Blue_Boost aims at unlocking and boosting the potential of knowledge/technology transfer, transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation of key innovation actors of traditional (primarily fisheries and ship-building) and emerging (primarily Blue technologies-including aquaculture- green shipbuilding, robotics and new materials) Blue Growth sectors by reinforcing the relationships and interactions within and among their clusters according to an open source,knowledge sharing&community based approach. The main change sought is to improve the basic conditions for bridging the gap between the 3 helixes of the focused maritime clusters between research/SMEs, users/SMEs, etc. thanks to the collaboration with the NEW INNOVATION AGENTS such as fablabs, co-working spaces, makerspaces, innovation hubs, living labs, techshops, etc. Due to such renewed flexibility, this enhanced 3 helixes approach can be naturally adopted in transnational actions for stimulation&guidance, funding (B_B TRANS. BLUE INNOVATION VOUCHER SCHEME) and networking of innovation (B_B TRANS. INNOVATION NETWORKING STRATEGY & JOINT ACTION PLAN) in order to explore possible sectoral cross-fertilizations, new ideas or expertise, new alliances and networking between individuals, communities, enterprises, organizations, institutions of the Blue Economy which deserves to be better supported, being it an economic driver and a potential generator of development and jobs.

ARIEL project is jointly promoted and developed by 9 scientific and institutional partners of 4 Countries (Italy, Croatia, Greece and Montenegro) and focuses on small-scale fishery and aquaculture which are two key drivers for blue and sustainable growth of Adriatic and Ionian communities. Despite their relevance, those sector faces the same challenges of maritime spatial planning, environmental and socio-economic sustainability, better conditions for innovation uptake and for scientific knowledge dissemination, more effective cooperation between entrepreneurs, academia and policy makers. In this context, ARIEL transnational approach will catalyze joint efforts to tackle this complex ecological, economic and societal challenge supporting the development of a transnational “critical mass” and the provision of common skills, tools and methods accompanying small-scale fishery and aquaculture innovation process and networking in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea basin.

ARIEL overall objective is, in fact, to promote technological and non-technological solutions for innovation up take of small-scale fishery and aquaculture in Adriatic-Ionian basin, acting as knowledge network and performing a set of transferable activities to better understand threats and solutions for a more successful and sustainable management of policies and practices.

ARIEL will, at first, implement innovation audits on small-scale fisheries and aquaculture enterprises taking into account research, policy and economic aspects outlining the innovation state of play and future development scenario. Based on this result, the project will test pilot innovative solutions defined jointly by the enterprises and the research institutions.

Innovation brokering events will facilitate R&D transfer into concrete and feasible actions for small-scale fishery and aquaculture actors, accompanying their aggregation and cooperation process. The uptake and adoption of open innovation in small-scale fishery and aquaculture will be also fostered by the setting up of the ARIEL platform helping networking and partnering around innovative ideas and solutions during and beyond project life, favoring a permanent knowledge sharing and transnational dialogue among actors.

ARIEL partners will then develop a Joint Research Agenda for small-scale fishery and aquaculture and a Chart of Innovation Services, a strategic and multidisciplinary action plan defining common priorities and research lines, areas of improvement, knowledge based solutions and actions to successfully address the major challenges linked to innovation and sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture for the coming years in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea region.

Within SUSHI-DROP, a customized unmanned underwater vehicles will be developed and equipped with acoustical and optical technologies in order to implement a non-invasive mean to assess environmental status of habitats, fish stocks population and, in general, to monitor the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. We are planning to assess the accuracy of the opto-acoustic surveys in deriving single-species abundance indices (in numbers or weight) for direct input into stock assessments, and to evaluate the benefits brought by these new technologies with respect to the classical procedures based on fish sampling. Moreover, a dedicated open-access database system will be created to collect, maintain and share the scientific data acquired by the UUVs.