BUILDING A COORDINATION HUB TO SUPPORT THE MISSION IMPLEMENTATION IN THE ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC BASIN

Project Information

BlueMissionAA

Grant agreement ID: 101093962

DOI

10.3030/101093962

Project closed

EC signature date 28 November 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 October 2025

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 2 997 778,75

EU contribution

€ 2 997 776,75

Coordinated by

ASSOCIACAO PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DO ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BlueMissionAA (BUILDING A COORDINATION HUB TO SUPPORT THE MISSION IMPLEMENTATION IN THE ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC BASIN)

Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2025-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

BlueMissionAA is the coordination and support action funded to support the implementation of the Atlantic & Arctic lighthouse. It created a hub that supports the implementation of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters in the Atlantic and Arctic basins, focusing on restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience. The project objectives were the following:

Build and mobilise governance frameworks and networks through multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral cooperation needed to deliver the Mission targets in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins and inland water systems, building on existing initiatives, in particular those linked to ecological restoration.

Develop and deploy a comprehensive monitoring and reporting framework to measure the progress of the implementation of the Mission in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins on an ongoing basis, including the development a set of indicators in coordination with the Mission Implementation Platform, the PREP4BLUE project and all other lighthouse projects in the four sea and river basins.

Develop and maintain a FAIR catalogue of existing scientific and practical actionable knowledge as well as innovative solutions and making it accessible for stakeholders in the Atlantic and Arctic basins and beyond to enable researchers to make their work available to industry policy makers, and citizens to ensure expertise can be easily accessed for preservation and restoration projects.

Develop a dynamic entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem in the Atlantic and Arctic basin, building on and aligning with existing initiatives identified in the catalogue, with the goal of supporting mature technologies and solutions on their path to market and productive use through the connection to investments, funders, donors as well as public and private customers.

Engage and empower citizens to contribute to the Mission and boost society uptake of new solutions by performing a systematic and meaningful involvement of all relevant stakeholders, implementing a holistic evaluation framework, and securing a dissemination and an exploitation strategy for the whole project that will be developed and executed according to Open Science standards and Good Scientific Practices.

All of the above has been achieved and delivered by the project. The reports, deliverables, policy briefs can be found on either the BlueMissionAA.eu website or Zenodo.org. The catalogue on innovative solutions and projects can be found at WaveLinks.eu.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The ongoing activities aiming to achieve the objectives are the following:

A realistic governance framework and governance options informed by multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral cooperation and perspectives encompassing, where relevant stakeholders feel seen, represented, and aligned with EU, national or local policies and initiatives.

A much-needed interoperable monitoring framework listing of restoration projects and activities to assess the progress of the Mission and to inform stakeholders and public.

An extensive catalogue of technical services and business models and training and knowledge transfer activities, all designed to assist stakeholders involved in ecosystems and biodiversity restoration.

A more cohesive and dynamic market for ecological restoration in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins.

Highly aware and motivated citizens actively engaged through co-design, co-deployment, and co-monitoring during the Mission implementation in the Atlantic and Arctic seas basins and beyond.

All of the above objectives have been met and delivered by the end date of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

BlueMissionAA pathways towards impact:

Structuring effect to consolidate and engage a wide community of relevant stakeholders across the Atlantic and Arctic sea basins able to ensure an effective governance structure.

An effective governance structure ensuring coherence and alignment of policies, initiatives and actions at EU, national and local level.

Well-coordinated activities underpinned by a consistent monitoring framework to assess the implementation and achievement of the Mission objectives.

Effective provision of technical services, governance and business models to support and guarantee a sustainable socio-economic development of the Atlantic and Arctic seas basins.

Well-functioning basin scale innovation ecosystem attractive to investors and businesses.

Increased awareness about the Mission and involvement of citizens in its implementation in the Atlantic and Arctic seas basins and beyond.

The pathways towards impact have been created, or in the case of the monitoring framework the EU plus the European Environmental Agency have become involved in the process. BlueMissionAA has met with both on several occasions to progress the monitoring framework. Another meeting is planned for the 6th of March 2026. The monitoring framework continues to be co-designed, developed and improved now within the BlueActionAA project which is the cascade funding project.

Over ten thousand citizens within the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins have been gained awareness of the Mission Ocean and Waters via BlueMissionAA and learned about blue innovation and the threats European seas and freshwater faces.

To further progress the uptake of the many innovative solutions to restore marine habitat and coastal ecosystems further access to markets and finance are needed as well support in commercialising the innovative solutions and removing policy barriers to their uptake and replication.

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