Annual Implementation Report 2014

ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT 2014

ATLANTIC AREA TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME 2007-2013

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Table of contents

Executive summary ...... 3 1. Identification ...... 4 2. Overview of the implementation of the Operational Programme ...... 5 2.1 Achievement and analysis of the progress ...... 5 2.2 Information about compliance with Community law ...... 19 2.3 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them ...... 20 2.4 Changes in the context of the operational Programme implementation (if relevant) ...... 21 2.5 Substantial modification under Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (if relevant) ...... 21 2.6 Complementarity with other instruments ...... 21 2.7 Monitoring arrangements ...... 23 2.8 Approved amendments of financing decisions from 2010 and 2013 ...... 25 3. Implementation by priority ...... 46 3.1 Priority 1 ...... 46 3.2 Priority 2 ...... 51 3.3 Priority 3 ...... 55 3.4 Priority 4 ...... 59 4. ESF Programmes: Coherence and Concentration ...... 64 5. ERDF/CF Programmes: major projects (if applicable) ...... 64 6. Technical Assistance ...... 64 7. Publicity and information ...... 68 8. Conclusion and forecast for 2015 ...... 80 9. Index of Figures ...... 82 10. Index of Appendices ...... 84

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Executive summary

The purpose of the Annual Implementation Report is, according to Regulation, to provide the European Commission with updated information on the financial implementation of the operational Programme and the steps taken by the Programme management bodies on each of their main tasks to ensure the quality and effectiveness of implementation, and to report on the use of technical assistance. It is also an opportunity to review and analyse progress in implementing and managing the Programme and draw conclusions in order to improve performance, prepare the next programme and outline the developments for subsequent years, its elaboration is therefore a critical task, every year, engaging all bodies involved in the OP management and control.

The year 2014 was very demanding both in terms of Programme implementation regarding the exigent n+2 financial target and in terms of preparation of the Programme 2014-2020, the organisation of a major programme capitalisation event and dissemination of project results, projects and systems audits performed by the Audit Authority (AA) with the required follow up and implementation of recommendations, the recovery of some ineligible expenditures. In spite of intense activity the programme’s financial performance has again revealed sound results in 2014 whilst clearly exceeding the annual decommitment target.

The report highlights topics concerning the implementation and certification of approved operations and is completed by information regarding indicators of achievement and the amounts involved.

The activities undertaken by programme management bodies were carried out in the framework and with the support of the rules and procedures manuals embodied in the Programme’s Description of the Management and Control Systems.

As in previous years, efforts towards progress have been made in delivering the Programme communication plan. Effective and visible communication of the Programme activities continues to be a key element of the Programme delivery, meeting the main challenges and defining ambitious targets are crucial to achieve an effective and efficient communication. In 2014 communication activities continued their gradual stepping up, this year the annual capitalisation event was a success, exhibitions were held in several relevant events related with the Programme thematics and social networks and the Atlantic Strategy, they were handled as an important way to communicate projects and Programme activities and results. Also, a stricter follow-up of projects communication tools and actions was carried out, and the development of the database of approved projects continued.

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The AIR also includes information about the communication and publicity measures in terms of promoting dissemination, visibility and awareness of the Operational Programme and communication activities aimed at Programme projects.

During the year 2014 the preparation of the future 2014-2020 programme was a key task which strongly engaged the MA, JTS and MS representatives with the support of the consultants involved in the Working Group for the OP preparation and Ex-ante evaluation including a Strategic Environmental Assessment report.

1. Identification

OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME Objective concerned

European Territorial Cooperation

Eligible area concerned

Border, Midland and Western, and Southern and Eastern in Ireland; the NUTS II regions of Galicia, Principado de Asturias, Cantabria, País Vasco, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, and in Andalucía the NUTS III regions of Cádiz, Huelva and Sevilla in Spain; Haute-Normandie, Basse-Normandie, Pays de la Loire, Bretagne, Poitou-Charentes, Aquitaine in France; Norte, Algarve, Centro, Lisbon and Alentejo in Portugal; and Cumbria, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and North Somerset, Dorset and Somerset, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, West Wales and The Valleys, East Wales, South Western Scotland, Highlands and Islands and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom.

Programming period

2007-2013

Programme number (CCI No)

2007 CB 163 PO 029

Programme title

Atlantic Area 2007-2013

ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION Reporting year REPORT 2014

Date of approval of the annual report by the Monitoring Committee

23 June 2015

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2. Overview of the implementation of the Operational Programme

2.1 Achievement and analysis of the progress

 Information on the physical progress of the Operational Programme:

Information available accounts for a majority of output indicators (27 of 34) with target achievements greater than 90%. From those, 23 of the output indicators are completely achieved on their targets. Until now, no project grouping was achieved, as well as no strategic framework was launched.

Indicators related to project implementation reveal good performance, both in financial and physical terms. Actually, the Managing Authority validated about 78% of approved budget expenditures and the operational activities approved were achieved on an average of 83% of their targets.

Until the end of 2014, 71 projects have been approved, involving 664 partners and 137 associated partners. On that period, 28 projects have completed their activities. Globally, projects created a total of 301 direct jobs, from which 167 concerned to posts filled by a woman. In the same period projects met, in transnational events, a total of 18679 institutions and 51255 people, and produced a total of 4887 publications, from which 363 concern final studies reports and 2149 concern articles in the press and specialised magazines.

The following graphic provides, at programme level, information about the frequency distribution of output indicator performances. Implementation performances are measured, for each indicator, by the percentage of achievement in relation to corresponding targets.

1. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at Programme Level

23 24

8 4 2 2 2 4 1

0 0% ]0% ; 50%[ [50% ; 75%[ [75% ; 90%[ [90% ; 100%[ 100%

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The following tables summarize information regarding the achievements attained by output, results and impact indicators, for the years 2007 to 2014 and in total. The output indicators related to the participation on transnational events (0106 to 0107e) and publications (0108 to 0108f) and the results indicators related to connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) are measured according to the year of realization. All other indicators are measured cumulatively for each year (cumulated values from 2007 until the end of the reference year). The total number of connections to websites (0207a and 0207b) is the average value of the last two years.

2. Output indicators

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0101a Number of projects approved 62 0 24 48 48 58 63 71 71 71

0101b Number of projects completed 62 0 0 0 0 0 5 11 28 28

0101c Number of project groupings 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Number of strategic frameworks 0101d 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 launched Number of partners with a status of 0102a 258 0 131 193 193 231 249 272 272 272 public authority Number of partners with a status of 0102b 10 0 2 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 cross-border or transnational entity Number of partners with a status of not- 0102c 108 0 46 92 92 116 127 143 143 143 for-profit organisation Number of partners with a status of 0102d 162 0 45 125 125 155 172 196 196 196 research/education centre Number of partners with a status of 0102e 33 0 17 21 21 37 37 39 39 39 public enterprise Number of partners with a status of 0102f 9 0 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 private enterprise

0103 Number of associate partners 142 0 42 95 95 124 133 137 137 137

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104 the development and implementation of 200 0 0 51 110 151 207 279 301 301 projects Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104a the development and implementation of 110 0 0 28 62 83 112 157 167 167 projects - posts filled by a woman Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104b the development and implementation of 90 0 0 23 48 68 95 122 134 134 projects - posts filled by a man

0105 Investment made by projects1 150.5 0 0 5.3 25.9 55.3 80.9 112.1 121.5 121.5

Number of attendees participating in 0106 transnational meetings and events 24670 348 138 3240 13112 14604 9407 5932 4474 51255 organised by projects Number of attendees participating in 0106a transnational meetings and events 12180 147 64 1248 6239 6767 3987 2521 1669 22642 organised by projects - women Number of attendees participating in 0106b transnational meetings and events 12480 201 74 1992 6873 7837 5420 3411 2805 28613 organised by projects - man

1 Millions Euros

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of entities represented in 0107 transnational meetings and events 11365 0 0 846 3550 4506 3784 3270 2723 18679 organised by projects Number of public authorities 0107a represented in transnational meetings 4420 0 0 211 1225 1156 1310 901 576 5379 and events organised by projects Number of cross-border or transnational bodies represented in transnational 0107b 260 0 0 3 34 81 53 35 36 242 meetings and events organised by projects Number of not-for-profit organisations 0107c represented in transnational meetings 605 0 0 84 331 481 441 240 394 1971 and events organised by projects Number of research/education centres 0107d represented in transnational meetings 1310 0 0 131 760 1217 861 885 377 4231 and events organised by projects Number of enterprises represented in 0107e transnational meetings and events 4770 0 0 417 1200 1571 1119 1209 1340 6856 organised by projects

0108 Number of publications made by projects 4200 0 0 224 689 1120 1117 858 879 4887

Number of publications made by projects 0108a 670 0 0 29 124 157 113 147 40 610 - interim study reports Number of publications made by projects 0108b 505 0 0 6 27 91 113 69 57 363 - final study reports Number of publications made by projects - articles in press or specialised 0108c 1780 0 0 129 302 524 643 373 178 2149 magazines and communications in congresses and conferences Number of publications made by projects 0108d 330 0 0 12 83 124 48 100 14 381 - issues of a project newsletter Number of publications made by projects 0108e 480 0 0 6 33 58 71 51 18 237 - handbooks, guides and catalogues Number of publications made by projects 0108f - brochures, leaflets and other 510 0 0 42 120 166 129 118 572 1147 awareness-raising publications Cooperation intensity - number of 0109a 54 0 23 47 47 57 62 70 70 70 projects with transfer of know-how Cooperation intensity - number of 0109b projects pooling a critical mass of 56 0 24 48 48 57 62 70 70 70 resources Cooperation intensity - number of 0109c 54 0 23 47 47 57 62 70 70 70 projects tackling a transnational issue

