From Monday 25 to Wednesday 27 January 2021, the BLUE GROWTH CROSS-BORDER CONFERENCE entitled “Promoting the application of S3 in the Adriatic-Ionian region”, will take place exclusively online. The event, which will start at 10:00, is organized as part of the SMART ADRIA BLUE GROWTH thematic project, under the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme.

The Conference represents a first decisive opportunity for the partnership to meet and discuss with the stakeholders of the Blue Economy. The general objective of the project is in fact the strengthening of the cross-border cooperation and the competitiveness of SMEs operating in the Blue Economy sector, as well as the development of new market opportunities. The project aims to implement the application of the Quadruple-Helix model in the Programme area through the implementation of capacity building activities and through fostering the innovation transfer from applied research to SMEs, with the support of policy makers and civil society.  A Blue Growth Cluster of the Adriatic-Ionian region will also be established and three Blue Labs will be created in Italy, Albania and Montenegro, which will favor the development of the blue economy, but also the experimentation of innovative products and services.

In particular, on the opening day -  after the institutional greetings by the Managing Authority of the Interreg Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme, Mr.Crescenzo Antonio Marino, and by the Apulian regional Minister for Economic Development, with responsibility for International Policies, Mr. Alessandro Delli Noci – Mr. Ivano Dileo (ARTI/University of Bari) will present the “BLUE ECONOMY MAPPING STUDY”, a mapping study of the Blue Economy in Puglia, Molise, Albania and Montenegro, carried out by Puglia Region in collaboration with ARTI. 

The presentation, which will be coordinated and moderated by Puglia Region, will focus primarily on the methodological structure of the study, with particular reference to the Quadruple Helix and the synergies between Blue Economy, S3 and the EUSAIR Macro-regional Strategy. Time will also be  dedicated to technical focuses on the future programming cycle, amongst  which we point out both dissertations by Carlo Gadaleta and Mauro Novello. Carlo Gadaleta (ARTI) will explore the theme of the Blue Economy in the regional S3 with reference also to the drivers for innovation, while Mauro Novello, Coordinator of the Joint Secretariat of the Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme, will talk about the future synergies between the 2021-27 Programme and the EUSAIR Macro-regional Strategy. The state of the art of the blue economy in the regional territory and in that of the partner countries will be also presented.

The second day will be divided into two parts. After the presentation of some particularly significant and innovative case studies (for Puglia the focus will be on the sustainable use of macro and micro-algae with the two best models represented by ISPA-CNR and ApuliaKundi), the work will continue in three distinct groups that will have to explore the themes of the Conference on a territorial basis and identify some policies that may be particularly useful for promoting and strengthening the future development of the blue economy.

On the third and final day, reserved to project partners, the policies identified by the three groups will be the subject of discussion and comparison, and those deemed most significant will be selected to merge into the final Memorandum of Understanding of the Conference.

Download the Agenda.

Register on the EUSAIR Stakeholder Platform.

Join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.