The Chair of the European Marine Board, Dr. Kostas Nittis invited Maria da Graça Carvalho to give a keynote address at the high-level launch event of Navigating the Future IV and the EurOCEAN 2014 conference. The event took place today at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in central Brussels.
In the quality of rapporteur for the Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020, Maria da Graça Carvalho said during her intervention that "the blue economy is central to Europe´s prosperity and well-being". She also announced that "a separate, visible and new activity named Cross Cutting Marine and Maritime Research, has been introduced in the H2020 programme. This separate activity will maximise the synergies between research areas when conducting research in the marine and maritime environments. From now on, a new integrated approach will enable us to combine marine resources, different sources of marine energy - and all the other diverse uses that we can make of our seas and inland waters - into one concerted, overall approach".
For Maria da Graça Carvalho, "the goal is to unlock the potential of inland waters, seas and oceans across the range of marine and maritime industries, while protecting the environment and adapting to climate change. A strategic coordinated approach for marine and maritime research across all the pillars and challenges of Horizon 2020 will also support the implementation of relevant Union policies to help deliver key blue growth objectives".
The EU Commissioner for Research Science and Innovation, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn has also addressed to the audience of the event.
Navigating the Future IV pretends to provide a useful blueprint to assist in the preparation of calls under the forthcoming EU Horizon 2020 programme. The paper around the framework of key societal challenges in the areas of climate, human health, food security, energy and safe and sustainable use of marine space, pretends to facilitate this process. The document also addresses strategic and enabling issues such as European Ocean Observing System (EOOS), training, the science-policy interface and ocean literacy.
The event also marked the launch the EurOCEAN 2014 conference, which will take place in October 2014 in Rome as an official event of the Italian EU Presidency. The Marine Board has already begun the process of planning for the conference in conjunction with the Italian representatives and the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation.