The BlueMed Coordination and Support Action (CSA)
The BlueMed Coordination and Support Action (CSA), launched in October 2016 and funded by the European Commission within the H2020 framework programme with 3 M€, functions as the “operating arm” in support of the BlueMed Initiative.
It organizes the work of the thematic platforms, promotes coordination among blue economy actors and among the Mediterranean countries, and deals with all the practical details of the Inititiative’s activity, as well as contributes to shape the Initiative’s future developments.
The Bluemed CSA is coordinated by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), leading a consortium of 11 partners:
The BlueMed CSA Consortium
The BlueMed consortium is composed of partners from Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Partners represent Research Organizations, Research Funding Agencies and Ministries.
The BlueMed CSA organization:
the Work Packages
WP1 – Project Coordination, management, and communication
WP2 – Strengthening cooperation to consolidate and implement the BLUEMED SRIA
WP3 – Framework conditions for efficiently implementing the BLUEMED SRIA
(indicators and assessment methodologies, Research Infrastructures, data policies, human resources)
WP4 – Start-up Actions
WP5 – The global Med
(widening the participation to the project and promoting the BLUEMED concept)
The BlueMed CSA milestones and achievements
- Training course on “Science-Policy-Society Interactions in Ecosystem-Based Marine Resources Management and Planning” – 22-24-26 March 2021 – Report of the training course (April 2021)
The training course on “Science-Policy-Society Interactions in Ecosystem-Based Marine Resources Management and Planning” – which was originally supposed to take place physically in Venice in Spring 2021 – was organised as an online training 22 -24-26 March 2021. Co-organisers are the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community (MBPC) and the BlueMed Coordination and Support Action (Research and innovation for blue jobs and growth in the Mediterranean Area) in collaboration with IOC-UNESCO and MSP Global Initiative. Focusing on ecosystem-based management marine spatial planning training, this initiative is being supported by the Marine Institute (Croatia), the National Research Council – Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR-ISMAR, Italy), the European Topic Centre of the University of Malaga (Spain), and the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR, France), and communication support from MBPC partners MedCities (Spain) and Latte Creative (Italy). This report describes the course and presents the full details of the course sessions.
- BlueBio COFUND–BlueMed CSA Integrated advanced training course on Blue Biotechnologies, Aquatic products and Blue Bio-economy – Activity Report (May 2021)
In March 2021 the Integrated advanced training course on Blue Biotechnologies, Aquatic products and Blue Bio-economy was jointly organized in the framework of the BlueBio COFUND and BlueMed CSA, hosted by the Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IRBIM; www.ricercamarina.cnr.it/en/irbim.php; www.irbim.cnr.it/it/index.php).
This report provides an analysis of the activities, including contents and process. It addresses methodology approaches as well as the online format used due to the pandemic situation and thus, its novelty. Lessons learned, concluding remarks and follow-up opportunities are also tackled in this Activity Report.
- Communication to foster the building of relations and support knowledge circulation around the Mediterranean – BlueMed Communication Report D1.6 (April 2021)
The BlueMed project was the operational arm of a markedly political initiative, a peculiar aspect that reverberates in all communication practices; on the one hand, these must take into account the highly institutional context, on the other hand, they cannot fail to adhere to the increasingly encouraged approach aimed at consolidating processes of interaction and participation of all the actors concerned with and by public research policies, from scientists to decision-makers, private sector representatives and civil society. BlueMed’s communication, in other words, was not conceived as a final aesthetic touch to be given to the project’s achievements, in order to be better presented to the outside world, but as a structural element of the BlueMed effort itself, especially for what concerns internal communication, network building, knowledge circulation and the engagement of stakeholders and the public, thus supporting project coordination and management. Moreover, since the project targets international cooperation and science diplomacy, attention was paid to culture/languages’ differences. Ths report describes the overall BlueMed Communication effort.
- Final report on Start-up Actions – Deliverable D4.2 (April 2021)
This report describes the outcome of the BLUEMED CSA Start-Up Actions (SuAs) supported by the BLUEMED CSA under the project’s Work Package 4. The respective SuAs activities have cumulated into a set of feasibility studies together with other outputs on the issues pertain to the respective subjects. Understandably they contribute to and are of importance to blue growth in the Mediterranean in general and to the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in particular.