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3. Result indicators

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of AA projects generated on the 0201 39 0 16 29 29 38 40 45 45 45 basis of other pre-existing projects Number of AA projects having the 0202 51 0 0 1 8 16 22 32 37 37 intention of generating new projects Number of AA projects having the 0203 52 0 0 3 10 21 25 28 30 30 intention of generating new networks Number of programmes influenced on 0204 1015 0 0 20 48 88 122 213 241 241 the projects implementation context Number of programmes influenced on 0204a the projects implementation context - EU 115 0 0 5 8 10 17 41 45 45 programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204b the projects implementation context - 155 0 0 3 7 10 24 40 47 47 national programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204c the projects implementation context - 405 0 0 8 12 25 39 69 76 76 regional programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204d the projects implementation context - 400 0 0 4 21 43 42 63 73 73 local programmes Number of policies influenced on the 0205 625 0 0 15 25 71 114 165 195 195 projects implementation context Number of policies influenced on the 0205a projects implementation context - EU 95 0 0 2 5 8 16 25 30 30 policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205b projects implementation context - 140 0 0 3 5 12 23 32 41 41 national policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205c projects implementation context - 275 0 0 8 10 24 39 60 68 68 regional policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205d projects implementation context - local 190 0 0 2 5 27 36 48 56 56 policies Job creation (in full time equivalent) 0206 1205 0 0 0 19 49 115 117 131 131 induced by projects implementation Investment induced by projects 0207 57.0 0 0 0 3.1 28.5 30.2 35.9 57.4 57.4 implementation2 Average number of connections/month 0208a to the projects page of the Programme 250 0 0 156 129 132 94 112 94 103 website Average number of connections/month 0208b to the home page of the Programme 15000 0 4689 14117 17224 17626 0 0 0 0 website Number of AA projects having decided to 0209 carry on cooperating after the project 54 0 0 0 0 9 14 30 36 36 completion

2 Millions Euros

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4. Impact indicators

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Audience of the Programme among 0301 1500 0 0 6 231 343 444 562 681 681 various national sector administrations Audience of the Programme among 0302 1300 0 0 8 503 570 611 717 797 797 regional authorities Audience of the Programme among local 0303 3500 0 0 5 78 163 223 388 521 521 authorities Audience of the Programme among local 0303a 1500 0 0 5 54 102 113 234 291 291 authorities - urban areas Audience of the Programme among local 0303b 1900 0 0 0 24 61 110 154 230 230 authorities - rural areas Audience of the Programme among 0304 1600 0 0 2 180 375 503 623 696 696 education and research centres Audience of the Programme among not 0305 3500 0 0 2 70 124 193 274 321 321 for profit organisations Audience of the Programme among 0306 40000 0 0 31 809 2652 102592 105300 106312 106312 private enterprises

 Financial information (All financial data are expressed in euro)

ERDF Programmed

The Operational Programme total budget is € 159 million while the EU co-financing totals € 104 million ERDF.

The financing plan of the Programme has undergone three revisions until 2013.

The first one, was made in 2008 and regarded the introduction of private funds in programme budget.

The second was approved in 2011 and was related to the system of indicators.

The third was approved in 2012 and concerned the reallocation of funds by priority and consisted in shifting uncommitted Priority amounts and decommitted project amounts from Priorities 2, 3 and 4 to Priority 1.

In 2013 and 2014 there was no financial amendment.

The following table summarises the financial table of the OP after the mentioned modification:

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5. Financial table National Private Priority Axis ERDF Total % funds funds 1. Transnational networks of 32.152.061 13.062.223 4.250.425 49.464.709 31,1 entrepreneurship and innovation 2. Protect secure and enhance the 36.904.800 15.407.681 4.464.135 56.776.616 35,8 marine and coastal environment 3. Improve the accessibility and 15.433.632 7.374.227 936.190 23.744.049 15,0 internal links 4. Urban and regional sustainable 13.317.666 6.507.801 663.250 20.488.717 12,9 development Technical Assistance 6.243.074 2.081.025 - 8.324.099 5,2

Total 104.051.233 44.432.95 10.314.000 158.798.190 100,0

Four calls for projects were launched in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013. A total of 71 projects were approved, reaching a total amount of 156,5 M€, ERDF 101,6 M€, as follows:

6. Approved Projects and OP financial allocation Call Projects BUDGET TOTAL ERDF % 2008 24 55.8 36.3 35.7 2009 24 53.9 35.0 34.5 2011 15 36.0 23.3 22.9 2013 8 10.8 7.0 6.9 Total 71 156.5 101.6 100.0 The ERDF released was € 6 922 878,21.

An existing overbooking of € 2 109 249, 84, as shown in the following table, by priority.

7. Overbooking by priority ERDF available Total % Total -2 109 249,84 € 100,0 Priority 1 -386 008,37 € 18,3 Priority 2 -1 598 159,34 € 75,8 Priority 3 241 717,76 € -11,5 Priority 4 -366 799,89 € 17,4

The approved projects involve 664 partner organisations, 184 in Spain, 150 in France, 89 in Ireland, 134 in Portugal and 103 in the United Kingdom. Some organisations are from outside the Cooperation Area in EU and outside the EU.

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8. Partners by Member State Organisations Area Member State Lead partners number Spain 30 155 France 15 135 Atlantic Ireland 7 83 Area Portugal 9 125 United Kingdom 10 93 Germany 0 1 Norway 0 1 Total 663 71 593

9. Projects participation, Lead Partners and partners per MS Project Lead partner Partners – Partners – other Member State Total partners participation participation eligible region EU region Spain 71 30 180 5 185 France 66 15 145 5 150 Ireland 58 7 90 0 90 Portugal 69 9 131 3 134 UK 59 10 95 8 103 Germany 1 0 0 1 1 Norway 1 0 0 1 1

10. Participating non eligible Regions of AA MS

France Spain Portugal UK

Kent Île-de-France Hampshire

Castilla y León Oxfordshire Midi-Pyrénées Açores Suffolk & Dorset

Limousin Madrid West Midlands Derbyshire (UKF1)

Prefinancing ERDF payments

Following the approval of the Programme, the European Commission made three pre-financing payments to the Programme; one in 2007 of € 2.081.024,66 (2%), a second payment in 2008 of € 3.121.536,99 (3%), and a third payment in 2009 of € 2.601.280,83 (2, 5%). A total of € 7.803.842,48 ERDF (7,5%).

According to article 83 of Regulation EC 1083/2006 any interest generated by the pre-financing shall be posted to the operational programme concerned, being regarded as a resource for the Member State in the

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form of a national public contribution. The Programme received as pre-financing € 7 803,842.48 while the interests generated amounted to € 115,210.10.

11. Pre-financing ERDF payments

Pre-financing OP FUND amount date 2 081 024,66 10/10/2007 3 121 536,99 01/07/2008 AA OP ERDF 2 601 280,83 21/04/2009 7 803 842,48

Projects Advances

Between 2009 and 2014 an amount of 1,692,346,37 € was claimed and paid to projects as advances in accordance to the Programme rule, which stipulates a ceiling of 3% of the ERDF approved per project can be claimed as an advance payment, which is later deducted from the first reimbursement claim,

The following table displays the situation for the period:

12. Advances

Call Nº Projects ERDF (€)

2009 9 419 309,90 2010 17 719 413,33 2011 1 42 121,02 2012 5 289 618,99 2013 7 221 883,13 2014 4 102 008,02 Total 43 1 794 354,39

Until the end 2014, a total expenditure of 120.0 million euros was submitted to EC, claiming for a total ERDF reimbursement of 78.6 million euros, thus surpassing the implementation rate target and avoiding an automatic decommitment. Nevertheless, until the end of 2014, the MA received form projects a total of 122.0 million euros of expenditures, corresponding to 79.9 million euros of ERDF.

The following table resumes the cumulated financial implementation figures concerning the year of 2014:

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13. Financial implementation

Submitted to MA Submitted to CA Submitted to EC Priority Total costs ERDF Total costs ERDF Total costs ERDF 1- Promote transnational entrepreneurial and innovation 37 014 282.76 24 045 643.25 36 248 714.51 23 548 023.89 36 248 714.51 23 548 023.89 networks 2 - Protect, secure and enhance the marine and coastal 42495815.71 27 536 870.85 41 519 367.31 26 902 735.81 41 519 367.31 26 902 735.81 environment sustainability 3 - Improve accessibility and 17373341.49 11302586.99 17373341.49 11302586.99 17373341.49 11302586.99 internal links 4 - Promote transnational synergies in sustainable urban and 18422473.27 11963478.91 18391427.78 11942328.73 18391427.78 11942328.73 regional development

5 - Technical assistance 6667417.23 5056424.40 6506849.79 4895856.96 6506849.79 4895856.96

Total 121973330.50 79905004.40 120039700.90 78591532.38 120039700.90 78591532.38

Interim ERDF claims

The ERDF certification dates and related amounts up to end of 2014 are inscribed in the following table:

14. ERDF Certification dates and amounts certified Date of Date of Number certification by ERDF certified (€) submission to CA CA 1 07/10/2009 09/10/2009 599 576,73 2 21/09/2010 11/04/2011 6 280 256,38 3 22/12/2010 11/04/2011 4 21/03/2011 21/05/2011 2 128 337,24 5 24/05/2011 04/08/2011 5 456 320,79 6 14/07/2011 04/08/2011 7 25/10/2011 19/12/2011 3 948 466,46 8 28/11/2011 10/05/2012 1 982 761,48 9 27/04/2012 27/06/2012 5 392 791,22 10 02/07/2012 07/11/2012 9 189 768,69 11 17/10/2012 07/11/2012 12 04/12/2012 20/12/2012 2 893 989,95 13 24/05/2013 15/07/2013 5 255 814,76 14 24/09/2013 10/10/2013 4 400 761,42 15 28/10/2013 13/12/2013 12 390 796,36 16 29/11/2013 13/12/2013 17 10/04/2014 24/06/2014 4 634 999,2 18 18/08/2014 20/08/2014 4 535 122,36 19 10710/2014 21/11/2014 2 116 909,6 20 25/11/2014 15/12/2014 7 281 673,07 Total 78 488 345,7

Regarding the n+2 target for the year 2014 the amount certified exceeded the target, as revealed in the following table.

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15. Automatic Decommitment targets (December 2014) ERDF to be certified ERDF approved ERDF certified Year € € % € % 2011 8 335 534,19 23 388 974,61 280,59 18412957,60 220,90 2012 24 861 827,86 46 136 088,85 185,57 37 872 268,94 152,33 2013 59 546 343,20 66 698 382,58 112,01 59 919 641,48 100,63 2014 77 648 651,87 83 794 527,23 107,91 78 488 345,71 101,08 2015 10 4051 233,00 106 137 633,25 102,01 78 488 345,71 75,43

28 projects, identified in the following table finished their initial activity plan up to the end of 2014.

