IHCantabria participated in the national meeting of the ThinkInAzul program during the Blue Zone Forum Innovazul 2024 held in Cadiz.

The last national meeting of ThinkInAzul, linked to “Blue Economy: Innovation and Opportunities”, took place at the end of November in Cadiz, within the framework of the international event Blue Zone Forum – Innovazul 2024.

During the Blue Zone Forum, a side event was developed under the title: “La senda del I+D+i en Ciencias Marinas. Espacio ThinkInAzul Andalucía”, which was organized by the CEI-Mar Foundation (F.CEI-Mar), general coordinator of the scientific management project of ThinkInAzul Andalucía. This was the scenario in which a total of 22 representatives of ThinkInAzul, at national level, from different parts of Andalusia, the Region of Murcia, Cantabria, the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands, gathered. Representing Cantabria were Carlos Beltrán, Vice-Rector for Research and Science Policy of the University of Cantabria (UC), Francisco Royano, Director of Technology Transfer of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria) and Lorena López Sánchez, responsible for the coordination of the Marine Science Program (PCM) at IHCantabria.

This meeting “made it possible to share among all the participating regions those projects with the greatest potential for obtaining a product or service transferable to the blue economy market and, on the other hand, to establish the basis for finding synergies between the projects and developing proposals for collaboration between the research centers of the different regions,” according to the director of Technology Transfer of IHCantabria, Francisco Royano.

IHCantabria’s contribution to ThinkInAzul

The Complementary Plan for R+D+i in Marine Sciences, ThinkInAzul, is financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and by the autonomous communities of Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Valencia, Galicia and the Region of Murcia. In these regions, work is based on three lines of action: 1) observation and monitoring of the marine and coastal environment; 2) sustainable, intelligent and precision aquaculture, and 3) blue economy. Its implementation aims to promote science as a basis for decision-making in the field of public policy.

IHCantabria contributes to strategic lines 1 and 3, through 15 projects that integrate its Marine Science Program (PCM), which are identified with the following acronyms: ADAPTA CITY, ARES, AutoCos, Cantabria Smart Litoral, DIES, GDICOAST, GOS-GLOBAL, IH-DATA UPDATE, IH-SET, IMECO, INTELIGENTE, MARION, Plan Bahía, SimuLIT, SOCAVA.

Each line of action has its own coordination group, which is made up of representatives from each of the aforementioned regions of Spain. Their work is based on finding points of union in the work developed by the bulk of the researchers who make up the Plan. The main objective is to trace common paths to create synergies and move in the same direction. In addition, ThinkInAzul is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Decade of the Oceans initiative.