The European Commission announced on Thursday 16 February that it had selected three new “blue technology” projects for funding under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Grant agreements are being prepared for signature by April 2017.
Projects selected under the blue technology call for proposals will develop joint roadmaps and bankable demonstration projects in the Atlantic and the North Sea in order to coordinate investment for innovation in a specific high potential blue growth technology, domain or value chain. The three new projects share a total budget of about €2 million.
The first project, North Sea Solutions for Innovation in Corrosion for Energy (NeSSIE), aims to draw on North Sea region expertise in traditional offshore sectors to develop solutions for emerging opportunities in offshore renewable energy sources (wave, tidal and offshore wind energy). The countries involved are UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Sweden.
The second, INvertebrateIT, which involves Spain, France, Portugal, the Netherlands and Ireland, aims to develop innovative approaches for the aquaculture sector, particularly using organic wastes for the production of invertebrates to be used for fish feed. The project will bring together public and private stakeholders across the Atlantic sea basin to develop a joint roadmap and investment plan, with a five-ten-year time frame.
Lastly, Enabling Technologies and Roadmaps for Offshore Platform Innovation (ENTROPI), involving UK, France, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, focusses on the Atlantic sea basin and aims to advance key enabling technologies (KETs) along the value chain to accelerate the deployment of multi-use offshore platforms, particularly for renewables and aquaculture. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)