The three day conference dedicated to blue growth entitled “Promoting the application of S3 in the Adriatic-Ionian region” takes place online. The cross-border conference organized as part of the SMART ADRIA BLUE GROWTH thematic project, under the INTERREG IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Program, represents a first decisive opportunity to meet between the project partners and the Blue Economy stakeholders.

On day one, after the institutional greetings by the project partners - among the others, Crescenzo Antonio Marino, Managing Authority of the Interreg IT-AL-ME Program - the plenary sessions started with the presentation of the “BLUE ECONOMY MAPPING STUDY”. The work was carried out by Ivano Dileo, a researcher at the University of Bari and external expert of ARTI Puglia. Starting from the methodological structure of the study, which applies the Quadruple Helix model within the cooperation, Mr. Dileo highlighted the importance and advantages deriving from the involvement of various actors, both public and private, as well as the academic world and civil society. The aim is to support the competitiveness of local SMEs, internationalization, access to finance and risk capital, research and technology transfer, networking and cooperation towards complex value network models.

The second part of the morning was dedicated to the technical focus on the future programming cycle.

Last but not least, Mauro Novello, Coordinator of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg IT-AL-ME Program, took the stage to explain the future synergies between Program 21-27 and the EUSAIR Macroregional Strategy.

The Conference will continue tomorrow, with the presentation of some, particularly significant and innovative case studies. The work will continue in three distinct groups that will have to explore the themes of the Conference on a territorial basis and identify some policies that may be particularly useful for promoting and strengthening the future development of the blue economy.