News

Our future lies by, on and in the sea. To make that future a reality, we must make a strong commitment as a society to sustainability and a sustainable blue economy.

The final conference of the Algae Demo project took place on 21 April 2022. This project investigated the feasibility of large-scale seaweed cultivation in the North Sea. After an explanation of the project’s main conclusions, a visit was paid to the cultivation site.

The opening conference of the eMSP NBSR project on 22 February was attended by over 150 enthusiastic participants from Europe and beyond. The various topics of the project were discussed during the event. A sustainable blue economy was considered the principal topic by the majority of the attendants.

On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU, the EU Customs Union and the European internal market. Since then, Brexit has had a considerable impact on the business world Fortunately, several mechanisms have been put in place to financially support affected businesses.

Did you know the European Union has been promoting cooperation between European border regions through Interreg for more than 30 years? The Interreg projects show that geographical borders do not have to be barriers, and even provide many opportunities for growth and successful cooperation.

Do you have an innovative cleantech project in mind and is the estimated expenditure for this project between €2.5 million and €7.5 million? Then you are eligible for support from the European Commission through the European Innovation Fund. You have until 31 August to submit your project.

Cleantech refers to all processes, products or services reducing negative effects on the environment through significant energy savings, sustainable use of resources and measures to protect the environment. This is therefore very much in line with the pursuit of sustainability within the blue economy.

From 5 to 7 April, the WindEurope Annual Event 2022 took place in Bilbao. As part of this important international exhibition and conference, Blue Cluster and Agoria Energy Technology Club set up an interesting side programme. This included visits to various local stakeholders in the blue economy.

After a journey of almost 6 months, the solar-powered autonomous vessel Mahi 2 arrived in Martinique on 14 March. This makes the Belgian-made boat the first autonomous vessel in the world to succeed in crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

On Wednesday 9 March, Blue Cluster organised a Blue Session on the topic of coastal protection infrastructure in Ostend. Several (pilot) projects from Belgium and abroad were discussed in detail. This was followed by a visit to the research embankment of the Living Lab Raversijde.

Blue Cluster considers it important that our members and partners know each other well, as this is a healthy basis for setting up possible collaborations. In 2022, we want to continue working on this, which is why we will provide various physical activities for our SMEs to network and share knowledge.

At the end of 2021, Blue Cluster had 110 SMEs among its members, accounting for 61% of our membership. Via the SME committee, we try to involve these innovative small and medium-sized enterprises as much as possible in our activities.