Synergies and clustering between maritime projects : final report.
Date: 2024-03-08
Institutions: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Subjects: EU environmental policy, European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, aquaculture, common fisheries policy, integrated maritime policy, maritime economy, report, sustainable development, sustainable mobility

SYNERGIES AND CLUSTERING 
BETWEEN MARITIME PROJECTS 

Final Report 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“The information and views set out in this study are those of the author(s) and do not 
necessarily reflect the official opinion of CINEA or of the Commission. Neither CINEA, 
nor  the  Commission  can  guarantee  the  accuracy  of  the  data  included  in  this  study. 
Neither CINEA, nor the Commission, or any person acting on their behalf may be held 
responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.” 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency 

Unit D.3.1 — Sustainable Blue Economy 

Contact: CINEA EMFAF CONTRACTS 

E-mail: cinea-emfaf-contracts@ec.europa.eu  

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

SYNERGIES AND CLUSTERING 
BETWEEN MARITIME PROJECTS 

Final Report 

EASME/EMFF/2020/3.1.12 - SI2.850620 

European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ISBN 978-92-9405-092-2 

doi: 10.2926/77582  HZ-02-24-235-EN-N 

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© European Union, 2024 
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Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Table of Contents 

Table of Contents............................................................................................ 5 

1  Executive Summary ................................................................................. 1 

2  Summary of EMFF calls for proposals under the scope of this contract: ... 4 

3  Evaluation .............................................................................................. 13 

3.1 

Results ..............................................................................................13 

3.2 

Challenges encountered .......................................................................13 

3.3 

Conclusions ........................................................................................13 

4  Clustering & visibility ............................................................................. 15 

4.1 

Results ..............................................................................................15 

4.2 

Challenges encountered .......................................................................17 

4.3 

Conclusions ........................................................................................18 

5  Networking & synergies ......................................................................... 18 

5.1 

Results ..............................................................................................18 

5.2 

Challenges encountered .......................................................................21 

5.3 

Conclusions ........................................................................................21 

6  Recommendations ................................................................................. 22 

7  Annex I – Evaluation Summary .............................................................. 27 

7.1 

Standard Evaluation Criteria .................................................................27 

7.2 

Conclusions ........................................................................................32 

8  Annex 2 – Clustered projects ................................................................. 36 

9  Annex 3 – Projects included in the evaluation ....................................... 51 

 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

1  Executive Summary 

Over the past few years, the direct management component of the European Maritime 
and Fisheries Fund1 (EMFF) has contributed to the development of the  EU Integrated 
Maritime  Policy  (IMP),  by  fostering  integrated  governance  of  maritime  and  coastal 
affairs,  sustainable  economic  growth,  employment,  innovation  and  new  technologies, 
while at the same time preserving the marine environment. Many actions and initiatives 
that have made it possible to achieve the ambitious goals of the IMP have been funded 
by  the  EU  Commission  through  several  rounds  of  calls  for  proposals  designed  with  a 
bottom-up approach, where the Commission set some general overarching objectives, 
thus leaving a certain leeway to applicants when it came to developing projects and new 
ideas. 

As the number of bottom-up projects funded through the EMFF has steadily increased 
over time, it is more important than ever to measure the actual impact of these projects 
even after their conclusion, and to maximise it by increasing their visibility, as well as 
by  exchanging  information,  best  practices  and  synergies  with  other  EU  project 
beneficiaries and funding programmes/initiatives.  

With  this  goal  in  mind,  CINEA  and  DG  MARE  launched  the  “Synergies  and  clustering 
between maritime projects” project. Its general objective was to provide a platform for 
exchange of information, best practices and synergies between EMFF-funded projects – 
as well as projects funded by other programmes – in a structured way, by setting up 
and  developing  a  process  for  clustering  projects  by  theme  and  challenge,  as  well  as 
evaluating insights from their results.  

Further specific objectives were instrumental in achieving the overarching goal of this 
project. The first was to gain a better understanding of the factors that facilitate  – or 
hinder  –  the  success  of  projects  funded  through  the  EMFF  direct  management 
component.  In  the  “evaluation”  task  of  “Synergies  and  Clustering”,  impact  indicators 
helped  to  identify  key  common  factors  in  successful  projects.  In  the  “clustering  / 
visibility” task, content, such as short stories and video interviews, were disseminated 
online with a view to highlight the reasons behind the success of certain projects, and 
give  them  more  visibility,  thus  enabling  mutual  learning.  Building  on  the  work  of  the 
first two tasks, “networking” addressed another specific objective of the project, i.e. to 
facilitate mutual learning to enable project  beneficiaries to take advantage of insights 
and practices from other projects beneficiaries, including beneficiaries of projects funded 
by other EU funding instruments. It should be noted that projects under the scope of 
this  “Synergies  and  Clustering”  contract    were  quite  heterogeneous  in  terms  of 
objectives, type of participants or consortium composition as described in the summary 
table of calls for proposals below under section 2 : some aiming more at strengthening 
the  knowledge-base  and  skills  (e.g.  blue  careers,  blue  labs)  while  some  others  had 
clearly a commercial nature (e.g. blue economy window projects). This is important to 
take into account, especially as part of the evaluation task. 

Evaluation 

An Evaluation Question Matrix was developed under task 1 (evaluation). This included 
a  set  of  indicators  grouped  under  the  following  main  categories:  (i)  impact  on 
beneficiaries, (ii) sustainability, (iii) scalability, (iv) uptake, (v) knowledge transfer, (vi) 
networking and visibility, and (vii) synergies. 

1 The EMFF was the fund for the EU’s maritime and fisheries policies for 2014-2020. It was one of the five European Structural 
and Investment Funds  (ESIF) which complemented each other to deliver more jobs, welfare and growth in the EU. 

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

For  this  evaluation,  survey  responses  were  received  from  71  out  of  91  EMFF-funded 
projects in the scope of “Synergies and Clustering”, and 64 interviews were conducted 
by the evaluation team.  

The findings reveal that the majority of evaluated projects (66%) underwent changes 
in their Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), particularly within the  “Ocean health and 
observation”  cluster.  A  substantial  percentage  of  projects  (35%)  generated  new 
Intellectual Property (IP) and patents, with the  “Renewable energy” cluster leading in 
this aspect. Notably, a significant outcome was the upskilling of staff and stakeholders 
across  various  sectors.  Several  projects  indicated  that  the  new  skills  and  experience 
gained  were  widely  transferrable  among  their  current  sector  and  other  sectors  and 
industries.  Regarding  revenue,  many  projects  anticipated  future  positive  changes, 
especially within the “Renewable energy” and “Bioeconomy, aquaculture, and fisheries” 
clusters.  

Some  44%  of  projects  stated  that  a  change  in  revenue  was  not  applicable  to  their 
project. This was evident particularly among projects which aimed at filling a knowledge 
gap  and  not  at  developing  a  marketable  product.  86%  of  projects  had  devised  post-
project plans and activities, showcasing a proactive approach towards sustainability and 
future  developments.  Furthermore,  59%  of  projects  demonstrated  the  potential  for 
replication  on  a  larger  scale,  both  within  and  beyond  the  EU  regions,  suggesting  the 
possibility to scale and adapt the project outcomes across different sectors and markets. 

Clustering and visibility 

Clustering  projects  was  of  special  significance  to  facilitate  and  foster  cooperation, 
networking  and  mutual  learning  as  part  of  task  2  (clustering  and  visibility).  As  many 
projects,  albeit  emerging  from  entirely  different  calls  for  proposals,  shared  common 
traits,  it  was  important  to  define  coherent  and  cross-cutting  thematic  groupings.  For 
this reason, it was proposed to use a double categorisation and cluster projects by theme 
and by challenge. Themes refer to blue economy sectors (bioeconomy, aquaculture and 
fisheries;  renewable  energy;  sustainable  tourism  and  cultural  heritage;  ocean  health 
and observation; sustainable and smart transport) whereas challenges refer to cross-
intended  to  address  through  their  projects 
cutting 
(digitalisation;  investment  and  new  business  models;  networking;  blue  careers; 
community and led-local development). 

issues  that  beneficiaries 

A  community  page  was  created  on  DG  MARE’s  Maritime  Forum  to  give  visibility  to 
successful  projects.  8  cluster  stories,  4  success  stories  and  3  video  interviews  were 
published.  

Networking and synergies 

The  objective  of  task  3  (networking  and  synergies)  was  to  establish  a  framework  to 
foster  networking  and  cooperation  between  project  beneficiaries.  These  included 
beneficiaries of EMFF-funded projects as well as beneficiaries of projects funded by any 
other  EU  funding  programme.  Ten  thematic  and  cross-thematic  workshops  were 
organised over the contract duration of 27 months.   

In  terms  of  synergies  through  these  workshops,  formal  collaborations  are  yet  to 
materialise,  though  anecdotal  evidence  suggests  that  workshops  have  facilitated 
awareness  and  contact  among  participants.  Notably,  in-person  events,  despite  being 
less crowded, offered richer opportunities for interaction, and offered examples of post-
event  collaboration  and  networking.  Remote  and  hybrid  events,  even  when 
complemented  with  breakout  sessions  to  encourage  interaction,  seemed  to  be  better 
suited  for  gathering  feedback  rather  than  fostering  networking.  The  success  of  live 
events,  such  as  the  workshop  on  algae  and  blue  bioeconomy  in  December  2022, 
underscores the value of in-person gatherings. 

2 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Furthermore,  the  workshops  proved  instrumental  in  establishing  synergies  between 
different Directorates-General and services of the European Commission. 

Conclusions and recommendations 

The  conclusions  drawn  from  the  feedback  provided  by  project  beneficiaries  surveyed 
under  the  “evaluation”  task,  coupled  with  insights  gained  from  the  Synergies  & 
Clustering  project  workshops,  underpin  a  set  of  recommendations  aimed  at  fortifying 
the impact and sustainability of EMFF and other EU grants:  

1.  Leveraging the extensive knowledge within the marine/maritime community to 
identify synergies is crucial. This can be done by creating a community of practice 
among various initiatives and stakeholders to enhance collaboration. 

2.  Synergies  should  also  be  created  at  the  “territorial”  level.  There  are  several 
initiatives focusing on the regional/sea basin level within the EMFAF and other 
EU  funds.  These  can  potentially  be  good  platforms  to  enhance  sharing  of 
information, gathering needs and organise clustering events.  

3.  Allowing  for  consultation  with  stakeholders  and  including  synergies  in  the 

programming of EMFAF funds.  

4.  Encouraging dissemination of results, advocacy, outreach, and feedback to policy 
is also an important way to foster synergies by making the knowledge available 
to a vast range of users and facilitate further exploitation.  

5.  Organising  remote  and/or  hybrid  events  when  the  primary  aim  is  to  gather 
feedback on a given topic, but keeping live events when the goal is to encourage 
networking between project beneficiaries.  

6.  Encouraging strategic intervention in projects and ask new roles to be added in 
the  teams  of  projects  in  the  form  of  dedicated  community  managers.  These 
community managers should specialise in connecting stakeholders, bridging the 
gap between different sectors, ultimately enhancing the potential for successful 
projects. 

7.  Increasing dialogue between European Commission services. Such dialogue will 
foster  exchange  of  information,  facilitate  relevant  connections  between 
stakeholders  and  can  have  a  key  role  to  include  synergies  by  design  in 
programming EU funds, to avoid duplication while facilitating knowledge/results 
sharing and more efficient use of EU funds.  

8.  Strengthening  the  position  of  the  EU  executive  agencies  in  facilitating  the 
coordination among funding programmes and support project coordinators.  

9.  Facilitating  access  to  EU  funding  programmes  by  theme/topic  or  type  of 
participant rather than by programme information. A single one-stop shop for EU 
funding opportunities would also be helpful. Ideally this should be complemented 
by a matchmaking facility. 

10. Making the framework permanent: the evaluation of long-term impact of grants 
should not remain a one-off exercise, otherwise in a few years’ time the situation 
would be again much like it was before the Synergies & Clustering project.  

11. Coaching  and/or  mentoring  activities  could  become  part  of  each  grant 
agreement, both for market-oriented and non-market-oriented projects, with a 
view to increasing the survival rate of projects after their grant period.  

 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

2  Summary of EMFF calls for proposals under the scope of this contract: 

Call 

Projects 
(EASME/EMFF/2015/1.2.1.7.) 

the  context  of 

in 

the  IMP 

in 

the  Black  Sea  and/or  Mediterranean  Sea 

regions 

What? 

