"Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters" conference held at ULisboa

One of the specific objectives of the Unite!WIDENING project aims to strengthen the global competitiveness and international visibility of the Universities, creating critical mass in key areas such as green transition, digitalisation, and the Mission areas of Horizon Europe.

The main ideas debated at the public conference 'Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters', held at Técnico Lisboa, highlighted the importance of the Blue Economy for Portugal's socio-economic context alongside the need to strengthen collaborative research in areas such as monitoring marine ecosystems and coastal zones; climate change in the ocean and its impacts; marine exploration; robotics; naval economics; combating pollutants in inland and coastal zones; and the consequences on water supply and water scarcity.

The role of universities and other partners in innovation is considered strategic, along with joint efforts between all private and public stakeholders in this field. The ocean and the Blue Economy are key areas of PT2030, and joint research and innovation opportunities will undoubtedly arise. Moreover, Portugal's role in addressing major European partnerships, such as the Ocean Clusters network, was emphasised.

To identify the main areas of RD&I (Research, Development & Innovation), the Unite!WIDENING project analyses relevant EU policies and documents, such as the 5 Missions of the EU Horizon 2030 (in particular Mission Cities, Mission Adaptation, and Mission Ocean) among others. This work will result in identifying the strengths and needs of countries expanding in the green transition, reinforced by the identification of areas of RD&I of interest for common research projects.

The EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ for 2030 aims to protect and restore the sustainability of our oceans and waters through research and innovation, citizen participation, and blue investments. The Mission’s new systemic approach addresses the ocean and waters as a whole, playing a key role in achieving climate neutrality and nature recovery. Its objectives are to:

• Protect and restore marine / freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030;
• Prevent and eliminate pollution of our oceans, seas, and waters, in line with the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan for Air, Water, and Soil;
• Make the blue economy sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular, in line with the proposed European Climate Law and the holistic vision enshrined in the Strategy for a Sustainable Blue Economy.

As part of the Unite!Widening project, two more conferences will be organized, the first in May in Italy at the Politecnico di Torino on the EU Mission: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and the second in June in Poland at the Politechnika Wrocławska on the EU Mission: Adaptation to Climate Change.