Maritime clusters as an innovative enabler for a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Mediterranean - Regional flagships projects supporting sustainable blue economy in EU sea basins (EMFAF-2023-PIA-FLAGSHIP)

The overall objective of this topic is to foster an effective network of maritime clusters across the Mediterranean to support medium, small and micro enterprises in the blue economy.
This topic aims at contributing to the Goal 2, “A smart and resilient blue economy” of the WestMED Initiative (Priority 2.2. “Maritime Clusters Development”), by building up on clusters currently cooperating (e.g. WestMED Clusters Alliance) or similar co-operation agreements and actions in the region developed by EU networks for industrial policy, interregional collaboration and integration of SMEs into EU and global value chains.

This topic focuses on establishing new national maritime clusters and enhancing cooperation between Northern and Southern clusters across the Mediterranean and among clusters, SMEs, academia and research centres, institutional actors and financial institutions. It also aims to improve the involvement of maritime clusters in policy-making at the regional/national levels, particularly regarding the definition/upgrade of smart specialisation strategies.