Supporting  concrete  IMP  approaches  and  initiatives,  promoting  job  creation,  innovation  and  entrepreneurship  in  the  blue 
economy of the Black Sea and/or Mediterranean Sea 

Who? 

Public-private partnerships; consortia of maritime clusters 

When? 

November 2015 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 0.57 million 

Projects 
funded 

ArtReefs 

Call 

Thematic Routes on Underwater Cultural Heritage (EASME/EMFF/2015/1.2.1.8) 

What? 

Promoting the creation of touristic thematic routes on underwater cultural heritage and its preservation as a way to promote 
the competitiveness of the coastal and maritime tourism sector and to promote diversification in tourism offer 

Who? 

Public or private entities from at least 2 eligible countries, including non-EU countries 

4 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

When? 

March 2016 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 0.2 million 

Projects 
funded 

ATAS, NIRD, UCRCA 

Call 

Blue Careers in Europe (EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.2) 

What? 

Contributing to filling existing skills' gaps by supporting activities that will increase the employability of various target groups 
in blue economy sectors (e.g. students, workers, unemployed people etc.). Projects must implement core activities related 
to initial and/or continuous education and/or training of current or future workers in blue economy sectors. 

Who? 

Public  or  private  entities  from  EU  Member  States.  The  consortium  must  comprise  at  least:  one  educational/training 
organisation, a public or private VET provider and one company or chamber of commerce.   

When? 

May 2016 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 3.45 million 

Projects 
funded 

ASSESS, BBMBC, BLUE SMART, CETBC, Entrefish, MENTOR, PROCREW 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Call 

Blue Technology: Transfer of innovative solutions to sea basin economies (EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.3) 

What? 

Supporting  strategic  transnational  partnerships  to  develop  joint  roadmaps  at  sea  basin  level  in  order  to  coordinate 
investments for innovation in a specific high potential blue growth technology, domain or value chain 

Who? 

Public and private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Consortia of minimum 3 legal entities,  i.e., 
cluster organisations and/or business network  organisations all of which are providing or channelling cluster and network 
support services. Each entity must be located in a different EU Member State. 

When? 

September 2016 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 2.5 million 

Projects 
funded 

ENTROPI, InvertebrateIT, NeSSIE 

Call 

Blue Labs: innovative solutions for maritime challenges (EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.4) 

What? 

Supporting a novel way of working, where young scientists supported by researchers, industry and local stakeholders, team 
up  to  develop  innovative  solutions  to  support  the  development  of  a  sustainable  blue  economy,  while  preserving  marine 
resources and ecosystems 

Who? 

Public or private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Consortia of minimum 2 entities, one of which 
must be a research/scientific institute and the other a public or private entity 

6 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

When? 

May 2016 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 1.7 million 

Projects 
funded 

AMALIA, ARCHEOSub, Lab4Dive, Litterdrone, SpilLess 

Call 

Environmental monitoring of wave and tidal devices (EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.1) 

What? 

Contribute to increasing environmental data on the potential impact of wave and tidal devices, and to reducing uncertainty 
in modelling potential impacts of future wave and tidal devices 

Who? 

Private and public entities from EU Member States. Consortia of partners from at least 2 Member States are encouraged, but 
not an essential requirement. 

When? 

January 2018 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 1.5 million 

Projects 
funded 

SEA Wave, WESE 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Call 

Sustainable Blue Economy (EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12) 

What? 

Accelerate the implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy and the deployment of the blue economy across Europe and 
in  the  Mediterranean  as  well  as  to  contribute  to  the  implementation  of  the  Joint  Communication  on  international  ocean 
governance 

Who? 

Public or private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Consortia of minimum 2 entities 

When? 

February 2018 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 14.5 million 

Projects 
funded 

AFRIMED, AlgaeDemo, AQUA-LIT,  BlueNET , Cluster ACT, CMES – WestMed, DEEP BLUE, DEMO-BLUESMARTFEED, DiveSafe, 
EASY FEED, ENSAMBLE, FTL-Fish, GREENing the BLUE, LEAPWind, marGnet, MedSkippers, NetTag, OCEANETS, OCEANMET, 
SpaceTech4Sea, SpecTUNA, VPSTTG 

Call 

Blue Labs (EMFF-01-2018) 

What? 

Promoting innovative "laboratories" to pilot new and economically viable solutions addressing selected maritime and marine 
challenges and opportunities. The focus of this action is to support young scientists supported by experienced researchers, 
industry  and  local  stakeholders,  to  team  up  and  develop  innovative  technologies,  products  and  services  in  support  of  a 
sustainable blue economy, preserving marine resources and ecosystems. 

8 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Who? 

Public or private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Consortia of minimum 2 entities from 2 different 
countries, one of which must be a research/scientific body and the other a business entity 

When? 

January 2019 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 5.5 million 

Projects 
funded 

BASTA, BIOGEARS, BlueRoSES, ExPloTect, FISH4FISH, MER-CLUB 

Call 

Blue Careers (EMFF-02-2018) 

What? 

Promoting innovative approaches to strengthen the cooperation between industry and education in order to bridge the gap 
between skills' offer and demand 

Who? 

Public or private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Consortia of minimum 2 entities from 2 different 
countries, one of which must be an educational/training organisation and the other a business entity 

When? 

January 2019 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 8.2 million 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Projects 
funded 

BAPSI, CTP, MarENet, MarLEM, NAUTILUS, ScienceDIVER, Sea of Experience, TEAMS 

Call 

Blue economy (EMFF-03-2018) 

What? 

Supporting demonstration projects based on innovative technologies testing/deploying/scaling-up of new industrial or service 
applications and solutions for the blue economy 

Who? 

Public or private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries. Single applicants (business entities) or consortia 
with at least one business entity 

When? 

January 2019 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 8.2 million 

Projects 
funded 

Aspiring  wingsails,  CORAL4HEALTH,  DOCC-OFF,  FreShER,  MUSSELPRO,  OpenMode,  SEASTAR,  SIMBIOSE,  SMART-
HATCHERY, STARFISH 4.0, T4BS, VesselsLife.com 

Call 

Blue economy window call (EMFF-BEW-2019) 

What? 

Supporting  projects  that  accelerate  innovation  in  the  blue  economy,  demonstrate  high  potential  in  terms  of  company 
competitiveness and growth underpinned by a strategic business plan and which aim to create and maintain high quality jobs 
in the blue economy 

10 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Who? 

SMEs from EU Member States. Exceptionally also SMEs from non-EU countries if their involvement is necessary in view of 
the nature of the action and in order to reach its objectives 

When? 

February 2020 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 22.5 million 

Projects 
funded 

Aerones,  ATOMS,  CleanerShip,  FleetUSV,  InnovaFeed,  Photolicer,  PowerFLEX,  SATHScale,  SEASAM-AI,  WaveFarm, 
ZboxBlueLogistics 

Call 

Blue economy window call (EMFF-BEW-2020) 

What? 

Advancing market-readiness of new products, services or processes in the blue economy 

Who? 

SMEs from EU Member States. Exceptionally also SMEs from non-EU countries if their involvement is necessary in view of 
the nature of the action and in order to reach its objectives 

When? 

February 2021 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 20 million 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Projects 
funded 

ALGAENAUTS, CO2NTROL, ESENSE, KELP-EU, SEAFOOD ALGTERNATIVE, Seawing4Blue, ULVA FARM, WINNEW, AquaPekilo, 
TECOW 

Call 

Ocean Monitoring (OM) 

What? 

Increasing the amount of environmental data and improve knowledge on assessing possible impacts of ocean energy devices, 
contributing to reducing uncertainty in modelling potential impacts  of future ocean  energy devices, providing guidance to 
ocean  energy  developers  and  to  public  competent  authorities  in  charge  of  licencing  and  maritime  planning,  informing 
stakeholders and helping feed the public debate 

Who? 

Public and private entities from eligible countries, including non-EU countries 

When? 

January 2020 

EU 
contribution 

EUR 2.3 million 

Projects 
funded 

SafeWAVE 

12 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

3  Evaluation 

3.1  Results 

In  total  91  projects  were  supported  by  the  EMFF  following  several  calls  for  proposals 
between 2016 and 2021. Overall, these 91 projects account for a total budget of EUR 
122,206,989,  of  which  EUR  87,508,353  were  funded  by  the  EMFF.  The  calls  were 
distinguished by their bottom-up nature. Applicants were not asked to study a particular 
issue or develop a well-defined service or product but were free to propose any project 
that  could  lead  to  a  new  service  or  product  for  the  blue  economy.  Some  calls  for 
proposals had a more narrow scope such as “blue careers” or “blue labs or marine litter”, 
but most were general in scope.  

An Evaluation Question Matrix was developed. This includes a set of indicators grouped 
under the following main categories:  

➢  Impact on beneficiaries 

➢  Sustainability 

➢  Scalability 

➢  Uptake 

➢  Knowledge Transfer 

➢  Networking and visibility, and 

➢  Synergies 

For  this  evaluation,  survey  responses  were  received  from  71  of  the  91  EMFF-funded 
projects and 64 interviews were conducted by the evaluation team. 

A summary of the main findings can be found in chapter 7.2 Conclusions. 

3.2  Challenges encountered 

•  Some  of  the  project  beneficiaries  stated  they  were  too  tied  up  with  their 
project/business to give an interview, though some other simply did not give any 
reason. 

•  Difficulty to evaluate the impact of a project that has just finished. Full impact 

probably materializes only a few years after project completion. 

3.3  Conclusions 

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)  and patents 

66% of all projects reported a change in project TRL since the beginning of the project, 
and  30%  stated  a  TRL  change  was  not  expected  or  applicable,  i.e.  knowledge-based 
projects (e.g. skills). ‘Ocean health and observation2’ clustered projects had the highest 
proportion of projects (89%) reporting a change in project TRL of 1 or more. 

35%  of  projects  developed  new  Intellectual  Property  (IP)  or  patents.  Overall  this 
equates  to  the  development  of  at  least  67  new  products,  IP  assets  and  patents. 

2 For more information on these projects, please see the cluster story : https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-
story-ocean-health-and-observation_en  and CINEA infographics : https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/publications/ocean-health-and-
observation-projects-under-emff-infographic_en  

 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

‘Renewable  energy3’  clustered  projects  reported  the  highest  percentage  of  projects 
(67%) which developed 1 or more new project related assets. 

More detailed information is avaiable in chapters 3.1 and 3.3 of the Annex to the Final 
Report. 

Employment 

The  number  of  staff  experiencing  upskilling  was  one  of  the  most  positive  outcomes 
reported by projects, with 90% of all projects stating that 1 or more staff had gained 
new skills through the project. Significant upskilling also extended to other stakeholders, 
particularly for projects with knowledge-based outputs. Several projects indicated that 
the  new  skills  and  experience  gained  were  widely  transferrable  among  their  current 
sector and other sectors and industries. In this context, it is also important to recall the 
number  of projects aimed at improving  skills as a primary objective in the sample  of 
EMFF projects4.  

It is encouraging to hear that over 50% of all projects reported an increase in project-
related  employment,  with  14%  of  all  projects  stating  they  had  achieved  the  highest 
reportable  increase  in  project-related  employment  of  over  40%.  Renewable  energy 
projects  experienced  the  highest  increase  in  employment,  with  83%  of  projects 
reporting a positive increase in employment. 

More detailed information is available in chapters 3.2 and 3.4 of the Annex to the Final 
Report. 

Revenue 

42%  of  all  projects  reported  that  new  products  were  prepared  for  market,  24%  of 
projects had products available on the market, and 11% of all projects reported they 
had achieved both national and export sales.  

A large proportion of projects (44%) stated that a change in revenue was not applicable 
to the project. This was evident particularly among projects which aimed at filling the 
knowledge  gap  and  not  developing  a  marketable  product.  However,  it  should  be 
considered that several projects considered a change in revenue as not applicable, as 
their  project  had  not  yet  reached  commercialisation  or  as  products  had  only  recently 
been  made  available  to  market.  Such  projects  however  expected  to  achieve  a  future 
change in project revenues once commercialisation has been achieved. A further 21% 
of  projects  reported  no  change  in  project  revenue,  mainly  due  to  products  not  yet 
reaching the commercialisation stage or recently available for market. 

The clusters reporting the highest percentage of projects experiencing a positive change 
in project related revenues were ‘Renewable energy’ projects (42%), then ‘Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture  and  fisheries’  projects5  (36%)  and  ‘Sustainable  tourism  and  cultural 
heritage’  projects6  (33%).  Profitability  followed  similar  trends  to  revenue.  Negative 
impacts on profitability were reported where the costs of R&D are yet to be recovered 
through sales. 

