The project TwInSolar aims at strengthening the research and innovation capacities of the public laboratory PIMENT of the University of La Reunion (UR), which is located in one of outermost regions of Europe. TwInSolar will create new opportunities inside and outside of Europe and more specifically in the zone surrounding Reunion Island and in insular territories that face similar challenges. This capacity building will be done through the establishment of effective partnerships with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer), which are internationally renowned research organizations. The dissemination and outreach of TwInSolar will be achieved with the support of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) and the regional R&I agency of Reunion Island (Nexa). Particular emphasis will be placed on issues related to the massive integration of solar energy production in insular territories.

SolAqua will increase the share of renewable energy in Europe by facilitating market uptake of solar irrigation (SI). By combining photovoltaic and hydraulic technology with high efficiency irrigation, SI can provide energy for irrigation with 0 emissions and at a cost of up to 70% lower than existing fossil-fuel based solutions. The potential of SI to change the energy model of European farming is huge as irrigation demands large amounts of energy for pumping water to crops. Alongside a €4 bn energy bill, the current fossil-fuel based energy model of irrigation also has a high environmental cost; it produces 16 million tons of CO2 every year, approximately 15% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions from agriculture. Nevertheless, despite its potential benefits, market uptake of SI is being prevented by a number of non-technological barriers. Also, there is a lack of awareness and skills regarding SI among irrigators and other stakeholders, such as local SMEs and public authorities. SolAqua is the answer from a coalition of relevant stakeholders to overcome this situation. In a first stage, SolAqua will produce 7 key enabling materials and tools needed for SI market uptake but which are currently missing, such as quality standards and economic and environmental assessment methodologies. In a second stage, SolAqua will carry out a far-reaching dissemination and communication plan in order to attract more than 300,000 stakeholders in Europe and North Africa to SI in general and, in particular, to SolAqua’s exploitation plan. This exploitation plan will allow for the triggering a well-functioning SI market by producing a joint SI promotion of at least 100 MW (more than €120 M in investments) which will act as a flagship for the solution. Also, in order to support SI investments, the public authorities within SolAqua will produce a SI-suited supporting instrument and will allow for its replication throughout Europe.

Forward Looking at the Offshore Renewables will promote the core activity of the Large-scale partnership launching the Pact for Skills in the Offshore Renewable Energies (ORE) sector.FLORES will support the most committed stakeholders in the ORE, underpinning the success of the offshore renewable energy strategy with the stimulation of dedicated training offers. The partnership will promote the skilling process for the new jobs expected in the sector, estimated to account for between 20,000 and 54,000 new workers in the following five years and contribute to improve upskilling opportunities in the field of the actual ORE workforce.Skills intelligence activities will identify and prioritise the most relevant actions in the capacity-building process, covering not only the rapid and complex changes occurring in this industrial ecosystem but also capable of forecasting those changes yet to occur, especially regarding new and emerging technologies. Building on industry insights, the occupational profiles of the offshore renewable energy value chain will be reviewed, contributing to the continuous updating of the ESCO database.The necessary re-skilling and upskilling processes will be stimulated by the FLORES innovative approaches to lifelong learning with the development of specific tools to support existing ORE training offers and smooth access to existing training materials.A set of multilingual educational materials will be developed to promote Ocean Literacy and awareness- raising in career and job opportunities in the European ORE sector, making those more attractive, especially for young people and women.In addition, the bottom-up approach selected by FLORES will feature regional pilot actions adapted to the differing needs of Europe’s sea basins in the Atlantic, the Baltic and the Mediterranean. These pilot actions will form the seed source for future mirror working groups in the large-scale partnership launching the Pact for Skills in the ORE.

The Mission Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030 provides a holistic and coherent framework for developing a systemic approach to the depollution and regeneration of the basin hydrosphere, which is a striking need in the Mediterranean Sea (MED). In the BlueMissionMed proposal, a multi-actor, trans-sectorial and multidisciplinary consortium, consisting of 6 R&I public institutions, 5 NGOs, 3 industrial associations and 2 SMEs from 5 MS and 2 AC of the MED, proposes to set up, structure and empower a MED Lighthouse supporting the development and deployment of transformative innovative technological, social, business and governance solutions for ensuring a 30-50% reduction of pollution of the basin hydrosphere by 2030. It will be an interactive multi-actors digital platform able to offer to all MED Countries/Regions and stakeholders to access the necessary knowledge and tools. It will build on, connect and structure existing initiatives and activities, including the 9 Pilot BLUEMED on plastics free healthy MED and will exploit the R&I and policy knowledge generated by the funded projects/initiatives on the MED decontamination and restoration, ultimately promoting basin-wide cooperation, commitment and deployment of solutions addressing the Mission objectives. The Lighthouse will also ensure i) coherence, alignment and monitoring of EU, national and local policies, initiatives and actions ongoing the MED basin; ii) an effective provision of technical services, governance and business models to support and guarantee a sustainable socio-economic development of the basin; iii) a well-functioning basin scale innovation ecosystem attractive towards investors and businesses, iv) the required engagement of the society at large, thanks to a robust awareness raising and citizen science approach in its implementation in the sea basin and beyond, and, thus, v) the effective deployment of Mission Implementation Charter and piloting of the Mission objectives for the MED by 2025.

Mission Ocean, seas and water aims at restoring the health of our ocean and waters by 2030, as a major contributor to the European Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals. Research and innovation will be a key component of the Mission, which will link initiatives across disciplines, mobilise policymakers, stakeholders and citizens, and leverage public and private investments. PREP4BLUE overarching objective is to facilitate a successful first phase (2022-2025) of the Mission, by developing the co-creation and co-implementation R&I modalities required to achieve the Mission objectives and preparing the ground for inspiring and engaging citizens and stakeholders. The project is designed to deliver a series of tools, guidelines, methodologies and recommendations tested through pilots, which will interlink, leverage and optimise activities among the projects funded under the Mission. Our systemic approach will foster cohesion and connectivity between knowledge and technology, funding, regulation, education and skills, social structures and co-creation with R&I actors, citizens and stakeholders. PREP4BLUE multidisciplinary and multi-actor consortium is actively engaged in basin-based strategies and related R&I activities, with strong experience in co-developing business models and recommendations for policy-makers, expertise in social sciences related to participative democracy and citizen engagement and excellent track-record in methodologies for knowledge management and transfer, as well as in stakeholder engagement. PREP4BLUE will also carry out strategic actions to assure the alignment of our CSA with the evolution of the Mission components, including the Mission Core Network, other contributors to the Mission and other Missions. Our project will contribute to preparedness and engagement of all relevant stakeholders to empower them to play an active role in the Mission.