The “blue economy” is becoming increasingly important for Sweden, which also means that conflicts of interests are increasing, as many sectors come together in the same space. The question of how different interests could coexist in a crowded sea begins to become more urgent, most recently illustrated by a decision by the Swedish government to block 13 offshore wind power projects, citing national defence concerns on the Swedish east coast.

To meet these fast-growing needs for better collaboration, the project Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2), launched last year, will test different methods in practice through three so-called living labs. SEI leads one of these labs, Living Lab East, which brings together Swedish actors with links to the Baltic Sea, primarily public sector agencies, civil society and businesses, as well as researchers.

“Interest in this project is increasing because the situation in the Baltic Sea is changing so quickly, partly due to rising geopolitical tensions, but also because the blue economy is growing fast. There are more and more actors crowding into a fragile sea with big environmental problems,” says Karina Barquet.

Aligning many interests

The questions to be addressed by Living Lab East are decided by the participants through a five-step planning method called participatory backcasting. At the beginning of this year, the first step – defining the Baltic region’s key challenges – was completed. Balancing energy production and safety are in focus, not least since the Swedish Armed Forces opposed offshore wind power. Parts of the fishing industry have also expressed concern about the effects of offshore wind power. The Baltic Sea is also an important transport route and a popular tourist area. At the same time, major environmental problems include overfishing, pollution, eutrophication and noise.

Step two was taken in May during a workshop in Karlskrona with the aim of developing a shared vision. After many discussions, the group landed on four themes where they believe they can fulfil a function and complement work already being done by other actors:

• Collaborative decision-making. Marine planning efforts and collaboration in the Baltic are often fragmented. The group can contribute through process innovation and by serving as a neutral collaboration platform.
• Resilient ecosystems. Instead of viewing nature only as something to protect, and thus only a cost, Living Lag East also focuses on how restored ecosystem functions can actively contribute to solving problems.
• Better knowledge and data sharing and public involvement. An important aim for the collaborators in the Living Lab East is to make data sharing easier. The goal is to make environmental data more accessible for the public and make marine-use planning more transparent. Such activities could also increase public understanding of marine issues and people’s relationship to the ocean, enhancing what is referred to as ocean literacy.
• Innovation for the future blue economy. While marine “test beds” are growing in number, many focus on narrow issues. Living Lab East can instead facilitate cross-sector innovation.

Facilitating trade-offs

The next steps for the collective work processes in Living Lab East include researching solutions to then develop and prioritize among them. The final stage will be testing and implementation.
“I think our work will lead to better management of the Baltic Sea while at the same time providing insights valuable to researchers,” says Barquet.

She emphasizes that the project is especially timely, given the sensitive geopolitical situation and the current period of rapid technological change, both of which raise new questions about how to protect critical infrastructure and ecosystems alike as activities in the Baltic Sea increase.

“Hopefully, Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue can increase understanding of the trade-offs we face and how important information can be collected, who has the right to access it, and how it can be shared,” Barquet says.