Monitoring, Managing and Transferring Marine and Maritime Knowledge for Sustainable Blue Growth (COLUMBUS)

COLUMBUS was a three-year project funded by EU Horizon 2020, aimed at helping transfer applicable knowledge generated through EU-funded science and technology research to help advance the governance of the blue sectors while improving their competitiveness and resilience.

Tangible results: The project collected information and created 53 easy-to-read success stories of marine and maritime Knowledge transfer activities, which are shared with end-users (companies, stakeholders, governmental bodies). It produced newsletters, conference papers, presentations, guidelines, a methodology with an emphasis on Blue Growth, describing technical and non-technical barriers and socio-economic trends. The papers cover a broad spectrum of marine topics such as ocean acidification, fisheries environmental impact, coral health, and marine litter, among others.

Application/relevance: The project has generated a significant number of important outputs which are described in the final report; and has provided a forum for all stakeholder groups involved in publicly funded research to collaboratively explore the barriers, challenges, and possible solutions to increasing the impact potential of marine and maritime research. It serves as a Knowledge Transfer platform for Blue Growth, and plays a vital role in raising/ awareness, knowledge, and skills to end-users such as policymakers, industry, science and the wider society.