16. Projects closed until the end of 2014

Acronym Date beginning Date close

ANCORIM 01/05/2009 31/07/2012

ARCOPOL 01/01/2009 01/08/2012

ATCLUSTERS 01/01/2009 31/05/2014

ATLANTOX 01/01/2009 31/12/2013

ATVENTURE 01/04/2009 31/01/2012

AUXNAVALIA 15/01/2009 31/08/2011

BATFARM 03/05/2010 31/07/2014

BIOTECMAR 01/01/2009 30/06/2012

CANTATA2 01/04/2009 30/09/2012

EASYCO 01/02/2009 31/12/2012

ECOINNOVA 02/01/2010 31/08/2013

ECOSALATLANTIS 01/01/2010 31/12/2013

ENERMATaa 11/01/2010 31/12/2013

KNOWCITIES 02/03/2009 31/10/2013

MARLEANET 01/01/2010 15/07/2013

MeshAtlantic 01/05/2010 31/12/2013

NETALGAE 01/01/2010 31/12/2013

PARKATLANTIC 15/03/2009 30/06/2014

PHARMATLANTIC 01/04/2010 31/12/2013

PORTONOVO 01/01/2010 30/06/2012

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Acronym Date beginning Date close

PROPOSSE 01/01/2009 31/03/2012

REINFFORCE 01/02/2009 31/12/2013

RethE 02/02/2009 30/05/2014

ShareBiotech 01/01/2010 30/06/2013

SHIPWELD 01/03/2010 31/12/2012

START 01/01/2009 30/09/2013

ULTREIA 01/10/2008 31/12/2011

WINAtlantic 01/01/2009 30/12/2012

17. Projects closed until the end of 2014- financial data

ERDF Call Project % Grant Paid Released 1 ANCORIM 1 037 633,91 190 476,98 18,36 1 ARCOPOL 1 666 708,53 330 223,27 19,81 1 ATCLUSTERS 832 256,35 0 0 1 ATLANTOX 1 103 973,28 91 677,90 8,30 1 ATVENTURE 785 549,45 99 636,15 12,68 1 AUXNAVALIA 997 662,36 43 111,79 4,32 2 BATFARM 1 353 993,91 50 899,40 3,76 1 BIOTECMAR 1 447 900,83 61 848,97 4,27 1 CANTATA2 1 199 565,89 282 423,11 23,54 1 EASYCO 1 520 359,82 214 176,18 14,09 2 ECOINNOVA 803 791,84 129 276,36 16,08 2 ECOSALATLANTIS 1 831 393,16 157 427,44 8,60 2 ENERMATaa 1 215 150,51 404 527,15 33,29 1 KNOWCITIES 1 238 210,49 764 689,51 61,76 2 MARLEANET 1 285 697,81 183 955,87 14,31 2 MeshAtlantic 2 227 160,99 47 640,76 2,14 2 NETALGAE 984 125,62 419 908,38 42,67 2 PARKATLANTIC 1 012 678,66 0 0 2 PHARMATLANTIC 1 255 129,60 143 700,14 11,45 2 PORTONOVO 801 519,02 302 755,03 37,77 1 PROPOSSE 1 129 095,45 247 474,55 21,92 1 REINFFORCE 2 556 352,01 0 0 1 RethE 1 082 741,15 172 048,85 15,89 2 ShareBiotech 1 575 001,86 184 228,57 11,70 2 SHIPWELD 919 305,89 123 480,31 13,43 1 START 4 000 094,93 840 816,25 21,02 1 ULTREIA 528 073,79 359 477,21 68,07

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ERDF Call Project % Grant Paid Released 1 WINAtlantic 1 540 697,18 376 164,82 24,42 Total 37 931 824,29 6 222 044,95 18,34

18. Audit’s recommendation’s in the end of 2014

Audit recommendations ERDF refund (€) Audit’s scope Year Under Partially Not To be Total Satisfied Refunded going satisfied satisfied refunded 2009 4 4

System audits 2010 11 10 1 2 057,20 and MA/NCs 2011 9 7 2 audits 2012 2 2 2 008,35

2013 6 1 5

2012 54 52 2 5 307,09 Projects 2013 52 8 44 1 160,28 5 851,55 2014 55 42 13 15,41 4 639,29 Total 193 51 137 2 3 1 175,69 19 863,48

19. Breakdown of expenditures per priority and year

Submitted to MA Submitted to CA Submitted to EC Priority Axis Year Total costs ERDF Total costs Total costs ERDF

2009 70 272,18 45 676,90 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 2010 2 654 563,59 1 725 466,10 2 627 430,26 1 707 829,42 0,00 0,00 1- Promote transnational 2011 7 346 303,51 4 768 488,99 7 282 486,92 4 733 373,67 8 735 601,21 5 677 941,04 entrepreneurial 2012 7 697 818,93 5 007 988,38 7 606 898,91 4 942 525,01 8 781 214,88 5 705 787,06 and innovation networks 2013 11 361 666,04 7 365 562,32 9 094 849,59 5 892 150,84 9 094 849,59 5 892 150,84 2014 7 883 658,51 5 132 460,56 9 637 048,83 6 272 144,95 9 637 048,83 6 272 144,95 Total 37 014 282,76 24 045 643,25 36 248 714,51 23 548 023,89 36 248 714,51 23 548 023,89 2009 266 730,60 173 374,88 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 2-Protect, 2010 3 080 190,49 1 943 230,52 2 576 647,90 1 660 951,30 0,00 0,00 secure and enhance the 2011 8 384 518,13 5 434 728,52 7 365 256,56 4 738 692,34 9 188 191,79 5 909 746,06 marine and 2012 10 235 886,38 6 632 449,87 10 220 181,74 6 636 865,74 10 973 894,41 7 126 763,32 coastal environment 2013 12 008 772,02 7 763 442,07 13 164 190,52 8 490 004,73 13 164 190,52 8 490 004,73 sustainability 2014 8 519 718,09 5 589 644,99 8 193 090,59 5 376 221,70 8 193 090,59 5 376 221,70 Total 42 495 815,71 27 536 870,85 41 519 367,31 26 902 735,81 41 519 367,31 26 902 735,81 2009 174 660,32 113 519,88 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 3-Improve 2010 1 725 097,00 1 121 313,04 1 899 757,32 1 234 832,92 0,00 0,00 accessibility and internal 2011 2 476 755,05 1 601 474,66 2 235 598,48 1 453 138,98 3 856 453,46 2 506 685,40 links 2012 2 658 207,55 1 736 119,84 2 899 364,12 1 884 455,52 3 178 266,46 2 065 742,02 2013 4 885 160,00 3 173 680,70 4 885 160,00 3 173 680,70 4 885 160,00 3 173 680,70

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2014 5 453 461,57 3 556 478,87 5 453 461,57 3 556 478,87 5 453 461,57 3 556 478,87 Total 17 373 341,49 11 302 586,99 17 373 341,49 11 302 586,99 17 373 341,49 11 302 586,99 2009 168 028,64 109 218,61 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 4-Promote 2010 1 279 659,96 831 778,93 1 172 957,84 762 422,56 0,00 0,00 transnational synergies in 2011 2 779 633,27 1 793 147,28 2 704 839,77 1 744 531,48 3 153 815,41 2 036 365,49 sustainable 2012 5 653 797,76 3 687 682,57 5 246 338,68 3 422 834,43 5 970 320,88 3 893 422,98 urban and regional 2013 4 580 071,01 2 973 846,21 5 220 106,01 3 389 868,70 5 220 106,01 3 389 868,70 development 2014 3 961 282,63 2 567 805,31 4 047 185,48 2 622 671,56 4 047 185,48 2 622 671,56 Total 18 422 473,27 11 963 478,91 18 391 427,78 11 942 328,73 18 391 427,78 11 942 328,73 2008 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 2009 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 2010 1 323 341,50 1 013 914,60 1 203 186,51 990 712,86 0,00 0,00 5-Technical 2011 1 102 483,74 840 680,47 1 044 704,32 685 947,80 2 144 333,63 1 573 103,46 assistance 2012 1 067 442,31 649 346,15 798 974,94 463 961,45 902 532,14 567 518,65 2013 1 168 665,91 862 360,99 1 347 491,59 1 024 764,79 1 347 491,59 1 024 764,79 2014 1 206 048,10 890 686,52 1 313 056,76 931 034,39 1 313 056,76 931 034,39 Total 6 667 417,23 5 056 424,40 6 506 849,79 4 895 856,96 6 506 849,79 4 895 856,96 2008 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 2009 1 479 127,41 1 241 225,94 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 799 435,67 2010 10 062 852,54 6 635 703,19 9 479 979,83 6 356 749,06 0,00 0,00 2011 22 089 693,70 14 438 519,92 20 632 886,05 13 355 684,27 27 078 395,50 17 703 841,45 Total 2012 27 313 152,93 17 713 586,81 26 771 758,39 17 350 642,15 29 806 228,77 19 359 234,03 2013 34 004 334,98 22 138 892,29 33 711 797,71 21 970 469,76 33 711 797,71 21 970 469,76 2014 27 024 168,90 17 737 076,25 28 643 843,23 18 758 551,47 28 643 843,23 18 758 551,47 Total 121 973 330,46 79 905 004,40 120 039 700,88 78 591 532,38 120 039 700,88 78 591 532,38

20. Information about the breakdown of use of the funds by category

Form of Economic Priority theme Territory Location Amount (€) finance activity

01 R&TD activities in research centres 01 09 00 EU 9032486.56 02 R&TD infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 1693931.12 Technology transfer and improvement of cooperation 03 01 09 00 EU 14212692.35 networks 04 Assistance to R&TD 01 09 00 EU 2031383.52 05 Advanced support services for firms and groups of firms 01 09 00 EU 2424950.86 Assistance to SMEs for the promotion of environmentally- 06 01 09 00 EU 1651223.08 friendly products and production processes 07 Investment in firms directly linked to research and innovation 01 09 00 EU 352789.78 08 Other investment in firms 01 09 00 EU 78554.95 Other measures to stimulate research and innovation and 09 01 09 00 EU 5902014.75 entrepreneurship in SMEs 10 Telephone infrastructures 01 09 00 EU 0.00 11 Information and communication technologies 01 09 00 EU 1951271.67 12 Information and communication technologies (TEN-ICT) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 13 Services and applications for the citizen 01 09 00 EU 1404689.76 14 Services and applications for SMEs 01 09 00 EU 2127752.68 Other measures for improving access to and efficient use of 15 01 09 00 EU 302405.44 ICT by SMEs 16 Railways 01 09 00 EU 480870.24 17 Railways (TEN-T) 01 09 00 EU 0.00

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Form of Economic Priority theme Territory Location Amount (€) finance activity