Expected changes in project-related  revenues  are positive, with most  projects (58%) 
expecting increased project revenues, and 24% expecting to see increased revenues of 

3  For  more  information,  see  the  cluster  story :  https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-stories-renewable-
energy_en 
  and  CINEA  infographics :  https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/publications/innovative-solutions-offshore-renewable-
energy_en  

4 See the cluster story on skills : https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-story-blue-careers-skills_en and CINEA 
infographics: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/publications/emff-blue-careers-infographic_en  

5  See  the  cluster  story  on  fishing  and  aquaculture :  https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-story-fishing-and-
aquaculture_en and on algae and blue bioeconomy : https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-story-algae-and-
blue-bioeconomy_en  

6  See  the  cluster  story  on  sustainable  tourism :  https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/contents/cluster-story-sustainable-
tourism-and-cultural-heritage_en  

14 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

over  40%.  Again  the  cluster  with  the  highest  expectations  is  Renewable  Energy, 
reflecting the expected continuation of high growth in the sector. 

More detailed information is available in chapters 3.2 and 3.4 of the Annex to the Final 
Report. 

Post-project activities 

Nearly  all  projects  (86%)  have  developed  (31%)  or  implemented  post-project  plans 
(55%) and carried out some form of post-project activity. 

62% of all projects have either evidence of some form of commercialization plan; 30% 
of  all  projects  having  evidence  of  a  commercialization  plan  in  place  and  32%  having 
evidence of the implementation of a commercialization plan. Most of the remainder are 
projects without commercial expectations, i.e. knowledge-based projects. But there are 
examples of knowledge-focused projects carrying out post-project development. 

It  is  highly  positive  to  see  that  80%  of  all  projects  either  have  a  plan  for  follow  on 
activities (35%) in place or have evidence of implementing follow-on activities (45%). 
However,  many  post-project  activities  included  the  production  of  new  funding 
applications for follow-on projects. 

59% of all projects have reported the potential for replication of the project at a larger 
scale  and  in  other  EU  regions,  with  a  further  39%  of  projects  having  evidence  of 
achieving replication at larger scale and a similar proportion (35%) in other EU regions. 
Only 10% of all projects reported no potential for replication at larger scale. There is 
also the stated potential for the majority (62%) to replicate the project in other sectors 
and markets. 

More detailed information is avaiable in chapter 4 of the Annex to the Final Report. 

4  Clustering & visibility 

4.1  Results 

Clustering  projects  was  of  special  significance  to  facilitate  and  foster  cooperation, 
networking  and  mutual  learning  as  a  key  aspect  of  this  contract.  As  many  projects, 
albeit arising from  entirely different calls for proposals, shared  common traits, it was 
important to define coherent and cross-cutting thematic groupings. For this reason, it 
was  proposed  to  use  a  double  categorisation  and  cluster  projects  by  theme  and  by 
challenge. 

Themes refer to blue economy sectors, whereas challenges refer to cross-cutting issues 
that beneficiaries intended to address through their projects.  

Themes are: 

-  Bioeconomy, aquaculture and fisheries 

o  Algae and blue bioeconomy 

o  Aquaculture and fisheries 

-  Renewable energy 

-  Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage 

-  Ocean health and observation 

-  Sustainable and smart transport 

Challenges are: 

-  Digitalisation: projects that deal with the process of converting information from 
a  physical  format  to  a  digital  one,  or,  more  generally,  that  incorporate  digital 
technologies into existing business processes, with the goal of improving them. 

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

- 

Investment and new business models: this category includes projects that aim 
to  (i)  develop  new  business  models,  (ii)  optimise  existing  business  models  to 
improve profitability and / or “bankability”; reduce capital expenditure (CAPEX) 
and / or operational expenditure (OPEX). 

-  Networking:  mostly  non-commercial  projects  that  aim  to  develop  maritime 

networks across Member States, third countries, and sea basins. 

-  Blue careers, skills and next generation challenges: projects focusing on marine 
and  maritime  careers,  by  developing  skills  and  increasing  employability, 
especially for the younger generations. 

-  Community 

led-local  development:  projects  promoting  bottom-up  and 

participatory approaches to local development in the maritime domain. 

In  many  cases,  projects  were  eligible  under  more  than  one  cluster  in  both 
categorisations. Further, beneficiaries were also clustered in categories such as: 

-  Association 

- 

(Maritime) Cluster 

-  Company 

- 

Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) 

-  Non-profit 

-  Public-private partnership 

-  Research 

-  University 

By  combining  ‘themes  with  ‘challenges’,  it  was  possible  to  create  “smaller”,  more 
effective  and  more  heterogenous  clusters  that  offered  more  options  for  workshop 
themes. For instance, the double categorisation made it possible to organise a workshop 
aimed at beneficiaries  of  fisheries,  aquaculture and tourism projects  which dealt with 
digital technologies.  

A  table  with  all  projects  clustered  by  theme  and  challenge  is  provided  in  Annex  2  – 
Clustered projects. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  give  visibility  to  successful  projects,  a  community  page  was 
created on DG MARE’s Maritime Forum. 8 cluster stories, 4 success stories and 3 video 
interviews were published on the Maritime Forum: 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Table 1 Cluster stories 

Topic 

Published on 

Renewable Energy  

17/12/2021 

Algae and blue bioeconomy 

25/01/2022 

Fishing and aquaculture 

08/02/2022 

Sustainable Tourism and Cultural 
Heritage 

15/03/2022 

Blue Careers & Skills 

Maritime Transport 

18/03/2022 

07/04/2022 

Ocean Health and Observation 

17/05/2022 

Digitalisation 

20/07/2022 

Table 2 Success stories 

Title 

Published on 

OpenMode: the future of aquaculture 
is here  

21/02/2023 

BBMBC: From a blue career project to 
a Mundus master 

21/04/2023 

STARFISH 4.0 

December 2023 

NAUTILUS : Training the water sports 
professionals of tomorrrow 

Published on DG MARE 
newsletter 

4.2  Challenges encountered 

• 

It  was  somehow  difficult  to  identify  success  stories,  i.e.  stories  about  projects 
that have produced tangible results after the grant period.  More than an issue 
with  the  projects  themselves,  this  seems  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  several 
projects  were  still  ongoing  during  the  contract  period  or  had  just  finished.  To 
fully appreciate the success of a project and draft a compelling story  about it, 
more time would be needed, so as to make it possible for project beneficiaries 
to produce and advertise results. 

•  Some  potential  success  stories  had  already  been  covered  in  DG  MARE’s 
newsletter.  In  principle,  it  was  decided  to  avoid  giving  additional  visibility  to 
projects  that  had  already  received  a  lot  of  attention,  so  as  to  cover  as  many 
projects as possible. In practice, however, this situation reduced the number of 

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

suitable  projects  –  and  stories  –  considerably.  To  mitigate  this  issue,  cluster 
stories were published instead of individual success stories. 

4.3  Conclusions 

Overall, despite the above-mentioned challenges, the work was rather successful. The 
content created and disseminated on the Maritime Forum was regularly shared by both 
CINEA and DG MARE via their Twitter accounts, where stories were usually among the 
most liked content. 

Further, cluster stories were also linked by CINEA to present topic-related infographics 
presenting the portfolio of EMFF-funded projects, such as: 

-  Green shipping projects in the EMFF portfolio 

-  Blue careers projects in the EMFF portfolio 

-  Ocean Health and Observation projects under EMFF 

-  EMFF projects: Innovative Solutions for Offshore Renewable Energy 

-  Algae projects funded under EMFF/EMFAF 

5  Networking & synergies 

5.1  Results 

The objective of this work package was to establish a framework to foster networking 
and  cooperation  across  project  beneficiaries.  These  included  beneficiares  of  EMFF-
funded  projects  as  well  as  beneficiaries  of  projects  funded  by  any  EU  funding 
programme.  

A  Coherence  Panel  was  established.  This  was  made  up  of  representatives  of  the 
European Commission/Executive Agencies in charge of managing funding programmes, 
and its role was to take an overall look at the projects considered under the Synergies 
& Clustering project and point out duplications, potential collaborations and synergies. 
Coherence panel representatives were invited as speakers to the workshops, to suggest 
projects  from  other  programmes  to  be  invited  at  workshops  or  to  contribute  to  the 
discussions. 

10 workshops were organised: 

•  The  first  workshop,  titled  ‘EMFF  Integration,  Scaling  Up  and  Cooperation 
with other EU Funding Instruments Workshop’ took place on 28 February 
2022. The objective of the workshop was to contextualise the landscape in which 
EMFF projects are operating and to explore opportunities for future EMFF projects 
under the workshop headings “Integration, Scaling up and Cooperation”.  

A  total  of  74  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop,  representing  European 
Commission  funding  programmes  as  well  as  beneficiaries  from  both  EMFF 
projects  and  projects  from  other  funding  mechanisms.  During  the  workshop 
there  were  a  series  of  presentations  and  case  studies,  followed  by  plenary 
discussions.  Facilitated  breakout  sessions  were  held  to  capture  insights  from 
participants on building cooperation across funding programmes and overcoming 
challenges  in  the  current  funding  system.  A  recording  of  the  workshop,  a 
workshop  report,  and  copies  of  all  presentations  delivered  on  the  day  are 
available on the Maritime Forum. 

•  The second workshop on ‘Blue Skills’ took place on 22 March 2022 online. The 
aim  of  this  thematic  workshop  was  to  identify  and  facilitate  opportunities  for 
synergy and cooperation between the 18 EMFF funded blue skills projects  and 

18 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

projects funded under other funding mechanisms which aim to develop blue skills 
at national and trans-national level.   

A  total  of  66  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop,  representing  European 
Union funding programmes as well as beneficiaries from both EMFF projects and 
skills  projects  from  other  funding  programmes.  A  mixed  methodological 
approach was used to drive engagement and participation in the virtual setting. 
A  recording  of  the  workshop,  a  workshop  report  and  PDF  copies  of  all 
presentations delivered on the day are available on the Maritime Forum. 

•  The  third  workshop  on  ‘Financial  Engineering’  took  place  on  5  May  2022 
online. The aim of this cross-thematic workshop was to address a shortcoming 
identified in many projects, namely: what happens when the grant support ends? 
There  is  often  limited  forethought  and/or  financial  literacy  to  consider  how  to 
further develop projects following grant funding. 

A  total  of  68  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop,  representing  European 
Union funding programmes as well as beneficiaries from both EMFF projects and 
projects  from  other  funding  programmes.  A  recording  of  the  workshop,  a 
workshop  report,  and  copies  of  all  presentations  delivered  on  the  day  are 
available on the Maritime Forum.  

•  The  fourth  workshop  on  ‘Sea-basin  Dimension’  took  place  on  7  July  2022  
online. This workshop explored synergies and clustering between EMFF projects 
and  with  ‘Seabasin  assistance  mechanisms’7  at  sea  basin  level.  The  workshop 
presented  success  stories,  information  and  funding  options  for  project 
coordinators  to  consider  with  the  objective  of  establishing  synergies  and 
increasing cooperation within and between sea basins.  

A  total  of  59  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop,  representing  project 
beneficiaries  both  from  EMFF  and  other  funding  programmes,  sea-basin 
Assistance  Mechanisms,  and  European  Commission  /  CINEA  policy  officers.  A 
recording  of  the  workshop,  a  workshop  report,  and  copies  of  all  presentations 
delivered on the day are available on the Maritime Forum 

•  The fifth workshop  on  Offshore Renewable  Energy  took place on  4 October 
online, and aimed to explore options and opportunities for cooperation between 
offshore renewable energy projects funded by both the EMFF/EMFAF and other 
funding  programmes.  A  comprehensive  agenda  included  an  overview  of  the 
policy context and landscape, as well as a series of successful stories presented 
by beneficiaries. Further, the workshop was supported by an interactive session 
to enable participants to share their  own  experiences on whether and to what 
extent cooperation between project beneficiaries is possible. 

A  total  of  56  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop.  A  recording  of  the 
workshop, a workshop  report, and copies  of all presentations delivered on the 
day are available on the Maritime Forum. 

•  The sixth workshop on "Algae and Blue Bioeconomy" took place as a hybrid 
event  in  Rome  on  12  December  2022.  The  workshop  explored  exchange  of 
information, synergies and clustering between projects dealing with algae as well 
as  with  the  blue  bioeconomy  in  general.  The  main  goal  was  to  establish  a 
framework to  foster information exchange, networking and cooperation across 
projects and beneficiaries. After the workshop, EU4Algae's first public event took 
place. 

