Dear readers,

The EU Green Deal project “Large scale RESToration of COASTal ecosystems through rivers to sea connectivity - REST COAST” is aiming to demonstrate to what extent upscaled coastal restoration can provide a low-carbon adaptation, reducing risks and providing gains in biodiversity for vulnerable coastal ecosystems, such as wetlands or sea grass beds. There are 9 pilot sites, representative for the main EU marine regional seas and coastal areas: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The project brings together 38 partners to assess ecosystem services from coastal marshes, seabed meadows and coastal dunes, to reduce erosion and flooding risks, while enhancing biodiversity, food provisioning, water purification and blue carbon. 

Further information concerning the project can be found at: https://rest-coast.eu/, as well as at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101037097

An initiative for expert assessment of some ecosystem service (ES) delivered by several benthic habitats has emerged within the context of the REST COAST. In order to fulfil this task regarding the Black Sea habitats, it is necessary experts from the Black Sea to evaluate the ES delivered by different coastal benthic habitats.

With this respect, we kindly ask each and every one of you to take part into the process of ES delivery assessment. Please, note that participation by filling in this survey (questionnaire) is entirely voluntary. In order to decrease biases and improve representativeness of the assessment, it is recommendable as many respondents as possible to complete the survey. 

We kindly ask you to complete the survey by September 15th, 2023.

Should you have any questions, please contact Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Valchev, Team leader of Bulgarian participation in REST COAST at: office@io-bas.bg Your contribution will be highly appreciated. 

We would like to thank you in advance for your valuable time and efforts. 

Dear Black Sea stakeholders, 

Please find attached a letter at the signature of Mr. Christos ECONOMOU, Head of Unit of DG MARE Unit A3, on the open Call for expression of interest for new Smart Specialization (S3) partnerships to join the S3 Thematic Platform on Sustainable Blue Economy. 

More information on the call, services and assistance offered to regions and stakeholders under the S3 Community of Practice (CoP) and can be found here.

BSVKC Team 

Learn more:

Attachment 1: Smart Specialization Strategies (S3) – Information to sustainable blue economy stakeholders on the call for S3 partnerships

Attachment 2:  Smart Specialization for Sustainable Blue Economy - Stakeholders’ thematic priorities for S3 partnerships - outcomes of brokerage sessionsthat took place in 2022

Dear Black Sea Stakeholders, 

We are happy to inform you that the first ARSINOE Open Tender for Innovation is now open until 23 July 2023! We seek adaptation solutions to help our regions and communities from Main River (Germany), the Canary Islands (Spain) and Ohrid and Prespa Lakes (Albanian demarcation).

Full details are available here: https://arsinoe-project.eu/open-calls/

A Summer Training on Science Communication for the Black Sea Young Ambassadors took place on 12-13 June 2023 in Istanbul.

📢 Black Sea Accelerator is now open to applicants promoting sustainable #BlueEconomy solutions!🚀

Facilitated by #BRIDGEBlackSea and DOORS Black Sea projects, #BSAccelerator calls all Black Sea-based and non-regional applicants to transform #science into future business opportunities🌊

Discover now! ⬇
https://lnkd.in/g85cq-cF

📌 Deadline: 31 October 2023

What is ARSINOE and what are the Open Tenders for Innovations?

ARSINOE is an EU-funded project aimed at creating climate-resilient regions through systemic solutions and innovations. In 2023 the project is launching a series of open tenders to take stock of innovative climate adaptation solutions from across Europe. The aim is to identify promising or mature innovations that can help our case study regions become more climate resilient. Applications will be evaluated and the selected ones can receive up to EUR 50.000 for demonstration activities in the Main River (Germany) and Canary Islands (Spain) case studies, and up to EUR 25.000 in the Albanian demarcation of the Ohrid & Prespa Lakes case study (see more info on our case studies below).

What are the general requirements?

Applicants (innovators) have to be an established legal entity based in one of the eligible countries:  Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, UK.

Applicants may be small- or medium-sized, enterprises, start-up companies, spin-off companies, universities or research and technology development institutes, multinationals or subsidiaries/daughter companies, NGOs, and foundations.

Contracting of the innovation is possible without conflicting with the legal requirements that the contracting party is subject to (e.g. those associated with public procurement legislation).

The online application has been submitted before the deadline via the ARSINOE webpage.

The online application form has responses to all questions. Only complete applications will be considered.

Selected innovations are available, and innovators are able to conduct any testing and implementation activities, including respective results reporting, within the period between October 2023 and March 2025. The exact dates and timeline are to be agreed with the contracting party during the contracting phase.

The innovation is relevant to the case study, i.e. it is deemed capable of contributing to addressing the challenge of the case study and to achieving its goals as they are stated in the supplementary materials published with the call.

How will my online application be evaluated?

For the evaluation, an Evaluation Committee is formed with members of ARSINOE consortium (with the leaders and co-leaders of our regional case studies to represent the interests of their stakeholders and independent partners to ensure the transparency and neutrality of the process). The Committee evaluates the applications according to seven pre-defined criteria which include: three types of readiness (Technical, Social, Market) and four qualitative criteria (Testing Feasibility, Innovator Vision, Promising Innovation, and Contribution to Social and Governance Transformation).

ARSINOE Case Studies participating in the first Open Tender

The Main River in Germany, the Canary Islands in Spain, and the Albanian demarcation of the Ohrid and Prespa Lakes are the three case studies participating in this first tender. The items below provide access to the challenge statements and supplementary material that the three case studies have prepared for you to propose your solutions.