18 Mobile rail assets 01 09 00 EU 0.00 19 Mobile rail assets (TEN-T) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 20 Motorways 01 09 00 EU 0.00 21 Motorways (TEN-T) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 22 National roads 01 09 00 EU 0.00 23 Regional/local roads 01 09 00 EU 0.00 24 Cycle tracks 01 09 00 EU 0.00 25 Urban transport 01 09 00 EU 1608605.68 26 Multimodal transport 01 09 00 EU 2234880.00 27 Multimodal transport (TEN-T) 01 09 00 EU 1580271.24 28 Intelligent transport systems 01 09 00 EU 2383986.64 29 Airports 01 09 00 EU 632553.57 30 Ports 01 09 00 EU 1325728.09 31 Inland waterways (regional and local) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 32 Inland waterways (TEN-T) 01 09 00 EU 47654.78 33 Electricity 01 09 00 EU 281000.53 34 Electricity (TEN-E) 01 09 00 EU 158206.48 35 Natural gas 01 09 00 EU 0.00 36 Natural gas (TEN-E) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 37 Petroleum products 01 09 00 EU 0.00 38 Petroleum products (TEN-E) 01 09 00 EU 0.00 39 Renewable energy: wind 01 09 00 EU 268515.65 40 Renewable energy: solar 01 09 00 EU 98507.33 41 Renewable energy: biomass 01 09 00 EU 204957.62 42 Renewable energy: hydroelectric, geothermal and other 01 09 00 EU 4938681.70 43 Energy efficiency, co-generation, energy management 01 09 00 EU 365354.37 44 Management of household and industrial waste 01 09 00 EU 98507.33 45 Management and distribution of water (drinking water) 01 09 00 EU 98507.33 46 Water treatment (waste water) 01 09 00 EU 98507.33 47 Air quality 01 09 00 EU 406198.17 48 Integrated prevention and pollution control 01 09 00 EU 5878725.09 49 Mitigation and adaptation to climate change 01 09 00 EU 1945868.10 50 Rehabilitation of industrial sites and contaminated land 01 09 00 EU 0.00 Promotion of biodiversity and nature protection (including 51 01 09 00 EU 6035964.05 Natura 2000) 52 Promotion of clean urban transport 01 09 00 EU 2253280.65 53 Risk prevention 01 09 00 EU 2626372.13 54 Other measures to preserve the environment and prevent risks 01 09 00 EU 1240677.52 55 Promotion of natural assets 01 09 00 EU 1620335.67 56 Protection and development of natural heritage 01 09 00 EU 2261967.76 57 Other assistance to improve tourist services 01 09 00 EU 2134859.15 58 Protection and preservation of the cultural heritage 01 09 00 EU 1976754.65 59 Development of cultural infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 527916.34 60 Other assistance to improve cultural services 01 09 00 EU 267579.20 61 Integrated projects for urban and rural regeneration 01 09 00 EU 1400521.93 Development of life-long learning systems and strategies in 62 01 09 00 EU 1372171.77 firms Design and dissemination of innovative and more productive 63 01 09 00 EU 998876.70 ways of organising work Development of specific services for employment, training and 64 01 09 00 EU 3705678.66 support 65 Modernisation and strengthening labour market institutions 01 09 00 EU 0.00

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Form of Economic Priority theme Territory Location Amount (€) finance activity Implementing active and preventive measures on the labour 66 01 09 00 EU 0.00 market Measures encouraging active ageing and prolonging working 67 01 09 00 EU 0.00 lives 68 Support for self-employment and business start-up 01 09 00 EU 0.00 Measures to improve access, sustainable participation and 69 01 09 00 EU 0.00 progress of women in employment Specific action to increase migrants’ participation in 70 01 09 00 EU 0.00 employment and thereby strengthen their social integration Pathways to integration and re-entry into employment for 71 01 09 00 EU 0.00 disadvantaged people Design, introduction and implementation of reforms in 72 01 09 00 EU 0.00 education and training systems Measures to increase participation in education and training 73 01 09 00 EU 0.00 throughout the lifecycle Developing human potential in the field of research and 74 01 09 00 EU 468403.58 innovation 75 Education infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 0.00 76 Health infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 0.00 77 Childcare infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 0.00 78 Housing infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 34220.95 79 Other social infrastructure 01 09 00 EU 146989.70 Promoting partnerships, pacts and initiatives through the 80 01 09 00 EU 1001253.75 networking of relevant stakeholders 81 Mechanisms for improving good policy and programme design 01 09 00 EU 1014550.05 Compensation of any additional costs due to accessibility 82 01 09 00 EU 0.00 deficit and territorial fragmentation Specific action addressed to compensate additional costs due 83 01 09 00 EU 19371.78 to size market factors Support to compensate additional costs due to climate 84 01 09 00 EU 0.00 conditions and relief difficulties 85 Preparation, implementation, monitoring and inspection 01 09 00 EU 5793547.41 86 Evaluation and studies; information and communication 01 09 00 EU 445461.04 Total 105648988.20

2.2 Information about compliance with Community law

In accordance with Article 9 and 12 of the general regulation (1083/2006) and the ERDF regulation (1080/2006), operations financed by the Structural Funds must be in conformity with the provisions of the Treaty, with instruments adopted under it and with Community policies and actions, including the rules on competition, state aid rules, policy on the award of public contracts, strategic environmental assessment and on the elimination of inequalities and the promotion of equality between men and women.

Measures to ensure strict compliance with the relevant rules and regulations mentioned above are integrated into the operational Programme rules and procedures produced by the MA, Certifying Authority, Audit Authority and Intermediate bodies of the Programme, regarding projects selection, management and control systems, follow-up, reporting and communication.

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2.3 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them

The main problem faced was related to delays in the submission of implementation reports and reimbursement claims. Due to a special effort with the engagement of MA and JTS to provide intense technical support to Lead Partners, it was possible to resolve the majority of problems and increase the programme’s financial spend rate, and also achieve the n+2 target. A very positive interaction of MA and JTS with National Correspondents regarding technical project management proved to be extremely fruitful in this process.

To respond to a weakness identified by the Audit Authority concerning projects indirect costs use, the global plan related to projects’ indirect costs approved methodologies was completed.

Regarding the preparation of the 2014-2020 Programme, on the 11 September 2014, the contents of the OP were agreed by MS. However the UK conditioned programme signing off hence its submission to the EC, to proposals to be made by the MA on some topics related to governance and management, which were not yet addressed satisfactory according to UK representatives.

In a bid to try to facilitate the OP signing off, the UK offered the MA a meeting in London to work through the outstanding issues and assist them with drafting a complete and concise work-plan aimed at facilitating more effective governance and management arrangements for the new programme.

Despite several exchanges of documents between the MA and UK authorities it was not possible to agree on this topic. By December 2014, the MA completed a document on Programme Management and Implementation Arrangements (PIMA) to which no feedback was received from UK or any other of the OP MS. PIMA, had already been criticised at earlier 2014-20 Working Group meetings; the UK had repeatedly explained to the MA that the PIMA document failed to address the issues that needed to be resolved but the MA continued working on the same document.

As a consequence the OP submission was postponed to 2015 as only four MS had sent their written agreement allowing the OP submission with the UK missing.

Taking into account the delay in the submission of the 2014-20 Programme and the consequences inherent to this late submission with respect to its approval by EC, the impact on Programme accounts was considered. The existing positive balance accrued over the previous periods (including an amount released by CA moved to the MA/JTS budget) revealed very helpful, providing the financial means necessary to face the most urgent needs for the closure of the 2007-13 Programme and the creation of conditions for the launch of the new OP 2014-20, once it is approved.

With the same purpose it was also proposed to include in the MA/JTS budget the generated interests of pre-financing amounts reaching an amount to € 115,210.10. The budget was considered to be sufficient to attain the minimum admissible level of expenditure for 2015 until OP 2014-20 approval.

In the running situation the TA budget for 2015 reflecting priority given to costs related to wages of the existing staff and the current expenditure relating to the offices and equipment maintenance and also to the budget lines related to the Information System (IS)with due account of the need for improvement for the next Programme.

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2.4 Changes in the context of the operational Programme implementation (if relevant)

Not applicable

2.5 Substantial modification under Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (if relevant)

Not applicable

2.6 Complementarity with other instruments

According to the European Territorial Cooperation guidelines, a Programme must be complementary to the measures promoted under a number of core policies and Programmes. Building synergies and complementarities with other Community and national policies, initiatives and Programmes will allow taking full advantage of the strategic impact of the Programme, by using their results. The JTS of the Atlantic Area Programme provided the other cooperation Programmes sharing common cooperation themes, with information about the submitted projects in the first and second call to assist with complementarity issues and allow for the detection of possible project double funding across the transnational Programmes. The list of projects and beneficiaries being accessible to the public in the Programme Communication Platform allows for an easy consultation on the nature and organisations involved in approved projects and avoid duplications and contributing to project double funding.

Application forms for projects submission includes an item asking about the related projects funded and JTS and NCs projects assessment also include this issue, which is very strictly analysed and subject to final an opinion. We have carried out the relevant controls in order to make sure overlaps and double financing have been avoided. This particularly applies to EADF and those operations that could equally be funded through other programmes directly relevant such as environment, research, transport.

The relationship and benchmarking with other Programmes is also a key issue to promote knowledge of the different OP stakeholders and operations being implemented contribution to make more clarity the global scheme avoiding duplications and double funding.

Cooperation was also established with the INTERACT and the ESPON programmes resulting into the organisation in Porto of one seminar with each programme for the Atlantic area Programme in February and March 2013.

In addition, the role of INTERACT was very important in generating inter ETC programmes cooperation through different Seminars and Thematic Working Groups to discuss different thematics in view of contributing to improve the coordination between them and the preparation of future programmes in a more harmonised approach. The Programme participated in several events promoted by INTERACT in 2014.

However it will be necessary to increase strongly the coordination and benchmarking with other programmes in favour of better management and results.

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In addition, In order to increase coordination with Atlantic Networks: CVAA, CAA/CPMR/RTA, they were invited as speakers at the Programme annual event and a common seminar application to a Conference of the Atlantic Strategy was prepared and submitted.

The Programme and the Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area

As in 2013 the Programme has also continued to accompany the activities of the Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area through the organisation of a specific workshop to take place within the Jan. 2015 Atlantic Stakeholder Platform; providing information to Programme stakeholders and promoting coordination between various instruments to implement the objectives of the Action Plan, and by participating directly in Action Plan coordination meetings in Brussels.

The 2007-2014 Programme through its strategy is in line with the orientations of the adopted Strategy Action Plan, 70% of projects i.e. 50 projects out of 71 have a maritime dimension and have at least some degree of coherence with the Plan. Regarding the 2014-2020 programme its preparation took due account of the Action Plan as is detailed below.

It must be recalled that the 38 Atlantic Area regions are covered by the Atlantic Action Plan, which follows the Maritime Strategy in the Atlantic Area.

The Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area proposes “a coherent and balanced approach consistent with the EU 2020 agenda and its flagship initiative that promotes territorial cohesion and that takes into account the international dimension”. This strategy will be a reference in the context of the European policy and initiatives until 2020 and its implementation will be strictly linked to existing programmes (among which the Atlantic Area has a crucial role), through which the proposed actions are to be financed and implemented, ensuring that the Strategy per se will not create any additional impact on the EU budget.

