different EU Member States, to gain insight into where new opportunities and sustainable competitive advantage may be found.

The EC sees the report as supporting policymakers and stakeholders in creating new business opportunities and in managing the resources of oceans, seas and coastal resources in a sustainable manner.

Further info: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/566-billion-and-growing-eu-blue-economy...

The document (pdf): https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/sites/maritimeaffairs/files/2018-an...

The BlueMed Coordination and Support Action (CSA) in collaboration with the BlueMed Group of Senior Officials Working Group (GSO WG), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the European Commission (DG Research) launched the national consultations across the non-EU member countries with the aim to extend the BlueMed Strategic and Research Agenda for Research and Innovation (SRIA).

These are the forthcoming events:

• June 25th 2018 by National School of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management (ENSSMAL) Algiers, Algeria;
• June 26th 2018 by the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies (INSTM) Tunis, Tunisia;
• June 27th 2018 by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) Ankara, Turkey;
• July 3rd 2018 at the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST) Amman, Jordan;
• July 6th 2018 at National Institute Of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) Alexandria, Egypt.

Stay tuned!

More information about the BlueMed Initiative: http://www.bluemed-initiative.eu/

The Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in partnership with Festival for the Earth launches the 2018 edition of the Best Climate Solutions Award, looking for innovative projects and ideas to communicate climate change in education, advocacy, media production. The winning proposal will be presented at the Festival for the Earth 2018 in Venice and will receive a cash prize of 3000 euros.

The 2018 edition of the Best Climate Solutions Award focuses on the challenge of “Communicating Climate Change Threats and Opportunities,” and it is organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in partnership for the first time with the Festival for the Earth (festivalfortheearth.com).

Detailed information on deadlines, eligibility and evaluation process are available on the Award section of the Best Climate Solutions website.

Source: https://www.cmcc.it/climate-science-communication/innovation-in-communic...

The BLUEMED Consortium is pleased to announce that the BLUEMED Call for Start up Actions is now open!

The Start-up Actions represent concrete opportunities to explore innovative, knowledge-based pathways and forward-looking visions with a multidisciplinary, mission-oriented approach, for further uptake and developments. Addressed to entities who are willing to partner up with at least three other organisations from different countries, including one non-EU country and one private enterprise, it will fund a series of meetings leading up to a feasibility, foresight or pilot study on topics that are crucial to the future of Blue Growth in the Mediterranean, driven by the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. Interested parties are invited to carefully read the Terms of Reference laying out all the conditions for applying. Each selected partnership will receive up to 32,000 Euros to cover the costs of the organisation of three workshops/meetings leading to the drafting of the studies.

Deadline for submission is the 15th July 2018.

Call and application form available here: http://www.bluemed-initiative.eu/start-up-actions/