Opportunity For Ireland In European 'Blue Economy' Action Plan

13th May 2014

#BlueEconomy - The European Commission last week presented an Action Plan for Innovation in the 'Blue Economy' to help use ocean resources responsibly and sustainably as sources of food, medicine and energy, and drive growth and jobs in Europe.

Marine Institute chief executive Dr Peter Heffernan said the plan "reflects the importance of the oceans impact on our daily lives and the urgent need to better understand our oceans in order manage them responsibly to generate benefits for all citizens.

"It’s a very welcome initiative and consistent with initiatives already underway here in Ireland such as Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth - An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland, which aims to increase the turnover from our ocean economy to exceed €6.4 billion by 2020.”

A key objective of the action plan is to create a digital map of the entire seabed of European waters by 2020. Maps like those developed by the INFOMAR programme in Ireland are also crucial for accurate localised models of climate change and forecasting.

Meanwhile, opportunities for Irish marine researchers will be enhanced by the focus on blue growth in the new Horizon 2020 programme, with a specific €145 million budget for 2014-2015 alone, and further opportunities across the programme.

There are also plans to look at the possibility of forming a 'Knowledge and Innovation Community' made up of major players from the research, business and education communities.

In addition, the the blue innovation action plan proposes to set up a Blue Economy Business and Science Forum, which will involve the private sector, scientists and NGOs to help shape the blue economy of the future and share ideas and results.

“Ireland’s marine plan has established similar forum – a ‘marine development task force’ to look at pushing opportunities and significantly moving the plan forward,” said Dr Heffernan.

"All of this will mean more opportunities for Irish researchers and business to partner and support EU initiatives on marine economic development in line with our national integrated marine plan.”

Published in Marine Science

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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