7https://westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu/assistance-mechanism/ ; 
https://black-sea-maritime-agenda.ec.europa.eu/  

https://atlantic-maritime-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en, 

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

A total of 22 attendees participated in the workshop (10 in-person and 12 online). 
A recording of the workshop, a workshop report, and copies of all presentations 
delivered on the day are available on the Maritime Forum 

•  The seventh workshop on Investment Readiness and New Business Models 
took place as a hybrid event in Brussels on 8 March 2023. The workshop followed 
up on the Workshop on Financial Engineering and was organised together with 
BlueInvest.  The  aim  of  the  workshop  was  to  help  EMFF/EMFAF  project 
beneficiaries  understand  the  key  elements  to  frame  their  projects  in  the  right 
way to raise interest from potential investors. A bespoke collaborative exercise 
was  carried  out  to  provide  practical  insights  into  investor  readiness.  The 
workshop  presented  success  stories,  information  and  options  for  project 
coordinators to consider with the objective of becoming “investor ready” as well 
as  of  establishing  synergies  and  stimulate  potential  cooperation  in  the  blue 
economy.  Right  after  the  workshop,  participants  were  invited  to  a  networking 
cocktail with BlueInvest investors, where they  had a chance to put in  practice 
the lessons learned during the workshop. A recording of the workshop and copies 
of all presentations delivered on the day are available on the Maritime Forum. 

•  The  eight  workshop  on  Ocean  Health  &  Observation  took  place  on  17  April 
2023    online.  The  workshop  aimed  to  explore  options  and  opportunities  for 
cooperation between projects dealing with ocean health and observation, funded 
by  both  the  EMFF/EMFAF  and  other  funding  programmes.  A  comprehensive 
agenda included an overview of the policy context and landscape, as well as a 
series of successful stories presented by beneficiaries. Further, the workshop was 
supported  by  an  interactive  session  to  enable  participants  to  share  their  own 
experiences  on  whether  and  to  what  extent  cooperation  between  project 
beneficiaries is possible. 

A  total  of  37  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop.  A  recording  of  the 
workshop, a workshop  report, and copies  of all presentations delivered on the 
day are available on the Maritime Forum. 

•  The ninth workshop on “EMFF Blue Economy Calls” took place in Brussels on 
10  May  2023.  The  workshop  sought  to  elicit  feedback  from  selected  project 
beneficiaries on blue economy calls for proposals, by building on their valuable 
experience  and  advice.  9  EMFF  project  beneficiaries  were  identified  as 
“champions”, based, among other things, on the success of their projects, their 
sectors, the call they belonged to as well as on the work of the “Synergies and 
Clustering” contractor. 

A total of 28 attendees participated in the workshop (17 in-person and 11 online). 
The workshop was upon invitation only. 

•  The  tenth  workshop  on  “Digital  Transformation  in  Traditional  Blue 
Economy Sectors: Fishing, Aquaculture and Coastal Tourism” took place 
online  on  28  June  2023.  The  workshop  sought  to  explore  exchange  of 
information, synergies and clustering between projects dealing with digitalisation 
in traditional blue economy sectors, funded by both the EMFF/EMFAF and other 
funding  programmes.  It  presented  success  stories,  information  and  funding 
options  for  project  coordinators  to  consider  with  the  objective  of  establishing 
synergies and stimulate potential cooperation in the field of digitalisation. 

A  total  of  48  attendees  participated  in  the  workshop.  A  recording  of  the 
workshop, a workshop  report, and copies  of all presentations delivered on the 
day are available on the Maritime Forum. 

20 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

5.2  Challenges encountered 

• 

It  was  somehow  difficult  to  convince  project  beneficiaries  to  attend  in-person 
events, even when offering to refund travel expenses. To mitigate this issue, in-
person events where organised back to back with other major sector events. 

•  10 workshops over a 2-year projects may have been too ambitious, considering 
that we needed to wait at least six months to have some results to present at 
the first workshop. This, together with the fact that the cohort of projects was 
limited and some project beneficiares attended more than one event, produced 
a  certain  “workshop  fatigue”.  The  first  few  workshops  tended  to  have  more 
participants, whereas towards the end of the project fewer participants showed 
interest. 

• 

In some cases, project beneficiares noted that Synergies & Clustering workshops 
overlapped with other similar EC events and workshops. Better coordination  in 
terms of agenda-setting would be needed to counteract such overlaps. 

5.3  Conclusions 

Overall, there was a clear split between project beneficiaries: some of them were really 
proactive and found the workshops useful to learn about new projects and potentially 
establish  synergies  with  other  beneficiaries.  Some  other  beneficiaries,  on  the  other 
hand, remained relatively lukewarm about networking options and did not engage with 
the  Synergies  &  Clustering  team  when  invited  to  workshops,  nor  with  other  project 
beneficiaries.  The  relatively  high  number  of  workshops  certainly  did  not  help  in  this 
sense, and for the future it might be wiser to have fewer but more focused workshops. 

In terms of synergies established between project beneficiaries through the Synergies 
&  Clustering  workshops,  at  the  time  of  writing  there  is  no  evidence  of  formal 
collaboration,  though  anecdotal  evidence  from  project  beneficiaries  suggests  that  in 
some  cases  workshops  made  it  possible  to  become  aware  of  other  projects  and 
beneficiaries. Some beneficiaries did indeed report that, after the workshops, they got 
in touch with other beneficiaries to explore possibilities for cooperation. 

In this sense, it should be noted that, albeit less “crowded”, in-person events still tend 
to  offer  more  opportunities  for  interaction  between  participants.  Remote  and  hybrid 
events  can  be  made  more  interactive  by  organising  breakout  sessions,  with  smaller 
groups of participants split in different rooms. This approach was adopted for a number 
of  Synergies  &  Clustering  workshops  as  well,  but  overall  in-person  events  are  better 
suited for networking, with most interaction taking place after the event itself or during 
coffee breaks. The workshop on algae and blue bioeconomy was a good example of this 
approach.  It  took  place  as  a  live  event  back-to-back  with  EU4Algae  first  meeting  in 
Rome in December 2022. While only 10 beneficiaries attended on site, the quality of the 
discussion and the feedback gathered during the event were of special significance, as 
recognised by the beneficiaries themselves. 

The workshop on blue economy calls, which also took place as a live event in Brussels 
in May 2023, was particularly interesting in terms of feedbak received, but it was the 
exception rather than the rule, as it was a closed workshop where beneficiaries  were 
invited individually and refunded their travel and accomodation expenses. 

For the future, an option may be to organise remote and hybrid events whenever the 
primary aim is to gather feedback on a given topic, whereas networking events should 
continue to take place live. Further, events where participants are invited individually 
might be characterised by more productive discussions, probably due to an increased 
sense of belonging. 

When it comes to project clusters and their interaction during workshops, no specific 
differences could be appreciated, and it cannot be argued that beneficiaries from certain 

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

blue economy sectors are more proactive or more willing to cooperate than others. In 
fact,  more  than  to  clusters  and  blue  economy  sectors,  differences  in  the  level  of 
involvement seem to be due to individual propensities of project beneficiaries, with some 
of  them  actively  engaging  in  cooperation  and  promotion  activities,  and  some  others 
exclusively focusing on their projects. 

Likewise, there does not seem to be a clear difference in results between thematic and 
cross-thematic workshops. Generally speaking, participation and engagement seemed 
to  be  more  linked  to  the  timing  of  the  workshop  than  to  other  factors,  with  the  first 
workshops  being  somehow  more  lively,  and  the  latest  starting  to  show  the  above-
mentioned “workshop fatigue”.  

Last but not least, the Synergies and Clustering workshops were also useful to establish 
synergies between different DGs and services of the European Commission or different 
institutions of the European Union. A notable  example was the workshop on financial 
engineering,  which  opened  a  communication  channel  between  BlueInvest  and  the 
European  Investment  Bank.  Furthermore,  throughout  all  workshops  held  during  the 
project, several other initiatives funded by the European Commission were invited either 
to  present  their  activities  or  to  interact  with  project  beneficiaries.  Examples  are 
BlueInvest, EU4Algae and the Sea Basin Assistance Mechanisms. Preliminary results on 
blue careers projects from Synergies and Clustering were also presented at  an EMFAF 
Infoday on Blue careers and Regional flagships calls for proposals in 2022. In fact, those 
very preliminary results informed the text of the call for proposals itself, by adding the 
delivery of a legacy and/or business plan as a requirement for project beneficiaries to 
obtain their grant.  

6  Recommendations 

In this chapter are presented two distinct sets of recommendations. The first set comes 
from the Coherence Panel8 and various members of the European Commission, including 
DG MARE and other DGs. These recommendations were gathered during the final event 
of the Synergies & Clustering project. The second set of recommendations is based on 
the feedback received from project beneficiaries surveyed under the evaluation task, as 
well as on the conclusions of the workshops held throughout the Synergies & Clustering 
project. 

Recommendations from the Coherence Panel 

1.  Leverage  the  extensive  knowledge  within  the  marine/maritime 
community to identify synergies is crucial: create a community of practice 
among  various  initiatives  and  stakeholders  to  enhance  collaboration  would  be 
needed.  A  number  of  strategic  initiatives  already  exist  (Mission  Ocean 
implementation  platform,  Sustainable  Blue  Economy  Partnerships  (SBEP),  the 
regional  Mission  Lighthouse  CSAs,  Assistance  mechanism  etc.…)  in  support  of 
synergies across EU programmes and as such should be fully acknowledged to 
avoid  duplications  (e.g.  repositories  of  good  practices  exist  in  different  EU 
funding initiatives and could be assessed to identify areas of potential synergies 
with EMFAF priorities). These strategic initiatives should be encouraged to come 
together regularly to exchange and provide updates.  

2.  Create synergies at the territorial level. There are several initiatives focusing 
on the regional/sea basin level within the EMFAF and other EU funds. These can 
potentially be good platforms to enhance sharing of information, gathering needs 
and organise clustering events.  

8 The Coherence Panel was composed of representatives of the European Commission and its role  was to take an overall 
look  at  the  EMFF  projects  considered  under  this  service  contract  and  point  out  duplications,  potential  collaborations  and 
synergies 

22 

 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Sea Basin Strategies and their assistance mechanisms funded under the EMFAF, 
as well as other regional initiatives such as INTERREG, SBEP, lighthouses under 
the Mission “Restore Our Ocean and Seas”, could play a role in this process. A 
number  of  successful  actions  promoted  under  the  Sea  Basin  Strategies  and 
Assistance Mechanisms can be used and replicated to enhance synergies, such 
as  designing  roadmaps  with  EU  (and  international)  funding  programmes  and 
initiatives, in order to maximise synergies, and align with Blue Economy priorities 
and  needs.  Activities  such  as  signing  Memoranda  of  Understanding,  (e.g., 
between  the  WestMed  Initiative  and  INTERREG  EUROMED),  hackathons  with 
local stakeholders, exchanges with managing authorities (ERDF etc.), sea basin 
or national workshops, or specific thematic technical groups, can be also used in 
this regard.  

Regional  contacts  should  be  well  informed  and  guided  through  the  different 
possibilities of EU funds and networking/synergies. There should be a mentoring 
system/support  enabling  to  support  at  regional  level  those  contacts  who  have 
less experience. 

3.  Allow  for  consultation  with  stakeholders  and  include  synergies  in  the 
programming of EMFAF funds . Consult with stakeholders and identify jointly 
the areas for greater added value for EMFAF future calls could be useful also to 
strengthen synergies across existing actions and projects (see different types of 
synergies below). Indeed, synergies can take place in various settings, and these 
should  ideally  be  considered  when  launching  a  new  EMFAF  action  to  embed 
synergies with other programmes and maximise impact of a project depending 
on their objective and type (regional, commercial, cooperation …). A number of 
specific  elements  for  potential  synergies  should  be  further  considered  when 
launching/implementing actions under the EMFAF:  

-  TRL  (i.e.,  support  for  further  commercialisation  of  services/products), 

with synergies from EMFAF to other funds or vice-versa 

-  Territorial  levels  (e.g.,  from  sub-national  to  international  or  across  sea 
basins  or  across  EU)  which  may  allow  for  synergies  with  S3  Platforms, 
KICs, ERDF, etc. 

