On 2nd February at 09:00 CET, the Black Sea CONNECT Innovation Workshop will take place virtually to showcase the best practices from different blue economy sectors, allowing the meeting of nascent maritime and innovation clusters in the Black Sea with more developed European counterparts and driving their collaborative development of blue innovations for the region. This way, the workshop aims to pave the way for the eventual formation of marine and maritime clusters of the Black Sea.

The event will be kick-started with the high-level representatives from European Commission and continue with the presentation of the overall objectives of the workshop and testimony of the existing maritime clusters. Building on this session, an interactive panel will focus on how the blue economy can be funded in the Black Sea. The event will be wrapped up with emphasizing how BRIDGE-BS (Advancing Black Sea Research and Innovation to Co-Develop Blue Growth within Resilient Ecosystems) and DOORS (Developing Optimal and Open Research Support for the Black Sea) as the two main implementing actions further supporting the Black Sea SRIA will tackle innovation in the region in the coming years.
Black Sea CONNECT Innovation Workshop aims to bring together stakeholders from science and research, policy-making, industry, and business to enhance communication and collaboration for sustainable economic growth in the Black Sea. It will also provide direct input to the Black Sea SRIA Implementation Plan.

For more details, check out the draft agenda here and register for the event via this link!