AspBAN has been awarded funding by the European Union’ European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
We are pleased to share the first issue of our Newsletter, keeping you up to date with all the latest news from AspBAN project.
Our newsletters feature information about the project’s actions and results and map out the next steps.
If you would like to follow our work, please subscribe to the AspBAN Newsletter. We will keep you updated on our activities!
The AspBAN consortium
The crew began to navigate!
In April 2021, the kick-off meeting of AspBAN project took place in a virtual format. The project has been selected by the European Commission to put in place an acceleration services platform for EU Atlantic Ports, as part of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) call on “Cross-sectoral development of innovative port clusters in the Atlantic: Developing a blue accelerator scheme for Atlantic ports” (EMFF-APC-2020 call).
The 13 partners of the project were present at the kick-off meeting with representatives from the European Institutions CINEA and DG MARE. The European Commission also invited representatives from other European initiatives, such as BlueInvest and the Atlantic Assistance Mechanism (AMM), in order to promote potential synergies in the AspBAN project.
AspBAN will support Atlantic Ports to act as ecosystems to foster innovation in the blue economy, thus diversifying their business models and revenue sources. AspBAN is a 2-years project aimed at supporting the implementation of the Pillar I of the revised Atlantic Action Plan (AAP 2.0) by connecting the different stakeholders in the European Economic Area, Transatlantic and other relevant EU and non-EU maritime basins, notably through the development of the Innovation Ecosystem around the ports and the AspBAN strategic partners Network (140 strategic partners).
On the 13th of September 2021, European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (Cohesion and Reforms), at the plenary session of the European Parliament, mentioned the AspBAN project as a ‘flagship project’, i.e., a key project for the implementation of the European Atlantic Strategy.
And the WINNER is… the AspBAN Project! We are very happy and proud to share with you that the AspBAN project, won the 5th Atlantic Project Awards under the category ‘Atlantic Projects’. The award was received by Pedro Rocha Vieira, co-founder and CEO of Beta-i Collaborative Innovation, AspBAN Coordinator. The ceremony took place during the 8th Atlantic Stakeholders Platform Conference that took place on the 21st of October 2021, in Dublin, Ireland.
From August to mid-October, AspBAN opened applications for an open call for startups of the Blue Economy, willing to boost their innovation and sustainable services/products in the Atlantic. This programme aims to offer tailor-made support for blue businesses and runs until July 2022. Additiionally, it gives startups the opportunity to pitch in front of selected investors and representatives of the Ports community. This, it will encourage the development of innovative solutions/products that can effectively respond to the needs, challenges and innovation priorities of the Ports of the Atlantic, while boosting the different sectors of the Blue economy by helping them to thrive. This will be the first moment of connection and engagement around the Ports community, strengthening the whole innovation ecosystem around the Ports and their relation to the Blue businesses tleading to the end goal of “Ports as Blue Economy Hubs”.
There were 188 total applications to the Open Call, with 121 finalised applications that are under evaluation and selection by a group of Experts in the area. Successful applications that will be included in the final list of the Top 80 startups participating in the Acceleration Services program will be announced soon. Stay tunned!
Kaleido Tech leaded the series of workshops related to the creation of Atlantic Blue Economy Ports Clusters Network took a place. The main objective is to establish a dynamic Atlantic Port network to promote innovation among the smart Atlantic Ports with a special focus on small and medium ports of the Atlantic Strategy Group member countries, overcoming the fragmentation and disparity between them and improving the efficiency and competitiveness of port communities.
Do you want to meet the best innovators in the fields of Green Shipping, Smart Ports and Logistic, Marine Renewable Energy, Coastal Tourism, Sustainable Fisheries, Aquaculture and others? Join the Atlantic Blue Investment Cluster and gain free access to our EU experts, investors, officials, key players to help you match with your best interests.
During the last CPMR Atlantic Arc Commission General Assembly held on June 9th, 2021, political representatives of Atlantic regions adopted the decision to include the AspBAN project (Atlantic Smart Ports – Blue Accelerator Network) in its workplan. The Transport Working Group of the Atlantic Arc Commission will act as a networking platform to share experiences on the development of blue accelerators in ports from CPMR member regions. Atlantic regions are now ready to boost ports as hub of the Blue Economy!
In this section we are going to introduce various partners of the AspBAN consortium in each issue of the newsletter.