-  Spill-overs (i.e., ideas generated by previous projects that may result in 
new project submissions even under the EMFAF or under other funds) 

-  Value chains (i.e., solutions initially funded could be merged with other 
projects to address different or broader value chains across blue economy 
sectors) 

- 

Land-sea  interaction  (similarly  to  the  above,  innovative  solutions  could 
expand  their  scope  to  address  broader  areas  and  address  broader 
challenges) 

4.  Encourage dissemination of results, advocacy, outreach and feedback to 
policy  is  also  an  important  way  to  foster  synergies  by  making  the  knowledge 
available to a vast range of users and facilitate further exploitation.  

For example, carry out portfolio analysis, mapping existing databases, promote 
success  stories,  produce  regular  policy  briefs  on  specific  topics/areas  can  be 
useful  tools  to  promote  cross-programme  synergies  and  maximise  knowledge 
sharing while avoiding future duplications.  

Project  portfolio  overviews  and  publications  are  important  for  illustrating  and 
guiding  actions  related  to  synergies  and  complementarities,  such  as  further 
exploiting project results. However, they necessitate consistent investments in 
terms  of  effort  at  the  policy  officer  and  project  officer  levels,  along  with  the 
appropriate assistance in utilising various IT or publication tools to acquire the 
necessary updates on funded projects. 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Although  portfolio  analysis  overviews  are  informative,  they  are  however  not 
sufficient  for  better  insight  in  project  outcomes,  impacts,  etc.  This  is  where 
cluster seminars and reports are helpful to explain results and explore synergies 
and  increase  efficiency.  Proposals  to  organise  cluster  meetings  on  a  certain 
theme scanning relevant projects from various funding sources is an interesting 
approach in this context. (e.g., Sustainable Blue Economy Partnerships (SBEP) 
portfolio analysis). 

The key also lies in providing a space for networking and also carefully selecting 
cluster event participants based on the event's objectives, whether it's a focused 
thematic gathering or an attempt at cross-fertilization. Flexibility in this regard 
is  essential,  as  unexpected  synergies  can  arise  when  diverse  experts  come 
together,  even  if  they  initially  seem  unrelated.  While  inclusivity  is  important, 
target individuals with relevant expertise can enhance the effectiveness of such 
events. The future work of the SBEP on thematic portfolio analysis for example 
can be a testbed for this. Other developing initiatives should also be monitored 
so as to leverage the best fora according to the needs of the users/policymakers.  

5.  Organise  remote  and/or  hybrid events when the primary aim is to gather 
feedback on a given topic, but keep live  events when the goal is to encourage 
networking between project beneficiaries. 

6.  Encourage strategic intervention in projects and ask new roles to be added 
in the teams of projects in the form of dedicated community managers. These 
community managers should specialize in connecting stakeholders, bridging the 
gap between different sectors, ultimately enhancing the potential for successful 
projects. There is a need for adaptability and understanding within the complex 
landscape of European funding schemes. In addition, projects should be asked 
to include a certain % of their effort into clustering and synergies to exchange 
and  invest  time  in  joint  project  cluster  discussion  and  production  of  joint 
feedback-to-policy material. Finally, organising clustering activities requires a lot 
of  coordination  and  secretarial  support.  This  should  also  be  addressed  and 
catered for by specialised staff while the work on the content should be left to 
the experts/scientists in one specific area. 

funds,  so  as  to  avoid  duplication  while 

7.  Increased  dialogue  between  European  Commission  services.  Such 
dialogue  will  foster  exchange  of  information,  facilitate  relevant  connections 
between stakeholders and can have a key role to include synergies by design in 
programming  EU 
facilitating 
knowledge/results  sharing  and  more  efficient  use  of  EU  funds.  Although 
synergies are easier to achieve in smaller settings, one should explore methods 
to  structure  interactions  at  higher  levels.  Specific  groups  around  key 
sectors/policy  areas  could  be  envisaged  (MSP,  aquaculture,  transport/ports, 
energy,  etc.),  so  as  to  specifically  discuss  thematic  synergies.  Structured 
exchange between colleagues working on relevant sectors for the blue economy 
is another option (e.g., EISMEA on Tourism, Waterborne transport in CINEA, RTD 
on MPAs). Periodic engagement with strategic initiatives could also allow greater 
exchange on how to align ongoing actions. 

8.  Strengthen the position of the EU Executive agencies in facilitating the 
coordination  among 
funding  programmes  and  support  project 
coordinators. The agencies are well-positioned to facilitate coordination among 
different  funding  programmes  and  provide  valuable  support  to  project 
coordinators.  Strengthening  the  role  of  agencies  in  guiding  coordinators  and 
informing  them  about  various  funding  schemes  can  enhance  the  utilization  of 
available  resources.  Additionally,  promoting  interactions  between  programmes 
like  EMFAF  and  Horizon  Europe  through  agencies  can  further  foster  synergies 
and policy feedback, ultimately maximising the impact of EU-funded projects and 
EU  public  money.  Consideration  should  also  be  given  to  the  role  of  project 
24 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

advisors,  both  within  and  outside  the  Commission,  in  driving  and  supporting 
these synergies within agencies. 

9.  Facilitate access to EU funding programmes by theme/topic or type of 
participant  rather  than  by  programme  information.  Stakeholders  would 
rather be interested in looking for funding opportunities according to their sector 
or  type  of  entity  (SME,  regional  authority,  etc.)  than  by  EU  programme,  as 
currently  displayed  by  the  Funding  and  Tenders  Portal.  Further,  drafting 
“synergistic calls” would ensure wider coverage of topics, especially if these calls 
are  more  oriented  to  clusters  than  to  programmes.  This  would  also  imply 
stronger involvement and engagement from all actors concerned, and it would 
streamline funding to guarantee support to all project phases until commercial 
maturity  is  reached.  The  idea  of  “synergies  by  design”  refers  to  the  ex-ante 
identification  of  the  impacts  expected  by  the  projects  from  early  innovation 
stages to success as a business, by designing funding schemes that would enable 
to adequately accompany a project down the path to commercialization. 

Recommendations based on the project beneficiaries’ feedback and conclusions of the 
workshops 

1.  Make  the  framework  permanent:  the  evaluation  of  long-term  impact  of 
grants should not remain a one-off exercise, otherwise in a few years’ time the 
situation  would  be  again  much  like  it  was  before  the  Synergies  &  Clustering 
project. In fact, it would be necessary to have a stable framework, whereby at 
regular intervals an assessment of the impact of grants is carried out. A limitation 
of the Synergies & Clustering project was that  some projects had just finished 
when  their  beneficiaries  were  interviewed,  and  thus  it  was  unlikely  that  any 
impact could have already materialised.  Regular  evaluations  would circumvent 
this issue and provide more robust results.  

2.  One-stop  shop  for  EU  funding  opportunities.  In  alignment  with 
recommendation  #9  of  the  Coherence  Panel,  project  beneficiaries  have 
emphasized that there are many funding opportunities at EU level. However, it 
is not always straightforward to make sense of the full landscape for those who 
are  not  fully  familiar  with  the  ecosystem.  Ideally,  it  would  be  good  to  have  a 
single portal grouping all funding options, regardless of the funding programme, 
which  potential  beneficiaries  can  browse  by  topic,  rather  than  by  funding 
instrument. Through a series of questions, a “wizard” should funnel beneficiaries 
to available funding opportunities at a given moment. 

3.  Matchmaking facility: if the one-stop shop proposed in recommendation #1 is 
put in place, it might be complemented with a matchmaking facility, similarly to 
what is being done, for example, by BlueInvest. Rather than matching project 
beneficiaries with investors, however, the matchmaking facility should facilitate 
networking  and  matchmaking  between  project  beneficiaries  themselves, 
regardless of the funding instrument. 

4.  Organize dedicated networking events: to be noted that this is in contrast 
to  the  “workshop  fatigue”  and  low  engagement  rate  mentioned  as  challenges 
under task 3 “Networking”. At the same time, as previously noted, there indeed 
is a group of project beneficiaries who lamented the lack of networking events 
and  advocated  having  more  workshops  similar  to  those  organised  during 
Synergies & Clustering, as – they stated – those were among the few occasions 
they had to get in touch with other project beneficiaries and learn about what 
they were doing.  

5.  Coaching and/or mentoring: the workshop on financial engineering and the 
workshop  on  investment  and  new  business  models  revealed  that,  among  the 
reasons why certain projects are not followed up after the grant period, is the 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

fact that beneficiaries in some cases did not put in enough effort in their post-
grant  strategy,  that  is  the  set  of  activities  required  to  become  financially  self-
sufficient.  Further,  in  the  specific  case  of  projects  developing  products  and/or 
services for the market, it turned out that often SMEs might not be familiar with 
the world of finance and thus find themselves unprepared when trying to raise 
capital on the market to scale up their project, or they are simply not aware of 
the  different  options  they  may  use.  In  this  sense,  to  maximise  the  impact  of 
grants – and ultimately to achieve the policy goals that inform the very idea of 
instituting grants – coaching and mentoring activities should become part of each 
grant  agreement,  both  for  market-oriented  and  non-market-oriented  projects, 
with a view to increasing the survival rate after the grant period.  

6.  Need for establishing targets and baselines: by definition, grants (should) 
support highly innovative and risky projects, whose failure rate tends to be quite 
high. In the US, it is calculated that on average around 50% of startups fail within 
5  years  since  birth9,  and  this  figure  includes  all  startups,  not  just  the  most 
innovative  ones.  Therefore,  it’s  important  to  establish  what  the  realistic 
expectations are. The fact that most beneficiaries do not happen to scale up their 
business after a grant is a normal pattern.  

9 https://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table7.txt  

26 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

7  Annex I – Evaluation Summary 

7.1  Standard Evaluation Criteria 

As specified in the technical specifications for this contract, ‘This work package will allow 
complementing the interim evaluation by collecting insights from projects funded under 
the  bottom-up  calls  that  were  not  included  in  the  scope  of  the  previous  interim 
evaluation mainly  for timing reasons.’10 This  evaluation was therefore  focused  on the 
beneficiary  views  on  the  impact  of  the  funding  and  on  aspects  to  inform  the  wider 
networking and synergies aspects as part of this contract.  

The  survey  and  associated  questions  are  structured  around  criteria  agreed  with  DG 
MARE and CINEA at the outset of the project, namely: 

1.  Economic impacts (current and future) 

2.  Sustainability 

3.  Scalability 

4.  Uptake 

5.  Knowledge transfers 

6.  Networking and visibility 

Only the views of project beneficiaries were sought in relation to these aspects via the 
EU  Survey  and  interviews.  The  evaluation  did  not  directly  address  the  standard 
evaluation criteria or seek the views of other stakeholders, as a full evaluation may do. 
However,  to  help  inform  the  wider  evaluation  of  EMFF  funding,  this  section  uses  the 
results from this evaluation to provide comments in relation to the standard evaluation 
criteria: 

•  effectiveness (whether the EU action reached its objectives) 

•  efficiency (what are the costs and benefits) 

• 

• 

relevance (whether it responds to stakeholders' needs) 

coherence (how well it works with other actions) 

•  EU added value (what are the benefits of acting at EU level) 

7.1.1  Effectiveness 

As specified in the technical specifications: 

‘Calls for proposals launched by the European Commission under the EMFF, follow either 
a top-down approach to investigate or solve a specific problem (i.e. the recyclability of 
fishing gear, support to the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive) 
or follow a bottom up approach aiming to kick-start new ideas to support the goals of 
the maritime policy.’11  

The projects supported and evaluated here are part of the latter bottom-up projects and 
are therefore broad and varied in their objectives with a focus on innovation associated 
with EU maritime policy. In effect this means these are innovation projects associated 
with maritime sectors and issues, as evidenced by the clusters that have been defined 
in this project. 

Each project set its own objectives and the application & approval process ensured these 
were  aligned  with  EU  maritime  policy  objectives.  While  many  experienced  delays,  to 

10 https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-document.html?docId=76246 p.2 

11 Ibid, p.1 

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

date only two of the 91-funded projects were terminated. The great majority of projects 
were  therefore  completed  and  66%  of  projects  reported  an  increase  in  Technology 
Readiness Level (TRL). Not all projects have resulted in products to be taken forward to 
commercialization, but 66% of projects reported that products were available or being 
prepared for market. Additionally, 35% of projects developed at least 67 new IP assets 
or patents. 

The  EU’s  Integrated  Maritime  Policy  (IMP)  (COM(2007)  0575)  is  a  policy  framework 
aiming  to  foster  the  sustainable  development  of  all  sea-based  activities  and  coastal 
regions  by  improving  the  coordination  of  policies  affecting  the  oceans,  seas,  islands, 
coastal and outermost regions and maritime sectors, and by developing cross-cutting 
tools. The main objectives are set out in the table below with comments on where the 
projects funded here may have contributed to those objectives. 

