Aligning research into blue growth, healthy oceans and climate change
The aim of the CSA OCEANS (CSA healthy and productive seas and oceans) project was to aid the development of the Joint Programming Initiative on Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans). JPI Oceans is a high-level strategic platform for developing long-term marine and maritime research and technology in Europe. CSA OCEANS provided support for JPI Oceans and its governing bodies in order to shorten the time required to reach its implementation phase. The project proposed suitable tools for solving the challenge, procedures and structures involved with long-term governance and operational cooperation of the Joint Programming Initiative’s activities. The proposed tools are made available on JPI Oceans' website as a toolkit. The initiative also provided a draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for identifying strategic areas aimed at positioning JPI Oceans in the European research and innovation area in a way that ensures clear added value and cost efficiency. The partners mapped the marine and maritime research landscape in order to identify gaps and the key challenges. Stakeholder consultation involved the use of a unique questionnaire, a number of workshops and web consultation. This input was calibrated with a similar consultation of member countries on their key strategic priorities. The Management Board of JPI Oceans endorsed the draft SRIA and developed a shorter version for publication both online and as handout. Subsequently the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda was officially handed over at the first JPI Oceans conference. The consortium also developed a communication plan and a new website and produced a promotional video featuring key European policymakers. The aim of the video was to increase understanding of the role that JPI OCEANS has within the research landscape and to raise awareness to assist the growth of JPI OCEANS’ network. CSA OCEANS also supported the development of JPI Oceans pilot actions to test out new tools and demonstrate the added value and alignment ability of JPI Oceans. Fact sheets and posters for the four pilot actions were created. They involved the multi-use of infrastructures for monitoring, the ecological aspects of micro-plastics in the marine environment, the ecological aspects of deep-sea mining, and intercalibration for the EU Water Framework Directive.
Keywords
CSA OCEANS, Joint Programming Initiative on Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, EU Water Framework Directive
