Last month, the Interreg MED launched the second call for strategic projects. This call takes place under the framework of Axis 4 –Governance and is focused on the blue bio-economies.

In the coming years, this sector is expected to record a high growth rate in terms of revenue generation, new high-level jobs, increased employment, specialized products with high added value, due to the existence of societal needs for products and services that are created by using blue bio-technologies. The strategy for a sustainable blue bio-economy in the MED aims to develop an innovative, resource efficient and competitive society that promotes the sustainable use of renewable resources for industrial purposes, while ensuring the protection of the environment.

Strategic Project Proposals

The main objectives of the Strategic projects are to increase innovation capacity in the blue bioeconomy, through the promotion of better governance of innovation policies at European, national and regional level.

The Strategic projects will help improve innovation capacity through:

• The promotion the use of blue biotechnologies to address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the MED;
• The promotion of new value chains and business opportunities related to the blue bioeconomy that generates shared value (economic, environmental and social);
• The articulation of collaboration between the actors of the quadruple helix (public administration, academia, business and civil society) through platforms, alliances or new forms of governance;
• New mechanisms to improve governance of innovation policies in the MED.

Only public authorities can participate in this call. The call is open until the 10^th of June 2020.

Further and details on the submission of proposals can be found in the Terms of Reference