Table 3: EMFF Blue Economy fundings contribution to Integrated Maritime 
Policy Objectives 

IMP Objective12  

EMFF-funded Blue Economy Project 
Contribution 

Maximising the sustainable use of 
the oceans and seas in order to 
enable the growth of maritime 
regions and coastal regions as 
regards shipping, seaports, 
shipbuilding, maritime jobs, the 
environment and fisheries 
management; 

Building a knowledge and 
innovation base for maritime policy 
through a comprehensive European 
Strategy for Marine and Maritime 
Research (e.g. the Maritime 
Strategy Framework Directive 
(2008/56/EC) and the Horizon 2020 
programme; 

Improving the quality of life in 
coastal regions by encouraging 
coastal and maritime tourism, 
creating a Community Disaster 
Prevention Strategy and developing 
the maritime potential of the EU’s 
outermost regions and islands; 

As evidenced by the clusters developed, 
funded projects cover a wide range of blue 
economy sectors. 
The intent of these projects is to develop 
innovative knowledge or technologies that 
would ultimately contribute to growth in 
maritime and coastal regions. 
As highlighted in section 3, over 50% 
reported an increase in project-related 
employment, which can be assumed to be 
‘maritime jobs’.  

Around 35% of the evaluated projects 
created knowledge-based outputs, which 
were then disseminated. 
Several projects have continued and 
expanded with follow-on funding from 
Horizon 2020/Horizon EU. 

An early call was for projects on 
‘Underwater cultural heritage’, with 3 
projects funded in the Adriatic (ATAS), 
Greece (UCRCA) and Western Black Sea 
(NIRD). These developed and promoted 
sustainable tourism products. There are 6 
further projects included in the 
‘Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage’ 
cluster.  
None of the projects are associated with 
the EU’s outermost regions and islands. 

12https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/121/integrated-maritime-policy-of-the-european-
union#:~:text=The%20EU's%20Integrated%20Maritime%20Policy,and%20by%20developing%20cross%2Dcutting 

28 

 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Promoting EU leadership in 
international maritime affairs 
through enhanced cooperation at 
the level of international ocean 
governance and, on a European 
scale, through the European 
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the 
Northern Dimension 

This objective is less applicable to the 
bottom-up projects supported through 
EMFF. 

Raising the visibility of maritime 
Europe through the ‘European Atlas 
of the Seas’ internet application, as 
a means of highlighting the 
common European maritime 
heritage, and by celebrating an 
annual European Maritime Day on 
20 May. 

This contract itself, through organising 
workshops, publishing success stories and 
social media posts has contributed to 
raising the visibility of Maritime Europe. 
The project team and many of the funded 
projects have attended and participated in 
the European Maritime Day in diverse 
settings: workshops, pitching sessions etc.. 

Sections 3.5 to 3.7 of the Annex to the Final Report summarise the success factors and 
challenges that influenced the effectiveness of the projects. 

7.1.2  Efficiency 

There has been no attempt in this evaluation to assess the costs and benefits in relation 
to  the  funding  provided.  Section  3.2  of  the  Annex  to  the  Final  Report  details  the 
economic impact on beneficiaries,  which provides indication  of the efficiency of these 
projects.  Project  beneficiaries  were  also  asked  to  predict  what  economic  impact  is 
expected in the next five years (section 3.3 of the Annex to the Final Report).  

In terms of financial benefit, 44% of projects stated that a change in revenue was not 
applicable to the project (e.g. knowledge-based outputs that could not be monetised) 
or expected (e.g. the project was not at the stage enabling commercial development). 
As is usually the case with ‘seed-funding’, some innovative products may prove to be 
non-viable.  

The clusters with the highest increase in revenue are ‘Renewable Energy’, ‘Bioeconomy 
aquaculture and fisheries’ and ‘Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage’ and here we 
may expect a number of outputs to result in very positive cost-benefit ratios in relation 
to the funding provided. It should, however, be recognised that the funding is only a 
proportion of research and development costs. 

50% of the 71 projects surveyed stated that a change in project profitability was not 
applicable  to  the  project,  with  a  further  20%  reporting  that  no  changes  in  project 
profitability had occurred. It is however important to consider that this is not indicative 
of poor financial success for most projects: many projects had either only just begun 
selling or achieving their first sales, and so had limited information to determine project 
profitability. Additionally, many beneficiaries consider that the costs of R&D, marketing 
and so on, must first be covered before “true profitability” is achieved. 

The  percentage  of  projects  reporting  a  positive  change  in  project  profitability  were 
relatively low by cluster. Sustainable tourism and Cultural heritage recorded the highest 
percentage  of  projects  (33%)  and  had  the  only  project  reporting  an  increase  of  over 
40% in project related profitability. Presumably this is due to the ability for this cluster’s 
project  outputs  to  be  immediately  commercialised  rather  than  progressing  along  the 
TRL process. 

In terms of the development of new products and services, 35% of all projects that had 
stated that new project related assets had been developed, 6% of which reported the 
development  of  5  or  more  new  assets.  By  cluster  Renewable  energy,  Bioeconomy, 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

aquaculture,  &  fisheries,  and  Sustainable  and  smart  transport  clustered  projects 
experienced  the  highest  levels  of  projects  reporting  the  development  of  new  project 
related  products  and  services.  In  terms  of  market  readiness  and  sales,  42%  of  all 
projects reported that new products were prepared for market, and a further 24% of 
projects stated products were available for market. In terms of sales, 11% of all projects 
reported  they  had  achieved  both  national  and  export  sales.  Sustainable  tourism  and 
cultural  heritage,  sustainable  and  smart  transport  and  bioeconomy,  aquaculture,  and 
fisheries’ clustered projects achieved the highest levels of commercilaisation success. 

It  is  therefore  likely  that  we  may  expect  a  number  of  project  related  projects  and 
services to result in very positive cost-benefit ratios, in relation to the funding provided; 
as  new  products  achieve  market  sales  and  success,  they  will  ultimately  contribute  to 
further  capital  generation,  aiding  the  development  and  longevity  of  the  beneficiary 
projects  after  funding  has  ended.  Additionally,  the  development  of  both  national, 
European,  and  intenational  sales  markets  for  project  products  will  not  only  lead  to 
greater  returns  for  projects,  but  will  likely  lead  to  greater  project  expanison  both 
physically  as  operations  scale  to  meet    increased  market  demands,  but  also 
economically through the increased revenues and sales this will likely bring.   

Employment related changes were one of the most significant benefits to beneficiaries, 
with over 50% of the 71 projects reporting an increase in project-related employment, 
and  90%  of  all  projects  stating  that  1  or  more  staff  had  benefitted  from  upskilling 
through  the  project.  Renewable  energy  projects  overwhelmingly  experienced  the 
highest increase in employment (83%) with 100% of all Sustainable tourism and cultural 
heritage, 96% of all Bioeconomy, aquaculture, and fisheries and 92% of all Renewable 
energy clustered projects reporting staff had benefitted from upskilling.  

There  are  other,  less  tangible,  but  significant  benefits  resulting  from  the  projects, 
particularly  the  knowledge-based  projects,  which  should  also  be  considered  such  as 
upskilling and operators in the maritime sector using the information provided to make 
more informed choices. 

7.1.3  Relevance 

The relevance of the funding programme is evident in addressing the need to support 
innovation  in  the  blue  economy,  which  has  several  emerging  economic  sectors  and 
established maritime sectors that all must innovate to address future challenges such 
as  climate  change  and  decarbonisation.  Direct  economic  returns  are  not  guaranteed, 
making investment in R&D high risk and there is a continued need for public funding to 
support innovation. 

With a view to maintain the relevance of the programme to beneficiaries, a workshop 
on  future  calls  was  conducted  in  May  2023  to  discuss  future  stakeholder  needs.  The 
eight successful project beneficiaries concurred that overall the broader scope of later 
calls  enabled  a  wide  range  of  stakeholders  to  apply.  The  earlier,  more  targeted  calls 
pre-defined the ‘need’ of stakeholders by specifying what type of projects the call should 
fund. 

EMFF  funding  enabled  the  development  of  prototypes  for  large  scale  demonstrations 
and  testing,  which  supported  transition  to  the  next  stage  and  demonstrated  its 
effectiveness  to  the  consumer,  helping  build  trust  and  achieve  new  investments  and 
sales. 

Project beneficiaries were asked what could be improved for future calls: 

•  The need for R&D project specific grants or reducing the TRL required to 
be  eligible  for  calls;  Beneficiaries  with  research  and  development  focused 
projects  highlighted  that  a  major  issue  is  the  lack  of  calls  specifically  for  R&D 
projects.  Many  calls,  including  Horizon  2020/EU  programme,  are  very 
technology/TRL centric and want to move TRLs forward. Research projects find 
it hard to incorporate TRL change into their project, or many are starting at a 
TRL of 0. Consequently, many are ineligible for many calls. This is important to 

30 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

address  as  ground  level  R&D  is  often  needed  for  further  developments  within 
projects  and  so  it  may  not  be  possible  for  projects  to  fund  their  necessary 
research. Moving away from a TRL focus on calls or providing more R&D specific 
calls would help open funding for more research-based projects. 

•  A  tiered  system  for  funding  calls;  Beneficiaries  highlighted  the  need  for  a 
wider  range  of  funding  opportunities  to  meet  the  needs  of  projects  at  various 
stages of their development cycles. This included funding calls which considered 
the  success  of  prior  projects  in  the  evaluation  process,  and  offer  continued 
funding for successful projects which need additional funding e.g. “capitalization 
calls”. Specific funding calls for new upcoming projects (e.g., bridge funding), or 
low-level innovation grants which would enable projects to reach their prototype 
stage  and  assist  in  helping  projects  demonstrate  their  projects  successes  to 
potential consumers and investors.  

•  Increasing the duration of projects; Funding periods need to be sufficient to 
allow adequate testing of potential solutions and prototypes with stakeholders to 
ensure that their market readiness is accelerated.  

•  Calls  which  allow  for  cooperation  with  Research  institutes  and  SMEs; 
Beneficiaries  highlighted  the  need  for  calls  which  enable  the  establishment  of 
small consortia between SMEs/start-ups and research entities. Several projects 
stated that the success of their project was due to  cooperation  between SMEs 
and research institutes, with research institutes in particular helping absorb the 
administrative  burden  linked  to  grant  management.  However,  large  projects, 
such as the ones funded under Horizon, have an inertia and complexity that was 
not present in the sustainable blue economy calls EMFF had in the past. Many 
small businesses lack the capacity to deal with the administrative burden of grant 
management, but research institutes were unable to apply for further calls. Thus 
many  projects  lose  skilled  partners  and  effective  working  relationships  from 
current  calls.  If  calls  aided  SMEs  with  the  administrative  burden  and  included 
research institutes, it would be of great benefit to many projects and would be 
an entry point for many (small) organisations and consortia to EMFF. 

7.1.4  Coherence 

There  has  been  no  consideration  in  this  evaluation  as  to  how  well  these  bottom-up 
project align with other actions, specifically the top-down activities funded through the 
EMFF direct management budget. However some general statements on coherence can 
be made. 

In 2021 the EU published its strategy: A New Approach to a Sustainable Blue Economy13, 
stating: “Rather than an exhaustive action plan, the new approach provides coherence 
across the blue economy sectors, facilitates their coexistence and looks for synergies in 
the maritime space, without damaging the environment. It also underlines the need for 
investment in research, skills and innovation.” This illustrates that there is strong overall 
coherence between this funding programme (and indeed this Synergies and Clustering 
contract) and the EU’s overall approach to the Blue Economy.  

The project application, evaluation and approval process ensured that the projects were 
coherent with EU policies, particularly  ensuring alignment with the EMFF and the IMP 
policy. This indicates good internal coherence with EU policies and activities. However 
section 3.7 of the Annex to the Final Report  on ‘external barriers and challenges’ and 
comments  from  stakeholders  related  to  other  funding  sources  such  as  the  European 
Investment  Council,  illustrates  that  some  improvements  in  overall  coherence  can  be 
made.  

13 https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/ocean/blue-economy/sustainable-blue-economy_en  

 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

7.1.5  EU Added-value 

The funding support provided by the EU was further enhanced by DG MARE’s efforts to 
encourage  synergies  between  other  EMFF-funded  projects  and  projects  funded  under 
different  EU  programmes.  Around  a  third  of  project  beneficiaries  indicated  some  co-
operation/collaboration had been achevied (section 5.3 of the Annex to the Final Report 
describes this further). 