BETA-I COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION
Beta-i is a collaborative innovation consultancy with global reach, that was officially awarded as one of the leading institutions in the European startup ecosystem. Our mission is to find new solutions to challenges that matter to society, economy, and business through collaborative innovation – connecting, embracing and empowering corporate, public institutions, startup entrepreneurs, researchers and social perspectives to do so. Its vision is to be globally recognized as a collaborative innovation benchmark company, renowned by connecting different ecosystem stakeholders and perspectives in order to enable a collective future embracing society, economy and business growth needs.
Beta-i is an expert in managing corporate open innovation, pilot-oriented projects with highly-curated startups, and designing products and services alongside in-company teams. Also, they use their acceleration expertise and network to help ecosystems grow, connecting a huge network of entrepreneurs, mentors, experts, investors, and knowledge institutions to solve things that matter.
Beta-i has clients and projects in a diverse array of sectors, such as Energy, Tourism, Smart Cities, Mobility, Financial Services, Health and Blue Economy where, together with the Portuguese Ministry of the Sea, they created in 2019 the Bluetech Accelerator, an Open Innovation Program with a 1st edition dedicated to bringing innovation to the Ports & Shipping industry. Beta-i is AspBAN project Coordinator and is in charge of overall project coordination and management as well as leading both Innovation programs of AspBAN.
GLOBAL ACCELERATOR NETWORK
GAN is a global network of more than 130 world-class accelerators, including programs specific to the blue economy. We’re looking forward to drawing on our experience building the capacity of the startup accelerators to help ensure the success of AspBAN’s strategic partners, and their supported startups, in their local context. The first convening of the accelerator partners will be happening this fall, and we can’t wait to bring everyone together!
Entrepreneuship support services in the Blue Economy
On September 21, 2021, our coordinator, Ana Pinela, Senior Project Manager at Beta-i Collaborative Innovation, announced the AspBAN project and its acceleration program for startups in the webinar entitled “Entrepreneurship support services in the Blue Economy”.
Frédéric Degret from NOAH ReGen spoke at the Future of Politics Summit, where he demonstrated that AspBAN is acting as a catalyst for the blue ESG economy ecosystem.
AspBAN project was presented on Monday 4 October by the CPMR to the Black Sea Blue Entrepreneurship Workshop: Follow-up on business ecosystem support, an event aiming at gathering stakeholders acting in the field of maritime industries to prepare the upcoming EU calls.
AspBAN shares its views on “Green Ports of the Future” at the ASPC2021.
On 21 October 2021, AspBAN was presented in a panel of Atlantic stakeholders gathered to share their visions on green ports of the future during the 8th Atlantic Stakeholder Platform Conference in Dublin, Ireland.
The online event will be structured in 3 sessions and address the impacts and transition opportunities brought by the measures of the Fit for 55 Package upon the maritime sector. To dive into what FF55 measures mean for the Maritime Sector & Maritime Transport join this webinar.
The CPMR Islands Commission is organising with the support of the CPMR Atlantic Arc Commission an online workshop focusing on “Shaping the best competitive ports in EU islands”.
At this event, you will learn about business opportunities within CO2 capture, use and storage and get inspiration for where in the value chain you can fit.
Through EIC Accelerator, Europe will promote companies with groundbreaking ideas and global market potential. Together with Innovation Norway and other clusters, we invite you to a workshop where we go in depth and see what it takes to get funding.
European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius will host the second ‘Pan-European Cruise Dialogue’ in Brussels. It will carry on the tradition and build on the achievements of previous cruise dialogues, organised by the European Commission since 2015. Opportunities and challenges of sustainable cruise tourism for the years to come will be discussed.
We have several ways available for you to follow AspBAN’s progress. On the AspBAN Website you will find the most relevant information about the project such as our objectives, the full partners and strategic partners, the innovation programs and the landing pages to the Open Calls, Workshops, the AspBAN Databases (Ports, Investors, Experts & Mentors, and Funds for pilots), Deliverables, and News and Events.
Twitter and LinkedIn allow us to have a live and direct communication channel where we can answer questions, share activities and opinions, and get to know those who are interested in the Atlantic Action Plan 2.0 and the Atlantic ports as a key for Blue Growth.
In our social networks, occasionally, you can also find other links to interesting articles related to topic at hand, but that are not published in the AspBAN Website.
We take this opportunity to inform you that on the AspBAN YouTube channel you can find videos of our webinars, participation in events, etc., take a look!
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