Research programme secures 50 million SEK in funding for sustainable blue economy

The programme’s goal is to support collaboration for a more sustainable, open, and democratic use of the ocean.

“It’s very inspiring that Mistra chooses to prioritise collaboration as an important tool for sustainability,” says Torsten Linders at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, and programme manager for Co-Creating Better Blue.

Sustainable Blue Economy

The Blue Economy includes a wide range of ocean activities, such as fishing, aquaculture, tourism, fish farming, energy, and transportation. A Sustainable Blue Economy means that all these activities are carried out in a sustainable way. Therefore, new forms of collaboration need to be built between stakeholders and actors.

“A sustainable blue economy will demand cross-sectorial collaboration in a marine governance landscape which is highly fragmented and in seas which are increasingly industrialized. This is why in C2B2 a cocreation approach will be the starting point to explore how future energy, data, and shipping demands can coexist along with the goals of healthy seas,” said Karina Barquet, Senior Research Fellow and Team Leader at SEI.

Bringing together 38 actors from research to industry

The Co-Creating Better Blue research programme gathers a very large number of marine actors from all parts of society: 13 research organizations and 25 actors from industry, authorities, and civil society. The programme will work in three thematic pillars: science, technology, and governance and management.

“The most exciting part will probably be our three LivingLabs: One in the Gulf of Bothnia, one in the Baltic Proper, and one in the North Sea. LivingLabs has become an increasingly established method for conducting experiments and testing innovations in a real environment together with actors and stakeholders,” said Torsten Linders, Project Coordinator, Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.