The Action Plan explicitly mentions the Atlantic Programme as a way to foster joint projects and actions: “European Territorial Cooperation (for example through the Atlantic Area Programme), which will be funded through the ERDF, provides a mechanism for neighbouring regions and cities from different EU Member States to work together and learn from each other through projects that explore options to cooperate on common challenges”. In this context, the Atlantic programme’s Managing Authority, the five Member States as well as other key partners, which have participated in the OP drafting process agreed on the relevance and appropriateness of the Atlantic Maritime Strategy. As a result, the Atlantic Action Plan has been taken into account in the assessment of the needs and challenges, definition of specific objectives and elaboration of types of actions to be supported. The Atlantic Action Plan has also served as a guide for the selection and prioritisation of the sectors and specific territories where the Programme would be focussed on.

First, a clear coherence can be observed between the needs and challenges identified in the Maritime Strategy and the Operational Programme. On one hand, the Atlantic Action Plan identifies five priority challenges, which constitute the umbrella under which the actions have been defined and targeted. They are the challenges of delivering growth, reducing the carbon footprint, using the sea's natural resources sustainably, responding effectively to threats and emergencies and implementing an "ecosystem" management approach in Atlantic waters. On the other hand, the needs and challenges which the present Cooperation Programme seeks to address are related to the necessity of accelerating intelligent growth

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in the Atlantic Area, the promotion of a resource-efficient economy, the need to increase the preparedness and provide a better response to risks derived from climate change and human activities, a better management of the environment and the Atlantic Area’s natural resources and the exploitation of the natural and cultural assets by local communities.

In line with the above, the path of the OP drafting has been defined by taking into account the four overarching priorities and the series of specific objectives set up by the Atlantic Action Plan. The description below illustrates how the Atlantic Area Operational Programme’s specific objectives contribute to the Atlantic Action Plan.

Priority Axis 1 of the Atlantic Area OP is clearly coherent and will contribute to the PA1 of the Action Plan as both of them aim at promoting innovation by enhancing capacities, encouraging networking and cooperation between the institutional, research and private actors and promoting knowledge transfer.

The contribution of the Atlantic Area OP to the second Priority Axis of the Action Plan, will come through operations financed under Priority Axis 3.1, providing territorial management and risk prevention tools for climate change adaptation and risk prevention, specific objective 4.1 to enhance the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services and Priority Axis 2 seeking to contribute to a better resource efficiency in the Atlantic Area.

Operations under Specific Objective 4.2 will seek to enhance the natural and cultural heritage leading to an enhanced attractiveness of the Area allowing the region to attract new visitors and develop new local jobs, economic activity, therefore contributing to the fourth Priority of the Action Plan, which aims at creating a socially inclusive and sustainable model of regional development.

2.7 Monitoring arrangements

Contractual process of projects selected within the third call for projects

Out of 12 projects approved within the third call, 2 had a long delay in signing their subsidy contracts, this task was only completed in 2014.

Project reporting and validation

Regarding Programme activities some indicators are representative of the dynamics established , namely the performance of the programme clearly shows the continuous work commitment of the MA, JTS and NC’s to increase the global performance level. ,

Regarding the First level control of expenditure, all NCs and Intermediate Bodies responsible for first level control carried out their tasks relating to selection and validation of the partner’s external controllers (except in Ireland where a centralized system was adopted) and the associated guidance, NCs adopted a proactive approach, reinforced the communication with their partners encouraging them to appoint the controllers, indicating the rules that should be followed for this procedure, and reassessed the situation drawing the attention of Lead Partners on the need to address delays, contributing to solving any other situation that may occur.

As it can be understood from the following information the processing pace on reporting sped up and the financial and physical implementation expressed through execution reports and claims for ERDF

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reimbursements and the resulting expenditure declared to Certifying Authority increased significantly, the target for projects implementation being achieved and even slightly surpassed,

21. Projects reporting situation

Number of implementation reports Year Total Received Validated With payment claim Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % 2009 44 44 100,0 44 100,0 32 72,7 2010 101 101 100,0 101 100,0 81 80,2 2011 97 97 100,0 97 100,0 86 88,7 2012 88 88 100 86 97,7 77 87,5 2013 87 83 95,4 83 95,4 48 57,8 2014 68 44 64,7 42 61,7 74 85,1 TOTAL 485 455 93,8 453 93,4 398 82,1

The programme is beginning the closure stage, it is therefore crucial for effective project delivery to address project implementation issues which will necessitate more than ever a robust follow–up and monitoring.

This was undertaken namely through periodic monitoring and assessment of the situation by JTS with MA in order to follow up projects having delays, understand the reasons in cooperation with the Lead partners and implement recovery measures.

This situation compelled to constant exchanges with projects, to organise meetings with project lead partners and partners to resolve specific situations or provide guidance on procedures and carry out some in situ visits for those projects where there were issues to be dealt with, These were mainly carried out by NC´s, in order to ensure a consistent approach to detecting problems that can create barriers and slow down implementation, NC worked in coordination with JTS to improve performance and resolve specific situations needing close approach.

JTS continued the preparation of a monthly dashboard and improved the level of information in order to provide a clear picture of Programme progress and projects financial and activity implementation, it helped to identify gaps and to find solutions towards speeding projects closure, Annex I features the last 2014 dashboard.

Financing decisions amendments claims

In order to avoid distortion of financing decisions, the general rule is that operations should be implemented in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the subsidy contract, the dynamics related with project’s implementation faces unexpected contingencies that often require adjustment measures to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and Programme rules. To be able to answer to these modifications the Monitoring Committee established a rule and procedures concerning project modifications and the revision of financing decisions, such rule suffered some modifications to allow projects extension facility as described below.

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Approved project modifications involved up to 2014 a total of 87 141 amendments distributed by type of amendment as presented in the table below, The majority of the amendments continue to concern budgetary modifications, followed by administrative changes and reprogramming of operational activities, including extension of the deadline for the closure of projects, and changes in output and result indicators. The following table displays the types of amendments per year.

2.8 Approved amendments of financing decisions from 2010 and 2013

Type of amendment 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Administrative changes 1209 779 765 992 1015 4760

Partnership composition changes 12 19 8 56 16 111

Reprogramming of operational activities 391 622 559 885 677 3134

Reallocation of functions and 83 160 56 258 62 619 responsibilities

Communication plan amendments 106 145 146 264 203 864

Budgetary amendments 8802 18076 15091 18292 15467 75728

Changing on output and results indicators 13 357 205 291 86 952

New annexes 60 120 132 415 246 973

Total 10676 20278 16962 21453 17772 87141

Information and Management System (SIGEA)

The development and implementation of the information system (SIGEA) specifically designed for the Programme has reached a stable version, the main activities related with this tool were focalized on its maintenance as well as on some improvements related to the need to provide updated data and information. The production of the monthly dashboard improved.

Programme events hosted in 2014

Monitoring Committees meetings

In 2014 one Monitoring Committee meeting was organised under the Spanish presidency, The PMC was held on the 23rd October in Madrid, chaired by María del Carmen Hernández Martín, from Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas.

The MA presented the Programme implementation and follow-up, detailing the following topics: progress against N+2 target 2014 and perspectives for 2015; implementation rate; update on overbooking of programme funds and released funds by projects; update on project closures in 2014 and 2015; programme closure implementation. All delegations congratulated the MA and JTS for the results obtained regarding the perspective of meeting the 2014 N+2 commitment target.

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In relation to the overbooking, the MA informed that monitoring is based on a projection for funds released made in 2013, (15 projects already closed released around 5% of the initial funds allocated; 28 projects were to close soon) then a new projection for 2015 will be made in order to anticipate possible problems.

All MS agreed on the importance to simplify administrative procedures for projects modifications and submission of reports in the next period, to avoid delays in reports submissions and decrease sharply the number of modifications. This is a crucial point to address when drafting the new programme procedures.

Regarding the current Programme, the MA proposed to send a chronogram as well as a strategy for the closure by end of November.

The Audit Authority did a summary presentation of 2014 projects audits, The responsible for the strategic guidance of the AA in Portugal, highlighted the AA commitment with this Programme, to which they assign a very high priority, He addressed the most recent orientations from the EC, which can have direct impact on this programme, namely, a significant evolution on the sampling technics and also the need to stabilise a closure schedule for the current programme, Besides, the AA should focus more on the programme’s current accounts in the future, as well as on the performance audit, it will be given more relevance to the quality of information and performance indicators of information systems.

The Executive Director of the AA, presented the progress of the strategy adopted for audits in 2014,

For 2015, the sampling methodology will be adjusted taking into account the EC requirement of a greater randomness in the sample selection. For the next programming period it will be very important to complete the follow ups and have a feasible closure schedule. March 2017 is the deadline date to submit the closure declaration and there will be an overlap with the launch of the next programme. In the next programme the year of reference will be different (from June to July of the next year), the annual report will be presented in February, and consequently a better planning will be necessary.

Regarding the closure strategy of the Programme, the AA already started that work this year by organising a seminar to sensitise national authorities. Besides, bilateral meeting are foreseen for the beginning of 2015 with JTS and MA to deal with the necessary issues to develop this closure strategy. Following discussion between all MS and MA on the subject, it was agreed that the MA will deliver a proposal for the closure process strategy with all main steps and a schedule by the end November.

The Technical assistance budget was presented by MA – discussion TA budget balance at the end of 2013 (Annex II).

The MA presented the 2014 budget for validation of the PMC. It had circulated in July 2014 to get PMC approval, however not all MS delegations send their opinion and it was necessary to bring it to approval.

The MA agreed that the adaptation of the budget could be done earlier in the year, however annual budgets were already adopted in the multiannual framework and this was merely the validation of the required adjustments, in line with the annual work programme. The PMC validated the 2014 budget.

Following discussion it was decided that the MA will prepare a provisional balance of the 2014 budget consumption and a provisional 2015 budget by the end of November 2014, taking into account the available funds (including the interests), subsequently MS will decide on how many months to take into

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account for the 2015 budget based on the 2007-2013 budget, taking into account a target for the new Programme to start in 2nd semester of 2015.

The MA presented the Programme annual event under Spanish Presidency, The MA recalled that the event was jointly organised by the Junta de Andalusia and MA/JTS. Following presentation of the draft programme and discussion, MS suggested to revise the programme in order to make it lighter and more turned to the exchange of experiences towards future preparation.

The Programme budget contribution of €12,000 for the organisation of the event and €5000 for travel and accommodation of a limited number of speakers was approved. The Junta de Andalusia will cover the remaining expenses.