Further information 

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships aim to support the creative and innovative potential of postdoctoral researchers wishing to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility. Find out more in this videoEN•••. 

Click for more information 

We are excited to share with you the new European Blue Forum website. We invite you to visit the site to learn more.

As a part of the European Blue Forum, we are creating a community. A community of different users of the sea, passionate and committed to working together to deliver bold and ambitious change to our shared challenges of nature and climate change.

As part of the Forum, stakeholders will have the opportunity to influence the structure and direction of the European Blue Forum in a balanced and inclusive way, and through this, the future of Europe’s Sustainable Blue Economy.

Members of the European Blue Forum will be invited to participate in dedicated meetings and workshops, as well as be given the opportunity to create dedicated Action Groups. These groups, with the support of the European Blue Forum Secretariat, will collaboratively work towards finding solutions to the biggest challenges facing our Sustainable Blue Economy Community and deliver collective impact.

Be part of the conversation and let’s find the solutions together….

Join the European Blue Forum

The European Commission has launched a call for application for stakeholders to have a stand at the European Maritime Day 2023, in Brest. Every year DG MARE organizes this flagship event during which Europe’s maritime community meet to network, discuss and outline joint action on maritime affairs and sustainable blue economy.

The last time stakeholders had the possibility to have a stand to showcase their project/initiative in an exhibition was 2019, before COVID. This year the Commission is bringing this nice feature back to the event and are looking for big projects or initiatives related to blue economy and maritime affairs, who might have a strong interest in this high-visibility event. 

The call for application is open to stakeholders based in the EU/EEA area or in accession countries. Deadline to express interest in purchasing a stand is Wednesday, 5 April midnight. DG MARE will review applications on an ad hoc basis. All info and request form to fill in can be found here: https://www.emd2023-exhibition.com/request-a-stand/2

"Innovative research and management for coastal restoration"

13-15 March 2023

Centro Universitario Regional Este (CURE), Maldonado

Online connection

https://salavirtual-udelar.zoom.us/j/84513414651?pwd=RmE3dHplOFFycWw4RkxJMXpnbkU2QT09

Meeting ID: 845 1341 4651

Access code: 2dbFCfNV!$

As announced at the last Steering Committee meeting and building on the extensive expertise and practical experience gained from more than 10 years of developing Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), DG REGIO has announce at the end of February,  the launch of the Smart Specialisation Community of Practice (S3 CoP), DG REGIO’s main source of support and knowledge sharing on the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies.

The work of the S3 CoP will build on the experiences of existing Partnerships, drawing lessons from the past to address emerging and future needs of your regions and stakeholders. In practical terms, the S3 Community of Practice will carry out a wide range of activities to support all S3 thematic platforms and Thematic Smart Specialisation Partnerships (TSSPs), providing services such as:

• An up-to-date website on the overall activities of the platform and partnerships.
• The hosting of steering committee meetings.
• Support to new and existing TSSPs including, among others:

1. guidance material for all stages of collaborations.
2. monitoring and analysis of partnerships and their activities.
3. tailored service provision to the partnerships (e.g. support for governance models, (re)scoping, smart partnering, search for funding assistance, support to scale-up).

• Peer learning opportunities and cross-cutting analyses.

In addition, the S3 CoP will also host the Expression of Interest (EoI) for regions and stakeholders to start a new Partnership for Interregional Collaboration. The EoI will be open continuously, with two cut-off dates per year. In 2023, the first cut-off date will be in April, whilst the second will take place in September.

To facilitate planning and engagement of stakeholders, the S3 CoP has published a tentative (non-exhaustive) timeline with the key foreseen activities for the year 2023:

• 30 March 2023: launch of the S3 Community of Practice featuring the support to be provided to existing and new Partnerships. The new call for Expression of Interest (EoI) to new Partnerships will be launched at this occasion.
• April 2023: dedicated follow-up with support experts on partnerships’ needs, to initiate the service provision.  Also first deadline for call for the Expression of Interest for new Partnerships.
• May/June 2023: first Steering Committee meeting, together with Interregional Cooperation Working Group meeting.
• September 2023: second deadline for call for the Expression of Interest for new Partnerships.
• November 2023: second Steering Committee meeting.

‍

Registration for the S3 CoP launching event (available until 29 March): https://s3-conference.regio-events.eu/

S3CoP secretariat contact (by IDEA Consult): contact@s3-cop.eu

S3 CoP Twitter: @S3Cop_EU

Dear  Black Sea blue economy stakeholders,

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership is a Horizon Europe co-funded partnership. It constitutes a network of 60 Partner institutions from 25 countries and the European Commission that enables an unprecedent effort to pool research and innovation investments and align national programmes at pan-European scale, taking into consideration the sea-basin (Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic and North Sea) and Atlantic Ocean dimension.

The partnership is focusing to boost the transformation towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive blue economy by 2030, while creating and supporting the conditions for a healthy ocean for the people by 2050. Achieving this vision through cooperation will enable addressing key EU policy objectives of Green transition, digital transformation and recovery and ultimately contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

With its ambition to make a major step in transforming the blue economy, the Partnership will actively seek engagement by launching, implementing and monitoring six co-funded calls for research and innovation proposals over a seven-year timeframe.

The first joint transnational call of SBEP is published:  Bluepartnership call

On DG  RTD’s website: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/european-commission-joins-forces-23-countries-through-sustainable-blue-economy-partnership-launch-2023-02-13_en

We believe you find this information interesting.

With kind regards,

BSVKC TEAM