A workshop on future calls was conducted in May 2023 to discuss stakeholder needs. 
The main points that emerged from this discussion (with around eight successful project 
beneficiaries) are: 

•  EMFF  funding  enabled  the  development  of  prototypes  for  large  scale 
demonstrations and testing, which supported transition to the next stage and 
demonstrated its effectiveness to the consumer, helping build trust and achieve 
new investments and sales. 

•  Beneficiaries  stated  that  funding  under  EMFF  and  similar  funding  mechanisms 
such as the Blue invest fund is very appealing to potential clients and investors; 
acceptance to EMFF is viewed as highly prestigious and a sign of the quality 
of the project. 

7.2   Conclusions 

In  total  91  projects  were  assisted  by  the  EMFF  under  several  Blue  Economy  calls 
between 2016-2021, with calls being either general or specifically related to a theme 
such as ‘blue careers’ or ‘blue labs’. For this evaluation, survey responses were received 
from  71  of  the  91  EMFF-funded  projects  and  64  interviews  were  conducted  by  the 
evaluation team. 

7.2.1 

Impact on beneficiaries 

•  Almost  a  quarter  of  respondents  reported  delays  and  extensions,  which  were 
primarily due to Covid-19 restrictions. Other causes of delay were regulatory in 
nature, such as receiving the necessary permissions to deploy equipment in the 
marine environment. 

•  66% of all projects reported a change in project TRL since the beginning of the 
project,  and  30%  stated  a  TRL  change  was  not  expected  or  applicable,  i.e. 
knowledge-based projects. ‘Ocean health and observation’ clustered projects had 
the highest proportion of projects (89%) reporting a change in project TRL of 1 
or more. 

•  35% of projects had developed new Intellectual Property (IP) or patents. Overall 
this  equates  to  the  development  of  at  least  67  new  products,  IP  assets  and 
patents. ‘Renewable energy’ clustered projects reported the highest percentage 
of projects (67%) which had developed 1 or more new project related assets. 

•  42% of all projects reported that new products were prepared for market, 24% 
of  projects  had  products  available  on  the  market,  and  11%  of  all  projects 
reported they had achieved both national and export sales.  

•  The  number  of  staff  experiencing  upskilling  was  one  of  the  most  positive 
outcomes reported by projects, with 90% of all projects stating that 1 or more 
staff  had  gained  new  skills  through  the  project.  Significant  upskilling  also 
extended to other stakeholders, particularly for projects with knowledge-based 
outputs.  Several  projects  indicated  that  the  new  skills  and  experience  gained 
were  widely  transferrable  among  their  current  sector  and  other  sectors  and 
industries. 

32 

 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

• 

It is encouraging to hear that over 50% of all projects reported an increase in 
project-related employment, with 14% of all projects stating they had achieved 
the  highest  reportable  increase  in  project-related  employment  of  over  40%. 
Renewable  energy  projects  experienced  the  highest  increase  in  employment, 
with 83% of projects reporting a positive increase in employment. 

•  A large proportion  of projects (44%) stated that a change in revenue was not 
applicable  to  the  project.  This  was  evident  particularly  among  projects  which 
aimed at filling the knowledge gap and not developing a marketable product. A 
further 21%  of projects reported no  change in  project revenue, mainly due to 
products not yet reaching the commercialisation stage or recently available for 
market. 

•  The clusters reporting the highest percentage of projects experiencing a positive 
change  in  project  related  revenues  were  ‘Renewable  energy’  projects  (42%), 
then  ‘Bioeconomy,  aquaculture  and  fisheries’  projects  (36%)  and  ‘Sustainable 
tourism and cultural heritage’ projects (33%). Profitability followed similar trends 
to revenue. Negative impacts on profitability were reported where the costs of 
R&D are yet to be recovered through sales. 

•  Expected  changes  in  project-related  revenues  are  positive,  with  most  projects 
(58%)  expecting  increased  project  revenues,  and  24%  expecting  to  see 
increased revenues of over 40%. Again the cluster with the highest expectations 
is Renewable Energy, reflecting the expected continuation of high growth in the 
sector. 

7.2.2  Future Project Development 

•  Nearly  all  projects  (86%)  have  developed  (31%)  or  implemented  post-project 

plans (55%) and carried out some form of post-project activity. 

•  62% of all projects have either evidence of some form of commercialization plan; 
30%  of  all  projects  having  evidence  of  a  commercialization  plan  in  place  and 
32% having evidence of the implementation of a commercialization plan. Most 
of the remainder are projects without commercial expectations, i.e. knowledge-
based projects. But there are examples of knowledge-focused projects carrying 
out post-project development. 

• 

It is highly positive to see that 80% of all projects either have a plan for follow 
on activities (35%) in place or have evidence of implementing follow-on activities 
(45%).  However,  many  post-project  activities  included  the  production  of  new 
funding applications for follow-on projects. 

•  59% of all projects have reported the potential for replication of the project at a 
larger  scale  and  in  other  EU  regions,  with  a  further  39%  of  projects  having 
evidence of achieving replication at larger scale and a similar proportion (35%) 
in other EU regions. Only 10% of all projects reported no potential for replication 
at  larger  scale.  There  is  also  the  stated  potential  for  the  majority  (62%)  to 
replicate the project in other sectors and markets. 

7.2.3  Networking & Synergies 

•  84% of coordinators stated that the project had planned (23%) the transfer of 
knowledge or had implemented this (61%) and a further 10% plan to do so. The 
‘Ocean  health  and  observation’  cluster  reported  the  highest  percentage  of 
projects (78%) which could evidence the implementation of knowledge transfer 
plans. 

•  Many  report  the  publication  of  all  outputs  on  the  project  website  as  well  as 
actively sharing knowledge through events that they have organized themselves 
or have been invited to. Several were able to  share website  statistics to show 

 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

substantial levels of interest in the project. Two thirds of projects have project 
outputs that are freely accessible and 11% have outputs that can be purchased. 

•  More  virtual  events  were  planned  and  attended  during  the  Covid  pandemic, 
which  had  the  benefit  of  attracting  more  attendees  than  in-person  events. 
However, several beneficiaries noted that in person attendance at stakeholder 
workshops, seminars and conferences were the most successful and  preferred 
method of project communicating project activities and results.  

•  Networking  events  and  conferences  attended  by  projects  included  the  likes  of 
the  European  Maritime  day,  WestMed,  POSINONEIA,  and  Blacksea-connect. 
Attending  such  events  was  highlighted  as  key  to  creating  networks.  This  is 
particularly important for beneficiaries delivering projects within an industry they 
had little prior experience or knowledge of. 

7.2.4  Comparative Analysis 

Across all projects: 

•  Across all projects, strong positive correlations (above 0.5) are associated with 
Impact and Scalability in terms of economic change and sustainability. This is 
logical  as  the  projects  with  the  largest  impact  and  the  ability  to  scale  up  are 
expected to have the greatest potential for increases in revenue and profits. 

•  A  correlation  between  scalability  and  uptake  is  also  evident  for  knowledge-
based projects, which are more likely to be ‘taken up’ by those outside the project 
consortium if the projects outputs are already being shared more widely. 

•  Weak  negative  correlations  between  economic  change  and  knowledge 
transfer are identified and understandable as these relate to knowledge-based 
outputs without the potential for commercialization. 

Notable for specific clusters: 

•  Bioeconomy,  fisheries  and  aquaculture  clustered  projects,  show  a  moderately 
positive  correlation  (0.49)  was  evident  between  Scalability  and  Knowledge 
transfer  suggesting  that  greater  scalability  enabled  projects  to  have  greater 
outreach to undertake more knowledge transfer activities. 

•  Ocean  health  and  observation  clustered  projects  reported  very  strong  positive 
correlation (0.75) between Sustainability and Synergies, suggesting projects 
which  engaged  in  more  synergies  achieved  greater  project  sustainability.  A 
strong positive correlation (0.54) was also evident between Economic change 
and  Knowledge  transfers,  which  likely  suggests  that  the  more  knowledge 
transfer  that  is  conducted,  the  greater  economic  success  Ocean  health  and 
observation  projects  were  able  to  achieve.  A  similar  relationship  was  evident 
between scalability and synergies. A moderately negative correlation (-0.47) was 
evident between Impact and Knowledge transfer, which may be expected as 
those  projects  that  achieved  lower  levels  of  project  development  were  less 
inclined  to  engage  in  knowledge  transfer.  While  understandable,  from  an 
innovation perspective it is also very useful to learn lessons from projects that 
do not achieve what was intended as well as those that do. 

•  Renewable  energy  clustered  projects  show  a  very  strong  positive  correlation 
(0.8)  between  Economic  change  and  Networking,  suggesting  that  projects 
which  attended  or  organised  more  networking  events  saw  greater  levels  of 
economic success, likely as a result of increased project awareness and through 
meeting a greater number of prospective clients. A strongly positive correlation 
(0.7) was also evident between project Impact and Synergies, suggesting that 
projects  which  had  formed  synergies  with  other  projects  saw  greater  project 
impacts, such as TRL change and the development of new IP assets. 

•  Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage clustered projects had a strong positive 
correlation (0.7) between Uptake and Knowledge transfers, logically greater 
34 

 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

knowledge  transfer  should  result  in  more  uptake.  A  similarly  strong  positive 
correlation (0.7) was evident between Uptake and Synergies (0.64): projects 
which engaged in more synergies were able to achieve greater project uptake. A 
moderately negative correlation (-0.5) is evident between project Impact and 
Synergies, which could suggest that projects which underperformed struggled 
to find synergies or did not look to engage in such activities. 

7.2.5  Success factors & Challenges 

•  Project  coordinators  identified  a  range  of  factors  contribuiting  to  a  successful 

project and what challenges were faced: 

➢  Team  –  an  appropriate  range  of  skills  and  commitment  of  consortium 

partners. 

➢  Planning – good project design and active project management. 

➢  Engagement – effective communication with all relevant stakeholders. 

➢  Market  intelligence  –  through  continued  engagement  with  stakeholders  in 

the relevant sector to assure beneficiaries of demand. 

➢ 

Investment  &  finance  –  sourcing  sufficient  financing  from  additional 
investors. 

•  The internal challenges faced by projects can be summarized as: 

➢  R&D unknowns – attempting new things brings challenges and uncertainties, 

e.g. number of prototypes required and timings. 

➢  Budgeting – dealing with rising costs of materials and logistics. 

➢  Partners – lack of engagement/commitment from certain project partners; 
the ability to provide the expected skills and services to the project; language 
barriers. 

➢  Upscaling  –  the  ability  to  grow  the  project  to  a  scale  that  enables 
commercialization due to a lack of staff skills, capital or other limits to scaling 
up processes. 

•  Most internal challenges were overcome or mitigated to some extent, except for 
some  more  fundamental  aspects  such  as  insufficient  budget  or  the  lack  of  all 
necessary skills within consortium. 

•  Covid dominated  external challenges faced by the projects, along with  market 
changes,  a  worsening  economic  outlook,  the  ability  for  users  to  take  up  new 
technology, public sector challenges (delays in permitting), a lack of economic 
incentives  for  uptake  of  innovative  products  and  some  legislative  barriers  to 
innovative solutions and new qualifications. 