The JTS and MA presented the draft 2014-2020 OP to the Committee and general implementations perspectives.

Regarding the Programme signing off, ES, FR and IE informed that the letter of commitment was signed. UK confirmed that once the governance and management issues were addressed satisfactorily, the UK government could start their consultation on the OP; potentially this could be completed by the end of November However, the UK had to be confident about signing off the CP and this was dependant on addressing satisfactorily those issues which had been raised by the UK in writing until such time the UK would be unable to submit this to Ministers.

In a bid to try to facilitate meeting an updated deadline of 30st November for OP sign off, the UK offered the MA a meeting in London on 31st October to work through the outstanding issues and assist them with drafting a complete and concise work plan aimed at facilitating more effective governance and management arrangements for the new programme. This should include a timetable for development and a clear idea of the relationship between all elements of the management and governance process, i.e who is doing what, how and by when. Members of the JTS had insisted that their voices be heard on implementation issues and the UK suggested that a JTS representation should be considered at this meeting.

This approach was welcomed by other MS, particularly France and Ireland who were content for the UK to help the MA to address the outstanding issues around governance and management, however, France wanted to make sure that any proposals on the new governance and management arrangements is circulated for review by other MS before they are formally adopted for the new programme. The UK assured the PMC that the offer to work with the MA was meant to be pragmatic and a means of moving things forward – the UK was fully aware that France and other Member States had also demanded improvements and it was therefore imperative that anything emerging from these discussions would be fed back to the other Member States. UK also asked on the timetable for developing the necessary eligibility rules and processes for the new programme, i.e., when would the 2 stage application process be developed, reviewed and signed off including the new audit and control processes, etc.

PMC Agenda and minutes can be found in Annex III.

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Synthesis of the development of National Correspondents main tasks

FRANCE

In France, pursuant to the circular of the Deputy Minister for Town and Country Planning of 10 November 2006 and of the Circular of the Prime Minister of 13 April 2007, the Prefect of the Region Pays de La Loire has been nominated coordinator of the Atlantic Area Transnational Cooperation Programme. And on the 22 October 2008 the Inter-ministerial Delegate for regional planning and competitiveness of territories, confirmed to the Prefect of the Pays de la Loire Region that the duty of French National Authority was entrusted to him for the 2007-2013 programming period.

In accordance with his nomination as French National Authority and to meet France’s commitments within the Programme itself (29 May 2007), and also in the written agreement sealed between the 5 Member States and the Management, Certification and Audit Authorities (21 July 2007), the Prefect of the Pays de la Loire Region has entrusted his General Secretariat for Regional Affairs (SGAR des Pays de la Loire) with the duties of National Correspondent.

Pursuant to European regulations and the above national instructions, the French National Correspondent:

Organises the representation of France and sits on the Programme Monitoring Committee;

Contributes to the promotion and to the Programme communication strategy;

Stimulates the French partnership, particularly by assisting projects lead-partners and partners on the French territory;

Supervises the administration processes carried out in France;

Sets the French system for the management and control of the Programme and checks its correct operations, particularly by implementing the control of the service provided (under article 16 of EC regulation 1080/2006 of 5 July 2006) and also the coordination with the representative of France in the Programme’s Group of Auditors (under article 14 EC regulation 1080/2006 of 5 July 2006 and article 62 of EC regulation 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006);

Controls the payment of ERDF funds to French beneficiaries;

In addition, under the Programme and the agreement mentioned above, the French National Correspondent:

Provides the MA and the JTS with any relevant information regarding specifically French issues such as laws, regulations, national policies,…);

Collaborates with the JTS to the selection process of operations by providing them with any relevant information;

Provides the Programme Management, Certification and Audit authorities with all the information they may need to perform their duties.

In the perspective of the 2014-2020 programming, French NC participates in the preparatory works of the Atlantic Area Operational Programme of Territorial Cooperation for 2014-2020.

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One official from the SGAR Pays de la Loire is specifically entrusted the duty of Programme National Correspondent. Another is a member of the structural funds control team under the operational authority of the Controls Coordination Inter-ministerial Commission (CICC), the French higher administrative body for audits and controls falling under article 62 of regulation 1083/2006, and sits on the Group of Auditors. Other officials of SGAR may be mobilised when necessary.

To date, France has participated, through Lead Partners or at least one partner in 66 of the 71 projects selected by Monitoring committees held from 2007 to 2014. Of these 66 projects, 15 are led by a French partner. A total of 149 French beneficiaries have received more than € 23.4 million from total ERDF € 99.9 million granted in the period.

France representation

Regarding the 2007-2013 Programme and as a result of the programme’s written agreement between MS, France has four seats in the Monitoring Committee. In 2014, France representation was provided by the French national correspondent as well as representatives of DATAR (then Commissariat Général à l’Egalité des Territoires - CGET) and Brittany Region.

In 2014, the major issue involving directly national representations was the preparation of the 2014-2020 programming period. In this context, the national correspondent gathered opinions of State and Regions departments, and ensured the smooth consultation phases of public and competent authorities on the environment, on French territory. With his French colleagues, he has supported national positions during the eight meetings of the Working Group held in Madrid or Porto, achieving on September 11, 2014, an agreement in principle on the document describing future programme axes, specific objectives and overall budget. Note that, although the principle of keeping CCDR-N as managing authority has been officially confirmed by the five member states on January 16, 2014, no consensus was reached later on future management, control and audit Programme specifications nor on the specific technical assistance budget. This lack of consensus has so far prevented the submission of the draft programme to the European Commission.

Meanwhile, a 2007-2013 Programme Monitoring Committee was held October 23, 2014 in Madrid. The Committee noted projects steady progress, avoiding the risk of funds release. Throughout the year, France recalled its partners the need to close the programme in the best conditions and thus to maintain until mid-2016 human and financial resources.

Furthermore, the French national correspondent participated and contributed to several seminars and meetings at national or local level, on European Territorial Cooperation:

CTE Programmes post 2014 indicators, performance framework and monitoring tools - 27 February 2014 (DATAR);

CTE projects selection process optimisation - 27 may 2014 (DATAR);

Prevention and anti-fraud – 19 June 2014 (DATAR);

Coordination between the State and Atlantic regions – 11 December 2014 (Paris);

CTE programmes national authorities provided by the State – 12 December 2014 (CGET).

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He also participated in the seminar organized by the Atlantic Area programme on December 16, 2014, in Seville, in which were presented to the public, transitional perspectives between the two programming periods.

Programme promotion and communication strategy

In 2014, Atlantic Area Programme was publicly introduced during the launching seminar of European programmes (2014-2020) in France, on November 14, 2014, in Montpellier.

In addition, the SITE project (smart ticketing and interoperability of transport organisers of the Atlantic Area), led by Nantes Métropole has been identified as potentially interesting for media. It has therefore been the subject of a specific work development at the national level by the firm in charge of communication on European programmes in Pays de la Loire.

French partnership animation and projects monitoring

As mentioned above, France now participates with 15 Lead Partners or at least one partner in 66 projects; there are a total of 149 French programme beneficiaries. The vast majority of these lead partners and partners was in contact with the national correspondent in 2014. These contacts took place during the following phases: contractualisation, controller selection, annual reports and expenditures declarations, controls, meetings and seminars, closing…

An estimation based on an analysis of about twenty partners, shows that each exchange, by email, on average, ten times a year with the French national correspondent. Taking into account that 138 of the 149 French beneficiaries were active in 2014, it can be inferred that about 1400 exchanges took place. Note that during that year, 53 French partners have completed their actions within the project they were involved. However, they remain subject to obligations of control and archiving, then they needed contacts with the national correspondent.

Supervision of the instruction of the dossiers performed in France

The last programming meeting took place in 2013. No application was examined therefore in 2014.

Programme management and control

In France the overall duties of control of service provided concerning the actions of beneficiaries of the Programme under article 16 of regulation 1080/2006, falls under the responsibility of the Prefect of the Pays de la Loire Region. The system is based on a first control implemented by an external auditor recruited by the French beneficiary according to a very specific procedure, as well as on quality controls of the work performed by each of the auditors. Every declaration of expenditure leads to a certification of the supervision prepared by the National Correspondent.

Since 1 January 2013, the recruitment of controllers for each project is directly supervised by the French National Correspondent.

In 2014, ten first level controllers were validated for French partners (projects extensions programmed by the end of 2013), or following controller changes asked by French beneficiaries.

In 2014, the French National correspondents directly made 75 declaration of expenditure supervisions and produced the corresponding certificates. The majority of detected errors arise from the reluctance of

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some partners in implementing error corrections detected by their 1st level controller. All errors have been corrected.

On March 12, 2014, the FV Consultants firm was hired by the French National Authority to perform 30 tests on the quality of expenditure declarations made by French programme beneficiaries.

Ten of these controls have already affected closing projects or recently closed. The errors found were mostly linked to human resource cost calculations and were automatically corrected. Moreover, some shortcomings were noted for setting mandatory competition from the first euro even in the absence of specific public procurement procedures; in this case, the financial correction rules set by the European Commission in its decision of 19 December 2013 have been applied. All errors and their corrections were reported to the managing authority.

Another ten controls involved starting projects. Errors detected, very minor, were immediately corrected when they lead to unjustified ERDF payments, or communicated to the beneficiaries and their first level controller, to be clarified in the framework of the following project declaration of expenditures.

Finally, concerning the audit and control tasks within the Programme audit authority (Reg. 1080/2006 Article 14 and Reg. 1083/2006 Article 62), the national correspondent has been informed with regular communications through colleagues sitting in the group of auditors. In 2015, it is foreseen that approximately 180 expenses declarations will be supervised by the National Correspondent. Moreover, the last 10 quality controls of FVC firm will be performed during the first quarter. For information, despite the desire of the Programme authorities, to close it by the end of 2015, it is very likely that the ultimate supervision and monitoring tasks will be conducted by the National correspondent by the first quarter of 2016.

Payment of ERDF to French beneficiaries

The French National Correspondent ensures that ERDF funds are paid to French beneficiaries, mainly on the occasion of a new expenditure claim. In fact, the standard report for the control of the service performed at the 1st level requires that the controller specifies ERDF payments received. This activity will continue in 2015.

Moreover, at the beginning of each month, an accounting statement is forwarded by the National correspondent to the Managing authority. This statement specifies planned and realized expenditure amounts for each French beneficiary and the ERDF paid.

This activity will continue in 2015 and up to the end of the Programme.

Supply to the Managing Authority and the Joint Technical Secretariat, any useful information resulting from considerations specifically French

This work information and French political communication is done on a daily basis.

This work will continue in 2015.