- Task 5.3 – Ambassadors of the BLUEMED – Ambassadors’ Activities Report – Deliverable D5.6 (April 2021)
The BlueMed Ambassadors’ Programme was aimed at engaging and coaching a group of highly-motivated young people from non-EU Mediterranean countries, to share the BlueMed vision in their contexts and set the grounds for the development of a pan-Mediterranean network of ‘BlueMed Ambassadors’. The network’s aim would be to promote the project’s research-based vision and approach to a sustainable Blue Economy at the Mediterranean scale and beyond.
This report describes in detail the BlueMed Ambassadors’ Programme Activities.
- One Mediterranean: practices, results and strategies for a common Sea – BlueMed CSA Final Conference – Deliverable D1.4 (April 2021)
The final Conference, entitled “One Mediterranean: practices, results and strategies for a common Sea”, organized in remote from 22 to 24 of February 2021, has been the occasion to showcase the concrete results of this joint effort and journey and the legacy of the project as well as to prove the degree of connectiveness and maturity reached by the BlueMed community at national, regional and international level.
This report describes in detail the BlueMed final conference development and outcomes.
- BlueMed Research Infrastructures Roadmap – Deliverable D3.4 (April 2020)
In order to ensure the efficient implementation of BLUEMED key priorities identified in the BLUEMED Implementation Plan, research infrastructures (RI) are key tools. This roadmap aims at giving an overview of the actions to be carried out at the Mediterranean level to further support the scientific needs of research and innovation communities and it results from a long bottom-up process carried out throughout the whole CSA.
- Intermediate report on Start-up Actions – Deliverable D4.1 (Feb. 2020)
This report describes the state of play of the Start-up Actions (SuAs) supported by the BLUEMED CSA under the project’s Work Package 4. SuAs are understood as networking meetings and seminars leading up to the drafting of a feasibility study on an issue of particular relevance to blue growth in the Mediterranean in general and to the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in particular. This intermediate report includes a brief description of all the preparatory work carried out by BLUEMED CSA Consortium prior to the launch of the Call for SuAs in May 2018, followed by the setting up of a transparent and fair evaluation process and culminating in the selection of the four top-ranked proposals endorsed by the BLUEMED Steering Committee.
- Projects supported from H2020 funds and their relationship with the BLUEMED Initiative (Sept 2019)
This document is a preliminary analysis of a tailored survey addressed to a number of coordinators of ongoing projects funded by EU Horizon 2020 Programme, highlighting their synergies with the BLUEMED Initiative. The specific objectives and results of the projects analysed contribute towards the bigger picture by providing evidence, innovative ideas and actions for addressing the challenges and opportunities of the blue economy in the Mediterranean Sea. The conclusions are thus useful for the BlueMed SRIA update and to feed the Implementation Plan, which is being developed with the support of the BLUEMED-CSA. Moreover, the questions and methodology put in place can pilot a tool for addressing and monitoring strategic actions and their impacts.
- BLUEMED Mediterranean Research Infrastructures Stakeholders’ Report
This report is the result of the BlueMed Research Infrastructures Stakeholders Conference meeting among Mediterranean public authorities and blue economy stakeholders. The meeting enabled the attendees to propose concrete actions to ensure a strong collaboration and an optimal use of research infrastructures to tackle key challenges faced by the Mediterranean Sea. This report presents the different topics presented during the plenary sessions as well as the main recommendations discussed by the participants when they split into three different working groups.
- BLUEMED-CSA 2nd Coordinator’s Meeting (January 2019)
This report presents the outcomes and main points discussed during the BLUEMED 2nd Project Coordinators’ Meeting – Sustaining the Lessons Learned and Enhancing the Bluemed Initiative Synergies that place in Malta on the 25th of January 2019.
The meeting aimed to bring together coordinators of projects working on Mediterranean/BLUEMED- related projects to share current work, best practices and transfer technical information on the implementation of Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).
- Working document for the prioritization of the Bluemed SRIA goals for Implementation based on inputs by countries
Following the agreement made by the Euro Mediterranean Group of Senior Officials BLUEMED Working Group in Barcelona on October 2018, the BLUEMED SRIA has been updated with the input from non-EU countries and represents now a comprehensive strategy with the views of all stakeholders in the Mediterranean Basin. It is now time to implement a plan, based on actions, to reach objectives that will contribute to address the challenges identified in the BLUEMED SRIA. A first step towards the implementation of the SRIA is to reach a consensus on which are the most pressing goals to achieve and what are the necessary actions to be implemented in order to reach those goals: this is the focus of this Working Documents.