 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

8  Annex 2 – Clustered projects 

Project 

Code 

Cluster 

Theme_1 

Theme_2 

Challenge_1  Challenge_2 

Sea basin 

Type of 
beneficiary 

Aerones 

959016 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Digitalisation 

AFRIMED 

789059 

AlgaeDemo 

789783 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

ALGAENAUTS 

101038250 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

AMALIA 

750419 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Baltic Sea 

Company 

Networking 

Mediterranean  Research 

North Sea 

Research 

Not relevant 

Company 

Digitalisation  Not relevant 

Company 

AQUA-LIT 

789391 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

Ocean 
observation 

Investment 
and new 

Not relevant 

Company 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

AquaPekilo 

101038541 

ARCHEOSub 

749264 

ArtReefs 

Aspiring wingsails  863746 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Aquaculture 

Cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

ASSESS 

750174 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

ATAS 

742066 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Cultural 
heritage 

Digitalisation 

business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

Digitalisation 

Mediterranean  Company 

Networking 

Mediterranean  Company 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Adriatic 

Cluster 

Adriatic 

Public-
private 
partnership 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

ATOMS 

958976 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

BAPSI 

863545 

BASTA 

863702 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Fisheries 

Aquaculture 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Not relevant 

Company 

Mediterranean  Association 

Ocean 
health 

Ocean 
observation 

Digitalisation 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

Research 

BBMBC 

749359 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Not relevant 

University 

BIOGEARS 

863708 

Blue RoSES 

863619 

Blue SMART 

750010 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Aquaculture 

Ocean 
health 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Atlantic Ocean  Research 

Cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Digitalisation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

Research 

Aquaculture 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 

Adriatic 

University 

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

generation 
challenges 

generation 
challenges 

BLUENET 

788894 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

Ocean 
observation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Networking 

Not relevant 

Cluster 

CETBC 

749363 

CleanerShip 

958949 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Cluster ACT 

789644 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Networking 

North Sea 

Association 

Not relevant 

Company 

Mediterranean  Cluster 

CMES - WestMed 

789500 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

CO2NTROL  

101038570 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Networking 

Mediterranean  Research 

Digitalisation  Not relevant 

Company 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

CORAL4HEALTH 

863656 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

CTP (Catching the 
Potential) 

863529 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Fisheries 

DEEP BLUE 

789633 

Several 

Several 

DEMO-
BLUESMARTFEED 

789750 

DiveSafe 

789635 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Aquaculture 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

North Sea 

Non-profit 

Networking 

Mediterranean  Research 

Digitalisation  Mediterranean  Company 

Cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Digitalisation 

Mediterranean  Company 

DOCC-OFF 

863696 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic Ocean  Association 

EASY FEED 

670818 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Aquaculture 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

40 

Not relevant 

Company 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Networking 

Mediterranean  FLAG 

Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

ENSAMBLE 

789295 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Fisheries 

Entrefish 

750011 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Fisheries 

Aquaculture 

ENTROPI 

751867 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Aquaculture 

Community-
led local 
development 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

ESENSE 

101038191 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Ocean 
health 

Digitalisation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

ExPloTect 

863693 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

FISH4FISH 

863697 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Ocean 
health 

FleetUSV 

958948 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
observation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Mediterranean  Company 

Atlantic 

Public-
private 
partnership 

Not relevant 

Company 

Baltic Sea 

Research 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

University 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

FreShER 

863724 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

FTL-Fish 

670718 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Fisheries 

GREENing the 
BLUE 

789508 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

North Sea 

Company 

Not relevant 

Company 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

InnovaFeed BEW 
2019 

958945 

INvertebrateIT 

751532 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Aquaculture 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Aquaculture 

Networking 

Not relevant 

Company 

KELP-EU 

101038311 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Lab4Dive 

753851 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Cultural 
heritage 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

Digitalisation  Mediterranean  Company 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

LEAPWind 

789307 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

Litterdrone 

749553 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

Digitalisation 

Not relevant 

Association 

MarENet 

863595 

Several 

Several 

Several 

marGnet 

789314 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

MarLEM 

863713 

MedSkippers 

789395 

MENTOR 

749365 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Networking 

Atlantic Ocean  University 

Digitalisation 

Mediterranean  Research 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Networking 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Mediterranean  Company 

Not relevant 

University 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

MER-CLUB 

863584 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Ocean 
health 

MUSSELPRO 

863681 

NAUTILUS 

863524 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

NeSSIE 

752861 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Digitalisation 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Atlantic Ocean  Research 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

Association 

Not relevant 

Public-
private 
partnership 

NetTag 

789121 

NIRD 

742021 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Ocean 
health 

Fisheries 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic 

Research 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Cultural 
heritage 

Community-
led local 
development 

Black Sea 

Public-
private 
partnership 

44 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

OCEANETS 

789390 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

OCEANMET 

789296 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Association 

Digitalisation  Not relevant 

Company 

Aquaculture 

Blue 
bioeconomy 

Digitalisation  Networking 

Not relevant 

Company 

OpenMode 

863562 

Photolicer 

958981 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Aquaculture 

PowerFLEX 

959001 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

PROCREW 

755137 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

SafeWAVE 

101000175 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Networking 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Baltic Sea 

Company 

Not relevant 

University 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 

Atlantic Ocean  Research 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

SATHScale 

958938 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

ScienceDIVER 

863674 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Cultural 
heritage 

Ocean 
observation 

Sea of Experience  863551 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

generation 
challenges 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

Networking 

Not relevant 

University 

Networking 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

University 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

SEA Wave 

787660 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Ocean 
health 

Networking 

Not relevant 

Company 

SEAFOOD 
ALGTERNATIVE 

101038453 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

SEASAM-AI 

958930 

SEASTAR 

863731 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Ocean 
observation 

Ocean 
health 

Digitalisation 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

Company 

Aquaculture 

Digitalisation 

Not relevant 

Company 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

Seawing4Blue 

101038256 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

SIMBIOSE 

863737 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Ocean 
health 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Digitalisation  Not relevant 

Company 

Outermost 

Company 

SMART-
HATCHERY 

863709 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Aquaculture 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic Ocean  Company 

SpaceTech4Sea 

789154 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

SpecTUNA 

789312 

SpilLess 

749374 

STARFISH 4.0 

863550 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Ocean 
health and 
observation 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Fisheries 

Digitalisation 

Ocean 
health 

Ocean 
observation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Company 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic 

Company 

Fisheries 

Ocean 
observation 

Digitalisation 

Community 
led-local 
development 

Mediterranean  Company 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

T4BS 

863621 

TEAMS 

863555 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

TECOW 

101038671 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

UCRCA 

742020 

Sustainable 
tourism and 
cultural 
heritage 

Sustainable 
tourism 

Cultural 
heritage 

ULVA FARM 

101038333 

Bioeconomy, 
aquaculture 
and fisheries 

Algae 

VesselsLife.com 

863565 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

VPSTTG 

789473 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Community-
led local 
development 

Blue careers, 
skills and 
next 
generation 
challenges 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Digitalisation 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

48 

Digitalisation 

Black Sea 

Company 

Baltic Sea 

University 

Not relevant 

Company 

Mediterranean  Company 

North Sea 

Company 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Not relevant 

Industry 

Atlantic 

Company 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

WaveFarm 

958970 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Baltic Sea 

Industry 

WESE 

787640 

Renewable 
energy 

Renewable 
energy 

Ocean 
health 

Digitalisation 

Atlantic 

Association 

WINNEW 

101038351 

ZboxBlueLogistics  958961 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Sustainable 
and smart 
transport 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

Investment 
and new 
business 
models 

North Sea 

Company 

Mediterranean 
Sea 

Industry 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Synergies and Clustering between Maritime Projects 

9  Annex 3 – Projects included in the evaluation 

50 

Name of project (Project Acronym)Project website addressProject start dateProject end dateAFRIMEDhttp://afrimed-project.eu/16/01/201931/12/2022AlgaeDemowww.algaedemo.eu01/01/201931/12/2022ALGAENAUTSwww.algaenauts.eu01/10/202130/09/2023AMALIAhttp://amaliaproject.eu/01/02/201731/03/2019AQUA-LITwww.aqua-lit.eu01/01/201931/12/2020ARCHEOSubhttp://www.archeosub.eu/index.php/en/01/02/201731/12/2018ArtReefswww.artreefs.eu01/08/201631/07/2018ASSESShttp://assess.dia.units.it/01/02/201728/02/2019ATOMShttps://esteyco.com/projects/atoms/01/09/202030/04/2023BAPSIhttps://bapsi.eu/01/11/201930/04/2022BASTAhttps://www.basta-munition.eu/01/12/201930/11/2022BBMBChttps://www.bbmbc.eu/fr/accueil.html01/01/201731/12/2019BEWhttps://innovafeed.com/partenaires/22/09/202022/09/2023BIOGEARSwww.biogears.eu01/11/201930/04/2023Blue Career Centre of Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea (MENTOR)http://www.bluecareers.org/01/03/201728/02/2019Blue Education for Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources - BLUE SMARThttps://bluesmart.hr/en/01/01/201731/12/2018Blue RoSESwww.blueroses.eu01/12/201931/05/2022BLUENEThttps://www.bluenetproject.eu/01/01/201930/06/2021Catching the Potential - CTPhttps://catchingthepotential.eu/01/11/201931/10/2023Cluster ACThttp://clusteract.eu/01/01/201931/12/2021CMES - WestMedwww.cmeswm.org01/01/202030/06/2021Cooperation in Education and Training for Blue Careers (CETBC)www.stc-group.nl/bluecareers01/01/201731/12/2018Coral4HealthZoan Biomed.com01/11/201931/10/2021DEEP BLUEhttps://blueskills.ogs.it/deepblue01/01/201930/06/2021DEMOBLUESMARTFEEDhttps://bluesmartfeed.eu/01/01/201930/09/2022DiveSafehttps://divesafe.eu/01/01/201931/03/2022ENSAMBLEwww.ensamble.eu01/01/201931/05/2021Entrefishentrefish.eu01/03/201728/02/2019ENTROPIhttps://www.mseinternational.org/projects/?story_id=5501/04/201731/03/2019ESENSEhttps://elwave.fr/elwave/projet-esense/01/09/202131/08/2023ExPloTectwww.explotect.eu01/12/201930/11/2022FISH4FISHhttp://fish4fish.dbcf.unisi.it/01/11/201931/10/2022Fresherhttps://fresher-project.eu/01/11/201930/09/2022FTL-Fishhttps://sntech.co.uk/blog/boulogne-sur-mer-research-trip-part-two/01/01/201931/12/2019Invertebrate IThttps://invertebrateitproject.eu/01/04/201701/03/2019Kelp-EUhttps://oceanium.world/kelp-eu/01/10/202131/12/2023Lab4Divehttps://lab4dive.gr/en/01/03/201728/02/2019Leapwindwww.eirecomposites.com/leapwind/01/01/201931/12/2020Litterdronehttps://litterdrone.aebam.org/01/02/201731/01/2019MarENethttps://www.marenet.org/home/01/11/201931/10/2021marGnetwww.margnet.eu01/01/201931/12/2020MarLEMhttps://grupoqualiseg.com/en/marlem-en/01/11/201930/04/2023MER-CLUBwww.mer-club.eu01/11/201930/10/2023NAUTILUShttps://nautiluscert.eu/01/11/201931/01/2023NetTaghttps://nettag.ciimar.up.pt/01/01/201930/06/2021OCEANETShttp://oceanets.eu/01/01/201930/06/2021OPENMODEwww.open-mode.eu 01/11/201931/10/2021PHOTOLICERwww.PHOTOLICER.com01/12/202112/02/2023SafeWAVEhttps://www.safewave-project.eu/01/10/202030/09/2023SATHScalehttps://sathscale.eu/about-the-project/01/11/202031/10/2023Seafood Alternativehttps://www.olalafoods.fr/fr/01/08/202131/07/2023SEAWING4BLUEhttps://www.airseas.com/seawing4blue01/09/202131/08/2023SMART-HATCHERYhttps://www.smarthatchery.eu/01/11/201930/10/2021SpaceTech4Seahttps://www.oceanfinance.gr/business-development/spacetech4sea/01/01/201930/06/2022SpecTUNAhttps://spectuna.com/01/01/201930/06/2022SpilLesshttps://spilless.ciimar.up.pt/01/02/201731/03/2019STARFISH 4.0https://www.starfish-ssf.eu01/12/201931/05/2022Sustainable Innovation in la Martinique: BIOfouling Solutions for clean Energy (SIMBIOSE)https://www.simbiose-biofouling.eu01/11/201929/02/2024Tourism 4.0 for the Black Sea (T4BS)https://www.t4bs.eu/01/11/201931/12/2021UCRCAwww.diveinhistory.com/01/01/201730/04/2018ULVA FARMwww.nordicseafarm.com01/10/202131/12/2023VESSESLSLIFEhttps://vesselslife.com/01/11/201931/03/2021VPSTTGwww.simecatlantis.com01/01/201931/12/2021WaveFarmwww.wavefarm.eu01/11/202031/10/2023WESEhttps://wese-project.weebly.com/01/11/201831/10/2021EASYFEEDwww.easyfeed-project.eu01/01/201931/12/2020TECOWhttp://www.tecow.eu01/11/202130/11/2024Offshore Robotic Blade Care System (Aerones)https://aerones.com/cases/01/10/202030/06/2024Cross-sectoral skills for the Blue Economy labor market (ScienceDIVER)www.sciencediver.eu01/11/201930/04/2023TEAMSwww.project-teams.eu01/11/201931/10/2022MUSSELPROhttps://www.musselpro.com/01/11/201930/04/2023 
 
 
 
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doi: 10.2926/77582 
ISBN 978-92-9405-092-2