According to the European Commission, research and innovation are recognized as a key factor in the development of the blue economy and the wider achievement of the ambitious goals of climate neutrality by 2050. Regions and countries connected by rivers and seas need harmonized policies to plan future innovations for Blue Growth in sectors such as transport, water pollution, energy connectivity, marine ecosystem protection and others.
BLUEAIR is a project within the Interreg Adrion program that aims to strengthen institutional capacities in the Adriatic-Ionian region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) in defining a common, macro-regional policy of smart specialization (S3) for a sustainable blue economy and aligning local initiatives with the EUSAIR strategy through a coordinated approach. BLUEAIR aims to be an open platform for improving and simplifying innovation cooperation at both the territorial and macro-regional levels.
- https://www.1ka.si/existing-projects
- https://www.1ka.si/existing-clusters
- https://www.1ka.si/starting-points
In order to collect feedback from relevant stakeholders, regional workshops were organized in 2022 where challenges and opportunities for strengthening regional and macro-regional cooperation on smart specialization for a sustainable blue economy were identified.
The gathering was organized by the University of Belgrade and the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation as partners in the BLUEAIR project.