Support to Managing, Certification and Audit Authorities

The French NC kept himself available for Managing, Certification and Audit Authorities.

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In addition, as every year the French representative in the Group of Auditors has been required to provide her comments and approve draft and final reports on the control of operations carried out in France by the Auren/Apexco firm. In 2014, the SITE project was the subject of an audit on expenses declared in 2013 by the Lead Partner Nantes Métropole and the SEN TAN, a project partner. The very minor errors detected had no financial impact.

This work will continue until the end of the Programme.

IRELAND

Promotion and Dissemination of the Programme

Throughout 2014 the Irish National Correspondent promoted the programme at various events. With the preparation of the 2014-2020 Programme in progress during 2014 the Irish NC organised and participated in a number of high level events during the year. These were:

 Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020 Consultation event, Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon. The National Correspondent organised a Consultation event on the proposed Co-Operation Programme at the Head Quarters of the BMW Regional Assembly on May 20th2014. The event was attended by over 30 organisations throughout the region whose views and comments on the orientation of the new programme were heard and fed into the overall Programme Consultation process.

 Cross Border Environmental Conference, Dundalk, County Louth. The National Correspondent participated in a major EU Cross Border Environmental Conference held in Dundalk on October 8th 2014 to represent the Atlantic Area programme and also to promote the opportunities available for Irish organisations interested in developing projects under the Eco-Innovation/ Green Growth and Risk thematics as part of the 2014-2020 Programme. The event was attended by Local Authorities, State agencies, higher education institutes and representatives from the community and voluntary sector.

 East Border Region Interreg Workshop, Armagh. Together with the Special EU Programmes Body the BMW Regional Assembly participated in a workshop aimed at Local Authorities in the East Border Region of Ireland. The National Correspondent presented on the Atlantic Area Programme and outlined the many opportunities which will be emerging for Local Authorities across all four priorities of the programme. The event was held in Armagh, Northern Ireland on November 19th 2014 and was attended by over 40 Local Authority Officials.

 Joint Assembly Conference, Ferrycarrig, Wexford. Together with the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly, the BMW Regional Assembly organised a one day conference on EU Funding Opportunities in Wexford on November 28th 2014. The Conference brought together over 200 delegates from Higher Education Institutes, the Public sector, the community sector as well as private sector representative groups. The event presented Cross Border and Transnational ETC Programmes relevant to Ireland as well as the Interreg EUROPE Programme 2014-2020. As part of the Transnational Programmes presentation, the Atlantic Area 2014-2020 Programme was featured along with the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme and the North West Europe Programme. The feedback from the event was very positive with much interest generated in the Atlantic Area programme.

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 Atlantic Area Annual Event, Seville, Spain. The BMW Regional Assembly was represented at the Annual event in Seville, Spain on December 16th 2014. Assembly Director and PMC Member, Gerry Finn participated as a panel speaker as part of the Conference Programme addressing the challenges and opportunities facing the 2014-2020 Atlantic Area Programme. The event was attended by over 150 delegates.

Interaction and assistance with project partners on project related issues

Throughout 2014 the National Correspondent assisted on a day to day basis many Irish project partners with technical issues related to project implementation, progress reporting, financial planning and project preparation. Meetings were facilitated by the National Correspondent and technical guidance was provided. Meetings were organised with the following projects in 2014:

 Marnet - presentation on Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020 delivered to the Fifth Annual Beaufort Symposium event in Galway. (Event facilitated by NUI Galway, October 21st 2014)

 Atlanticbluetech - meetings with Irish partners WESTBIC and NUI Galway on January 8th, February 4th and December 18th 2014 to attend the project launch, to discuss project management matters and project planning for 2014-2020 period.

 AT BRAND - Meeting with Dublin City Council on February 3rd to discuss financial management matters. Irish FLC also in attendance. Project Launch also attended by the NC on February 12th in Dublin.

 CINEW – the NC attended the kick off meeting of the project in Claremorris, Co. Mayo on February 14th 2014

In addition to the above project meetings attended, the NC also met with other State Bodies, Local Authorities and Consultants to discuss the new Co-Operation Programme. These agencies included Donegal Co. Council, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Failte Ireland, Irish Sports Council, ERNACT and Mayo County Council.

Correspondence with JTS and Managing Authority on technical programme issues

Throughout 2014 the National Correspondent interacted regularly with the Desk Officers at the Joint Technical Secretariat and with officials within the Programme Managing Authority. The contacts related largely to technical project management issues such as payment delays, project modifications, requests for Programme representation at project events etc. At all times the level of engagement and cooperation was excellent and the JTS offered solutions to all challenges and problems faced. Throughout 2014 there was also constructive engagement with the Managing Authority officials on broader Programme related matters such as technical assistance, new programme planning and content development. Again all engagement was very positive and resolutions were found to all challenges which presented in 2014.

Participation in the Working Group for the preparation of the Operational Programme for 2014-2020

The National Correspondent participated in many of the Programme Planning meetings held throughout 2014. These were:

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January 15th & 16th 2014 - Working Group meeting, Madrid

February 20th & 21st 2014 - Working Group meeting, Madrid

March 24th & 25th 2014 - Working Group meeting, Porto

May 15th 2014 - Working Group Meeting, Porto

July 9th & 10th – Working Group meeting, Porto

In addition to attending the above working group meetings the NC also contributed to drafts of the Co- operation document putting forward proposed descriptions of the thematic priorities as well as proposing new actions and potential activities which could be supported by the programme.

PORTUGAL

In 2014 the actions and activities of the Portuguese National Coordination, i.e. the Cohesion and Development Agency were the following:

Progress achieved in the implementation of the Programme:

 Updating the National Correspondent Information System;

 Validation and authorization of 13 auditors of the first level control;

 Validation of 74 payment requests previously validated by the auditors.

Promotion and dissemination of the Programme

 Dissemination of the activities of EA Programme and projects, through the website of Cohesion and Development Agency;

Interaction with project partners on project related issues

 One training seminar was held in Porto on the 21 May with the purpose to raise awareness on the eligibility of expenditures, on public procurement procedures, to clarify other potential doubts that beneficiaries and auditors may had and to avoid most common errors;

 Providing information, by email and telephone, concerning: Programme procedures, expenditure eligibility, low level of execution, public procurement rules and principles and compliance with internal procedures of the first level control;

 Several meetings with partners;

Correspondence/Interaction with JTS and Managing Authority on technical programme issues

 Active participation on written consultations concerning amendment on projects;

 Sharing issues of other audit programmes results as best practices;

Information provided to PMC

 Several contributions such as: project modifications and revision of financing decisions.

Preparation of the new programme

 Active participation on eight meetings.

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Quality control of auditors work

 24 quality controls were performed.

SPAIN

Promotion and dissemination of the programme

Atlantic Area annual event 2014

Under the Spanish Presidency, the Regional government of Andalucía hosted the Programme annual event "Learning today, improving tomorrow: towards Atlantic 2020".

The conference focused on 2007-2013 developments, main actions and figures, and on future perspectives for 2014-2020.

Programme representatives from Spain, Portugal, France, United Kingdom and Ireland talked about their strategic vision for Atlantic regions in the 2020 horizon. In addition, Atlantic Area stakeholders had the opportunity of sharing best practices and capitalise results in Innovation and Competitiveness and Territorial Management matters.

During 2014, the General Directorate for European Funds from the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations as National Correspondent of the Atlantic Area Programme developed the following activities:

 Dissemination of the work and progress of the Programme in the framework of the Economic Forum held in Calatayud, November 6-7, 2014.

 Dissemination of the work and progress of the Programme in the framework of the Economic Forum held in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, July 10-11, 2014.

 Dissemination of the work and progress of the Programme in the framework of the Economic Forum held in Mérida, March 6-7, 2014.

During 2014, the Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and Navarra also contributed to the promotion and dissemination of the Programme. Their websites have become a privileged tool to disseminate information about European Programmes, including the AA Programme:

 Regional Government of Andalucía: www.juntadeandalucia.es/economiainnovacionyciencia/fondoseuropeosenandalucia/

 Regional Government of Asturias: www.asturias.es/portal/site/webasturias/menuitem.f6d8fb00dc819a6bd9db8433f2300030/?vg nextoid=6b8444faf08ad210VgnVCM1000002f030003RCRD&vgnextchannel=dad56fc85c97d210 VgnVCM1000002f030003RCRD&i18n.http.lang=es

 Regional Government of Cantabria: www.cantabria.es/web/direccion-general-economia

 Regional Government of Galicia: www.conselleriadefacenda.es/web/portal/presentacion-publi- e-info

 Regional Government of Navarra:

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www.navarra.es/home_es/Gobierno+de+Navarra/Organigrama/Los+departamentos/Economia +y+Hacienda/Organigrama/El+departamento/Internacionalizacion/Europa/Fondos+estructurale s+Navarra/

Interaction and assistance with project partners

The Spanish National Correspondents (NCs) and the Regional Governments participating in the Programme provided assistance to project partners and beneficiaries mainly through telephone calls and emails. In providing the above mentioned support the most frequent questions or issues dealt with are related to: a) First Level Control (FLC) (manuals, contract templates, templates for terms of reference for procuring a first level controller); b)eligibility of expenditures (human resources, equipment costs, overheads expenses, etc). Support was also given to potential partners.

Correspondence/Interaction with JTS and Managing Authority on technical programme issues

The Spanish NCs liaised closely with both the MA and the JTS on Programme. The level of coordination with JTS and the MA was good. The problems raised were solved quickly and good solutions were found.

National Correspondents´activities

The Spanish NCs provided comments and exchanged views on a number of key issues on the OP implementation and follow -up: governance and management issues, decommitment issues, technical Assistance budget, implementation of the Project Extension Facility and the IV call for projects, audits, etc.

Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) activities

Meetings

In 2014, one Monitoring Committee meeting was organised under the Spanish Presidency. The PMC was held on 23rd October in Madrid, chaired by Mª del Carmen Hernández Martín, Senior Adviser from General Directorate for European Funds of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations.

Written procedures-projects

As member of the PMC, Spain participated in 50 written consultations related to amendments requested by the Lead Beneficiary or by the JTS/MA to amend approved projects.

Written procedures-programmes

As member of the PMC, Spain contributed to the elaboration of the Annual Report 2013.

2014-2020 Working Group´s activities

This Working Group was created to prepare the 2014-2020 Operational Programme. The Working Group is made up of representatives of each of the 5 partner countries along with advisers from the EC and the Managing Authority.

Meetings:

As member of the 2014-2020 Working Group, Spain participated in the following meetings:

16.01.2014, Madrid; 20-21.02.2014, Madrid; 25.03.2014, Porto; 15.05.2014, Porto; 26.06.2014, Porto

10/11.07.2014, Porto; 27.08.2014, Porto; 11.09.2014, Porto.

