Fourth Working meeting held under INNOVABLUE project: Advancing real-world innovation in the Blue Economy
On May 6, 2025, the INNOVABLUE project successfully hosted its Fourth Working Meeting, uniting partners and stakeholders from across the ADRION macro-region. The online event focused on addressing regulatory barriers and advancing the real-environment testing of marine and freshwater technologies vital to the sustainable blue economy.
The session opened with a warm welcome and a recap of the project’s progress. Following three foundational meetings on project scope, regulatory frameworks, and policy benchmarking, this fourth meeting marked a shift toward practical implementation.
Key highlights included:
- Presentations of Living Lab Sites proposed across partner countries, providing concrete platforms for testing blue technologies.
- Review of technology-specific barriers and tailored policy recommendations, spanning sectors such as autonomous surface vessels, underwater robotics, geopolymers, AI datasets, and fisheries innovation.
- Contributions from national representatives of Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, who shared regulatory gaps and actionable proposals, including the creation of:
- Regulatory sandboxes
- Fast-track permitting systems
- Marine testbeds and innovation zones
- Open data protocols and AI governance frameworks
A special guest speaker, Frode Halvorsen from the Ocean Autonomy Cluster (Norway), delivered insights into European Test & Demonstration infrastructures and governance models, offering lessons to the INNOVABLUE network on enabling autonomous and sustainable marine innovation.
This milestone meeting also laid the groundwork for the Regulatory Sandbox Action Plan, informed the work of the Technical Secretariat, and prepared for pilot implementations in selected Living Lab sites.
INNOVABLUE continues to push for transnational collaboration, harmonized regulation, and sustainable innovation across the Adriatic-Ionian region.
