BIG MED FORUM Blue Innovation Growth Forum

Blue Growth is the long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. Seas and oceans are drivers for the European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth. It is the maritime contribution to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The 'blue' economy represents roughly 5.4 million jobs and generates a gross added value of almost €500 billion a year and it needs to be constantly fed and enhanced by the exploitation of knowledge, research and talents.

The innovation performance of the Mediterranean area is behind the EU average and there is a lack of transnational cooperation between the different triple helix actors.
During the last few years several initiatives have been promoted at EU level in order to create a favorable environment to boost innovation for the Blue Growth in the Mediterranean area.
The 12th of July in Ravenna  at 1st Blue Innovation Growth Forum there will be the occasion to know more about them and moreover to take part at the opening  of “MISTRAL” project: a new MEDITERRANEAN initiative focused on increasing INNOVATION in Blue Growth sector (co-financed by European Regional Development Fund – INTERREG MED).

The aim of MISTRAL is to promote and make effective a transnational BG ecosystem of innovation where enterprises (SMEs and corporates), RTOs, higher education institutions, public sector, cooperate to:

• develop sustainable innovation actions,
• increase their innovation performance,
• sustain the development of the entrepreneurial spirit,
• increase the access and sharing of the marine knowledge.

During its various phases, MISTRAL intends to design, test, develop, implement, manage and ensure the sustainability on the long run of a transnational network gathering the excellent BG clusters in the Meditteranean area, and to act as catalyser and multiplier for innovation actions.