PLOCAN has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the international collaboration of Blue Economy clusters promoted by Forum Ocean at the One Sustainable Ocean event of the United Nations Oceans Conference, held in Lisbon.
This initiative, led by Forum Oceano, brings together 9 blue economy clusters that represent more than 5,000 companies, whose combined turnover is comparable to 20% of Portuguese GDP.
The MoU signatory organization are Ocean Forum; PLOCAN, Spain; GCE Ocean Tech, Norway; Pole Mer Bretagne and Pole Mer Mediterranee, France; IMDO, Ireland; MSE International, UK; Ocean Advance, Canada; and TMA BlueTech, United States. The signing was attended by the Secretary of State for the Sea of Portugal, José Maria Costa.
For Ruben Eiras, Secretary General of Forum Oceano, this “is a key moment, as it will help Portugal to become the center of gravity of an international network of clusters and of the world’s most innovative companies in the Blue Economy sector, helping to position Portugal, Portuguese research and national companies at the forefront of innovation”.
Rubén Eiras assumes that the Bluetech Cluster Alliance is “an opportunity, but also a challenge” for Portugal. “We have to know how to take advantage of the network that is being created, but we also have to realize that we have to be up to the task to take advantage of it, and I firmly believe that we are. I believe that Portugal has innovative projects, it has relevant researchers and research spaces, has energy and creativity, and all these aspects were highlighted by the partners of the initiative”, he highlighted.
The objective of this cluster alliance is to promote international collaboration channels through which technologies, investors, business models, services, products and experiences flow to innovate regulation or training needs. The activities range from the water value chain, to renewable energies, through nautical or biotechnology standing out the involvement of key actors from the “quadruple helix” (industry, investors, academia and policy makers).