Maritime Interreg cooperation at the EMD European Maritime Day 2019 16-17 2019, ,

Report

Authors Philipp Schwartz (Interact) Linda Talve (Interact)

The Knowledge of the seas network at the European Maritime Day 2019

Since 2016, the Knowledge of the seas network facilitated by Interact participates actively in the annual European Maritime Day (EMD). After (2016), Poole (2017) and Burgas (2018), the network presented the possibilities and the added value of maritime cooperation supported by Interreg this year in Lisbon, Portugal. This year’s EMD brought together over 1.400 registered participants from the EU maritime community.

Besides the joint stand at the exhibition area, the Knowledge of the seas network arranged informal meetings with other maritime stakeholders from the Interreg world and beyond – as well as presented in a separate session the recently produced video on the added value of maritime cooperation supported by Interreg and Interact’s project database keep.eu. This video is based on visual material provided by maritime Interreg projects and programmes.

The joint exhibition stand

At the joint stand, the network provided an opportunity for the EMD participants to learn more about the possibilities Interreg provides for maritime cooperation. An interactive quiz and the possibilities to dive into Interact’s project database keep.eu attracted a number of visitors to the stand. As in the past years, the stand was staffed by representatives from different maritime Interreg programmes – this year from the (in alphabetical order) ADRION, Atlantic Area, Central Baltic, Interact, -Croatia, MED, North Sea Region and 2Seas programmes. Informal meetings on maritime cooperation

During the two days of the EMD, the network had invited several maritime stakeholders for informal discussions to its stand. These meetings took place during the networking breaks and provided the possibility for an exchange between maritime Interreg programmes and projects, but also with actors from beyond the Interreg community reaching out to e.g. Horizon 2020 and Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAG) (see stand programme at the end of this report for more information on these stakeholders). The invited guests were asked to write down a key message or question to the maritime Interreg programme community. These messages were the following:

· Territorial dimension: One space Interreg, European territorial planning land+sea. Promoting small steps in the joining up journey (at different levels, for thematic interests). Provide support for land-sea-interaction capacity building. · Communication: Focus communication, select your audience. Communication starts with, not after the project. The message is the results, not the process. Good idea of keep.eu – congrats! · Capitalisation: Please help us providing capacity building tools and methodology for project results’ capitalisation. Enhance the communication about and the dissemination of results of projects. Support the cooperation of projects of different programmes to work together more actively and share their results in cooperation as well. Listen to the beneficiaries to capitalise on for the future programmes. · Spreading results to and working with outside Interreg: Increase cooperation with regional authorities to include results in regional operational programmes. More links between EU programmes and especially between Horizon 2020 and Interreg. Make use of non-funded excellent projects (H2020 seal of excellence like). Broaden picture in Interreg community about FLAGs/Farnet. Support small projects like FLAG’s and show what kind of projects/activities they do. Think Blue! Join complementary opportunities and efforts. · Beneficiaries/Stakeholder engagement: Provide common toolkit/guidelines for stakeholder engagement. Increase EU contributions up to 85% also for private partners (esp. for SMEs to stimulate their participation in projects). Direct and easy support to SMEs and techno collaboration. · Project management: Less bureaucracy and more user-friendly financial reporting tools. Try to make procedures more simplified specially in the application process. · Project application evaluation/assessment: Compulsory appointment by all Interreg programmes of external experts for the evaluation/assessment of project applications.

2 / 3 The added value maritime cooperation (video)

As part of the EMD programme, the network in a dedicated session showed its recently produced video on the added value of maritime cooperation supported by Interreg. This session was attended by approximately 50 EMD participants. After the movie the audience was introduced to Interact’s project database keep.eu. The video is now available here and is free to be used to promote the added value of maritime Interreg cooperation.

For more information about the Knowledge of the seas network: - Online information about the network and access to the online library (click here) - Contact Philipp Schwartz at [email protected]

3 / 3 Come and meet us at the exhibition European Maritime Day | 16-17 May, 2019 | Lisbon, Portugal

Participate in a quiz about Interreg maritime coopearation! Thursday, 16 May Learn and win a prize! 11:00-11:30 Maritime spatial planning ESPON Programme Project DORY financed by the Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme

13:30-14:00 ecosystems Projects SHIPmEnTT and Blue_Boost financed by the Interreg ADRION Programme Project MISTRAL financed by the Interreg MED Programme

16:00-16:30 Maritime cultural heritage Project CHERISH financed by the Interreg Europe Programme

Come by to get your own Friday, 17 May movie ticket!

10:45-11:25 Movie première “The added value of Interreg maritime cooperation” Interreg database keep.eu: Interreg in your country and region! Interact Programme / Knowledge of the seas network

13:30-14:00 Interreg reaching out to Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) and Horizon 2020 FLAG ECOMAR HORIZON 2020 in Portugal

We are here!