Blue Growth Research & Education Matchmaking
Matchmaking event under the Blue Growth Programme. Initiative under the Fund for Bilateral Relations – Blue Growth Programme
The Directorate General for Maritime Policy is organizing a Matchmaking in the area of Research and Development and Education, to be hold on 16th October 2019, in the Nova School of Business & Economics, in Carcavelos, with the aim to promote bilateral partnerships and identify cooperation opportunities for Norwegian, Icelandic, Liechtenstein and Portuguese entities operating in the Blue Economy sector under the Blue Growth Programme.
The Blue Growth Innovation and SMEs Programme's main objective is to increase value creation and sustainable growth in the Portuguese blue economy. In addition, the intention is to increase research and promote education and training in marine and maritime areas.
The synergy between the business, research and education and a holistic approach in the programme will contribute to a sustainable blue growth in Portugal. The research will support businesses with a research, development and innovation component, strengthening their competitiveness in the market. The education component will promote the improvement of human resources skills and awareness of marine and maritime issues.
Research
The intention is to enhance the performance of Portuguese research organizations in Blue Growth, including technological development (TRL from 1 to 9 in accordance with Horizon 2020 guidelines), and promote monitoring and knowledge improvement of marine environmental issues, including natural capital and ecosystems services.
The programme aims at partnerships between research organizations, or between research organizations and enterprises, from Portugal and the Donor countries, to develop collaborative projects in basic and applied research. Partnerships with donor states entities will be mandatory.
For projects aiming technological development with a TRL between 5 and 9, the objective is to promote cooperation between research organizations and business sector.
Priority areas of research under this Matchmaking will be:
- Sustainable fisheries, aquaculture and blue biotechnology in order to improve added value from fishing products and other marine resources and to develop and standardizing new methodologies to assess the stock status of Portuguese national fishery resources, not evaluated by international scientific fora. Approaches to develop integrated ecological-economics fisheries management and to improve aquaculture in open offshore conditions in Portuguese maritime areas, including bio-economic modelling;
- marine natural capital and ecosystem services in order to fulfill gaps of data and knowledge on new areas with potential natural value for conservation (including economics, human activities pressures, legal regimes or management solutions), with emphasis on deep sea habitats, and/or restauration solutions, namely through sea forestation;
- climate change forecast or impacts on marine ecosystems services and natural capital, including economic impacts in Portuguese maritime zones;
- data analysis and methodologies/tools for multidimensional assessment of cumulative environmental and socioeconomic impacts to support decision making on marine spatial planning and on localization of maritime activities in the Portuguese maritime zones;
- new technologies for environmental monitoring and maritime surveillance, development and/or transfer, namely in deep-sea habitats and resources, to improve data and knowledge.
Education, Scholarships, Apprenticeships and Youth Entrepreneurships
The aim is to increase training and education, to improve skills and competences of students and staff, ranging from elementary school to university levels, including professional degrees.
It will support new courses in maritime affairs, professional internship programmes for SMEs, multidisciplinary postgraduate programmes, summer schools, intensive programmes, training courses, students/trainees, teachers exchange and scholarships. It can include support to on board training of seafarers, required to perform tasks under the standards of the STCW Convention. Programmes for education and training can be designed in the context of existing/ongoing research projects between Portuguese and donor countries entities, to maximize cooperation between these entities. Exchange programs can be at master or PhD level already in place.
Registration for the event and application for travel expenses must be made through the website: https://eea-grants-2014-2021-bg.b2match.io
Eligibility of applicants
The following candidates are eligible:
- Research organizations established in Portugal (defined in accordance with the Community guidelines on state aid for research and development and innovation (2006 / C323 / 01).
- Any public or private, commercial or non-commercial entities, as well as non-governmental organizations, whose principal location is both in Portugal and in the Donor States.
Deadline for submission of applications
Deadline for submission of applications: 14th of October 2019
Application Documents