Maritime “Awareness” is currently a top priority for Europe. “Awareness” sought either in regards of maritime security, border control against irregular immigration and safety of navigation while at the same time “awareness” sought in regards of the marine environment and climate change. “Awareness” is sought both for sea-basins of traditional interest like the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as well as for basins currently trending like the Arctic. MARINE-EO teams up a group of 5 maritime authorities (the buyers’ group) and a group of 4 prestigious scientific and technical organizations with significant experience in EO and maritime matters (the technical advisors) to achieve the following objectives: (1) Develop, test and validate two set of demand-driven EO-based services which cover Marine Monitoring and Security Copernicus thematic areas, adopted on open standards, bringing incremental or radical innovations in the field of maritime awareness and leveraging on the existing Copernicus Services and other products from the Copernicus portfolio, (2) Propose a set of “support” / “envelop” services which will better integrate the above mentioned EO and Copernicus-enabled services to the operational logic and code of conduct. Such services shall also bring “closer” the demand side (Public Authorities - PAs) with the EO data providers (Copernicus - contributing missions) and EO data experts and analysts (Service providers/ industry and SMEs) creating a dynamic environment for a single digital market to grow, (3) Strengthen transnational collaboration in maritime awareness sector by facilitating knowledge transfer and optimization of resources for the public authorities which, participate in the buyers group. Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) is a powerful tool to tackle these three points under one single joint initiative, and this is why MARINE-EO is in an excellent position to reinforce future capabilities.

The BLUEMED Project is a Coordination and Support Action for the exploitation of the BLUEMED Research and Innovation Initiative for blue jobs and growth in the Mediterranean area, with particular reference to the implementation of the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The ultimate objective is to support the activation of sustainable ‘blue’ innovation and growth, by fostering integration of knowledge and efforts of relevant stakeholders from EU Member States of the Mediterranean Basin, and then among these, non-EU and other EU Countries. To this end, the project will set the scene for the effective coordination of marine and maritime research and innovation activities in the long term. In particular, the Work Package 2 will consolidate the BLUEMED SRIA, develop the BLUEMED Implementation Plan, and promote joint implementation. Four dedicated working Platforms on knowledge, economy, technology, and policy will be set up to allow representatives from research, private sector, public administration, and civil society to work together, pivoting on identified key players of these sectors at national level. The Work Package 3 will address relevant framework conditions for efficiently implementing actions, including indicators and assessment methodologies, and key enabling factors such as research infrastructures, data policies, and human resources. Feasibility studies on specific priorities will be developed by the Start-up Actions under Work Package 4. The Work Package 5 will be finally devoted to enlarge the participation to non-EU countries, through connection with project and other suitable activities for promoting the BLUEMED concept and involve all countries in the perspective of a global Mediterranean. The coordination and management of the project, the functioning of the governance as well as communication and dissemination activities will be carried out within Work Package 1.

The proposal for additional activities for the European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) responds to the Horizon Europe (HE) call HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-1. Building on the work for enhancing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA, updated version publication foreseen in spring 2024), 74 partners (+14 compared to the existing GA) from 29 (+4 compared to the existing GA) countries among Member States (MS), Associated Countries (AC) and Third Countries (TC), with the support of the EC will continue implementing the R&I programme together with comprehensive management activities to support the transformation of the blue economy, enhancing impact and building capacities as well as further structuring the ERA. In continuation with the existing Grant Agreement (GA), in its 2nd cycle, corresponding to the second instalment of the HE Work Programme, the Partnership will contribute to the Expected Outcomes of the topic HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-02 by implementing two joint co-funded calls (in cash) together with a set of additional activities demonstrating European added valued to be carried out by deploying other type of assets. These entail: alignment of national thematic annual programming, alignment of monitoring programmes and sharing of research infrastructures through an open call for transnational access. As far as regards coordination and management activities, beside enhancing some existing tasks towards an increased impact, three new key tasks are foreseen on developing: (i) the Implementation Plan, (ii) thematic/regional portfolios (i.e. clusters) of projects supported through different HE calls as well as different programmes, (iii) future additional activities, e.g. on a European Ocean Observing System Knowledge Hub or an Early career PhDs network. In terms of priority areas, the new one on 'resilient coastal communities and businesses' adds to the four existing ones.

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP) aims to design, steer and support a just and inclusive transition to a regenerative, resilient and sustainable blue economy, boosting the transformation needed towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive EU by 2030. The SBEP will deliver solutions to strengthen EU and international science-policy interfaces in marine- and maritime-related domains of the EU Green Deal and Digital Europe strategies through aligning national, regional and EU R&I priorities bringing together science, industry, policy and society. It will also contribute to accelerate the post-pandemic recovery and resilience. In line with the EC new approach for a sustainable blue economy in the EU, the SBEP rolls-out impact pathways to: catalyse the transformation of ocean economy value chains; deliver ocean knowledge and impact-driven R&I solutions; cooperate to respond to international, EU and national regulations, recommendations and policy strategies; contribute to the social and digital transition by developing innovative governance frameworks that benefit coastal communities, including by reinforcing skills and enhance ocean observation capacity contributing to EOOS and GEOSS. Together with the EC, 59 partners from 25 countries (MS and AC) in the first phase that raised to 75 partners from 30 countries (MS, AC and TC) in the seoncd phase, will join an unprecedent effort to pool R&I investments, aligning programmes at pan-European scale. The ambition is to launch 6 co-funded calls and implement relevant additional activities such as thematic annual programming, alignemnt of monitoring programmes, sharing of research infrastructures and developing portfolios of projects, over a seven-year timeframe to support R&I joint programming on thematic priority areas of interventions stemming from a co-designed SRIA. The SBEP will also identify additional mechanisms for alignment and look for further economic support of R&I programs leveraging other funding and finance streams. In parallel, a long-term structuring ambition will support the creation of a community of practice, fostering co-creation, coordinating all relevant initiatives at sea-basins/Atlantic ocean level and further promoting the EU blue economy at global level.