- Marine and Maritime RTDI Strategies – D2.6
This report represents an overview and analysis of recent R&I strategies and programmes and funding schemes of interest for the BLUEMED Initiative at international, European, regional and national level, a background document to initiate and facilitate dialogue and interaction between research funding agencies of different countries and European Institutions.
Once the strategic alignment of agendas on areas of mutual interest has been identified, the aim is to lay the groundwork for operational alignment towards the launch of transnational actions.
It will also provide an auxiliary tool to design the BLUEMED Implementation Plan.
- Research Infrastructure assessment D3.3.
This Research Infrastructures Assessment is a preliminary study of existing research infrastructures, to identify needs and gaps and suggest actions to be taken to propose the final roadmap to high level policy makers. It aims to verify whether marine and maritime Research Infrastructures (RI) in the Mediterranean relevant for the SRIA goals already exist or should be upgraded or built, and whether existing RI are satisfactory shared. Five categories of RI have been identified and investigated: research vessels and equipment, marine based facilities, land based facilities, satellites and spatial and marine data management
- Data Policies and Accessibility Assessment D3.5
Many EU-funded projects have been exploring ways to construct interoperable approaches to support open-data policies. However, a gap that BLUEMED is trying to bridge is the need to find practical ways to guide potential users through the maze of data that are increasingly becoming available. Attention is paid to the totally different needs that distinct communities have in accessing data. These needs range from the access to raw data (as in the case of scientific communities) to the access to products of variable degrees of elaboration and complexity. BLUEMED aims at defining guides to the potential users of all the marine-related data and products in support to economic growth of the region.
- Assessment on improving human resources for Blue Careers D3.7
This documents is a preliminary analysis of existing common practices for training and capacity programs related to Blue Growth issues in the EU and non-EU countries located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It contains data on education systems and programs in different countries and provides overview of opportunities and challenges for the individual countries surveyed, as well as for the region as a whole.
- BLUEMED Coordinators’ Meeting, D5.1
The following is a report on the Coordinators’ Meeting that took place in Malta on 11-12 January 2018 with the goal of capitalizing on the results of other mostly EU-funded projects working on topics related to the BLUEMED priorities. The report presents the main points discussed during the meeting as well as recommendations for updating the BLUEMED SRIA and enhancing intra-project collaboration.
- Non‐EU stakeholders: analysis of R&D strategy/policy/programme and priorities D5.2
This document is a preliminary analysis of the existing maritime and marine research and development strategies, policies and priorities in non‐European Mediterranean countries. It reflects the vision of non‐EU countries and is preparatory to the Policy dialogue Workshop with non‐EU stakeholders that will occur in November 2017, aimed at identifying the ways toward an alignment of the SRIA with the priorities of non‐European countries and to elaborate a shared agenda.
- Joint Recommendations for the BLUEMED SRIA D5.3.
This report summarizes the recommendations issued by non‐EU Med countries for updating the BLUEMED SRIA considering their national priorities. The enlargement of the BLUEMED Initiative to Southern and Eastern non-EU Mediterranean countries and the necessity to establish a shared vision of the R&I priorities for the blue economy in the region is crucial and has been reinforced by the support given by the Union for the Mediterranean in May 2017 and stated in the “Valletta Declaration”.
In order to take into account the priorities of non‐European countries in the SRIA, a consultation process has been undertaken, with different degrees of participation in the various countries, and their feedback and propositions collected by September 2018 as key part of the extension process.Additional inputs were gathered following the BLUEMED Platforms meeting held in Barcelona on the 24th of October in the framework of the BLUEMED Week, where the SRIA was further discussed with non‐EU countries experts in plenary.The resulting updated SRIA 2018 is included in the Annex.
- BLUEMED Updated Stategic Research and Innovation Agenda
This document is the first update of the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). It includes relevant information gathered through consultation with stakeholders in EU countries. The ongoing consultation process with non-EU countries bordering the Mediterranean will result in a further update of the SRIA taking into consideration common targets and objectives at basin level.