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As member of the 2014-2020 Working Group, Spain participated in the discussions on the Atlantic Area Operational Programme 2014-2020. In September, Spain agreed to the contents of the draft Atlantic Area Operational Programme 2014-2020 (Draft version 9 September 2014) and committed to provide co- financing for the implementation of the Operational Programme Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020, according to Article 8(9) of the Regulation (EC) No. 1299/2013 (ETC Regulation).

Approval and guidance to external controllers on projects first level control

Spain enjoys a decentralized first level control (FLC) system. The General Directorate for European Funds of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations is the lead organization for the First Level Control arrangements for all project partners in Spain. An internal or external controller is proposed by the project partner. The General Directorate is responsible for the checking of the FLC applications and the issuing of the respective approbation letters. The General Directorate provides FLC with ad-hoc help desk and written guidance. The average response time: ten working days.

The General Directorate team provided support to FLC and project beneficiaries mainly through telephone and emails.

Quality control of the work of controllers and statements of expenditure

The General Directorate for European Funds of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration is also responsible for the validation of every expenditure report issued by a FLC. In 2014, the General Directorate carried out seven check controls to Atlantic Area project beneficiaries. The General Directorate team provided support to FLC and project beneficiaries mainly through telephone and emails. In case of doubt, we ask for clarifications and/or additional information. The average response time: ten working days.

UNITED KINGDOM

The Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) within the Welsh Government is the UK National Correspondent (UK NC), responsible for contributing to promotion of the Atlantic Area Programme in the UK and its Communication Strategy as defined in the Operational Programme. The UK Contact Point (UK CP) retired at the end of 2013 and with funding fully committed, the focus turned to the future and keeping beneficiaries informed on development of a successor 2014-2020 programme, promoting and publicising the Atlantic Area as well as assistance on post-approval issues and liaison with the MA and JTS in Porto. WEFO absorbed this role through provision of an interim CP function on behalf of the UK Government. Throughout 2014 there have been 4 formal publicity events / workshops in the UK. Overall the events have attracted a total audience of over 140 representatives from organisations in the eligible programme area.

Promotion and Dissemination of the Programme

The UK has promoted the programme across the eligible UK area to a wide range of stakeholders including local and regional authorities, higher and further education institutions, the voluntary sector and other public and private sector organisations. During 2014, the UK NC and interim UK CP have assisted potential applicants in promoting the programme through presentations, panel question and answer sessions and in delivering key advice on project development techniques.

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Examples of these include the ‘INTERREG Cross programme event’ (Abergavenny, Wales) and the ’EU Insight’ Familiarisation Programme (Brussels), both held in May, as well as the Wales European Officer Group (WEOG) (Builth Wells, Wales) in June. At the TESLA event (Bangor, Wales) in October, the interim CP presented and provided updates, advice and guidance to stakeholders and the Scottish Information Day on LIFE and EU funding for the environment took place in November..

Within Scotland, publicity of the Atlantic Area programme has been delivered in conjunction with wider promotion of the INTERREG family of programmes, undertaken by the primary stakeholder agency, Scotland Europa. Events in 2014 have focussed on themes across a number of EU programmes to encourage greater thinking on synergy opportunities between funds, legacy learning, and future cross- policy working. Examples of these are the ‘EU Insight’ Familiarisation Programme – a 2-day programme open to Scottish stakeholders seeking to develop their understanding of the EU institutions, process, policies and funding programmes (c. 30 attendees) and in November, a Scottish Information Day on LIFE and EU funding for the environment, focussing on the 2014-2020 programme period. The event was organised on behalf of the Scottish LIFE Focus Group, which also brings together the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, with the view to coordinate support for Scottish organisations keen to explore routes to EU funding for environment projects. The event covered: the LIFE programme for environment and climate action; Horizon 2020; European Structural and Investment Funds in Scotland, and Territorial Cooperation (Interreg) (c. 60 attendees).

Scotland Europa, with the Scottish Government and our EU regional agencies, has completed the first phase of development of the Scottish EU Funding Portal www.funding-portal.eu. To be formally launched in April 2015, this platform provides information and contacts on all EU funded projects from the 2007- 13 programme period involving Scottish partners – to include the 16 projects under Atlantic Area. Functions will include an opportunity for users to search by theme, programme and sector to identify projects of interest. Future case studies on completed projects and links to the Scottish partner and project website will enable greater access to project results and maximise the opportunity for shared learning and benefit. The Portal will be an important and powerful tool for engaging with and imparting knowledge to all stakeholders on the benefits of EU territorial cooperation over the previous programme period.

Themed events held in 2014, and relevant to the new Atlantic Area 2014-2020 programme, include Innovation, Blue Growth, and the Environment. As the INTERREG cooperation programmes move to approval, Scotland Europa intend to hold information days for our stakeholders focussed primarily, but not exclusively, on INTERREG programmes, again to promote better coordination of EU funding streams to maximise benefit and impact.

The Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) is responsible for the transnational programmes within Northern Ireland, one of which is the Atlantic Area Programme. DFP has aimed to increase Northern Ireland participation in the Atlantic Area Programme by focusing on publicising the funding available and facilitating project development. This has included: working with the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB, a cross border body established under the 1998 Agreement) to develop North/South partnerships; disseminating advice and guidance to prospective local applicants; organising events to promote the programme and encourage and facilitate applications.

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Two Newsletters were distributed by SEUPB in 2014 updating individuals and organisations within Northern Ireland on the development of the new programme. A quarterly SEUPB magazine ‘Your EU’ was issued throughout 2014 and contained information on the INTERREG VB/C Programmes (including the Atlantic Area Programme) and was disseminated to over 3000 stakeholders across NI and Europe. The Summer 2014 edition of ‘YourEU’ showcased the Atlantic Area funded REPUTE – Renewable Energy in Public Transport Enterprise - Project. Up to date information on the Atlantic Area Programme is available from the SEUPB website. The SEUPB continued to publicise the programme during 2014 and to assist in project development with organisations from the region ahead of the new programme, presentations were made to local authorities, colleges/universities and private sector organizations at workshops, events and meetings in 2014. ‘YourEU’ - REPUTE Project feature - http://www.seupb.eu/Libraries/Your EU Archive/Your EU Autumn2014.sflb.ashx

The UK NC actively promotes the Atlantic Area programme through a devoted section of the WEFO website (http://wefo.wales.gov.uk/programmes/transnational/atlanticarea/?lang=en). This webpage is the primary resource in promotion of the Atlantic Area programme throughout the UK. The designated page consists of regular updates of programme issues, event information, and presentation downloads. It also includes programme and applicant guidance, maps, a regularly updated database of approved projects with UK participation, contact details, a project development ideas section and key links to the programme website and documents. The Atlantic Area programme is also regularly publicised on Twitter (@wefowales / @wefocymru).

In Scotland the Atlantic Area Programme has been promoted by Scottish Government and Scotland Europa, its key support partner for territorial cooperation programmes. Scotland Europa initiatives to disseminate information on the Atlantic Area in 2014 include information events and workshops, networking and partner search opportunities, and liaison with the UK contact point.

During 2014, the interim UK Contact Point has pro-actively engaged with over 500 organisations across the eligible area of the UK, through events, workshops and email/phone communication. This includes numerous individual project development meetings (supported where applicable by the NC) with public, private and third sector organisations across the eligible UK area. At these meetings the UK NC/CP provided direct advice, support and guidance at key stages to potential applicants on a range of Programme processes and project issues to assist the development of applications.

Interim UK CP attended/presented at 3 events in 2014:

 21st May 2014– ETC event where approx. 60 people promoted Atlantic and ETC programmes to potential partners, Q & A session (Abergavenny, Wales).

 25th June 2014 - Wales European Officer Group (WEOG) – to 30 Local Authority representatives including Q & A.

 29th Oct 2014 - TESLA event covering Atlantic and other transnational programmes (including Q & A) to approx. 20 people (Bangor, Wales)

Project development assistance to promoters

At the Scottish level, one significant technical issue was the change of a lead partner of a final call application; although initial communications from the JTS could have been better coordinated, the situation was satisfactorily resolved with another UK organisation agreeing to take the lead.

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The integral role of the interim UK CP is to provide project development support for all UK partners, a function which is overseen by the NC. The interim UK CP has responsibilities to provide a first point of contact for all applicants to assist with project development queries as well as co-ordinating events and workshops. Support to applicants is provided throughout the development process and includes aftercare functions in the event that projects are approved.

Interaction with project partners on project related issues

Throughout 2014 the interim UK CP has been the first point of contact for all the UK project partners advising on a raft of management issues including; claims procedures, modifications, procurement, eligibility, proof of payment, e-archiving, in-kind contributions and website access problems.

The UK NC and interim CP have acted as the channel for enquiries from UK partners regarding specific project issues such as claims process queries and eligibility / project management issues, some of which have involved face to face meetings with the partners in question.

Correspondence/Interaction with JTS and Managing Authority on technical Programme issues

Throughout 2014, the UK NC has provided views on a number of key Programme developmental issues including; collation of 2013/2014 AIR data, project modifications, decommitment issues, indicator evaluations, extension and Technical Assistance budgets. The UK NC and CP have also provided advice on numerous issues that fall within national remits, specifically:

 Projects including a number of recommendations as to improvements to the reporting format.

 Liaising with the JTS in respect of procedures.

 Providing advice and guidance to the JTS on range of issues including translation, geographical information and legal status of organisations.

First Level Control – UK (except Northern Ireland)

Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are the organisation responsible for First Level Control (FLC) arrangements for all project partners in the UK. DCLG manages the FLC procedure including the checking and approving of completed FLC application forms and issuing of approbation letters to each UK project partner. Activities over the 2014 AIR period have included the following:

Guidance to project partners

During 2014 there were many queries from project partners regarding the use of an on-line platform for claims. To address these issues a training workshop was organised in June jointly by DCLG and the JS in London which was well attended. As many projects are now reaching their final claim, increased focus has continued to ensure that on the spot verifications were carried out by the FLCs and reported in the claims execution report properly.

Approval of First Level Controllers in 2014

During the year DCLG approved 19 First Level Controllers for project partners. There was a mixture of internal and external appointments, most were existing experienced FLCs.

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Quality Assurance of claims of UK Partners

Quality assurance checks were carried out on 69 claims submitted by project partners on the Atlantic Area Programme on-line platform. A number of claims were delayed as some project partners were not providing sufficient supporting documentation to allow assessment of the eligibility of expenditure and compliance with programme and national rules. One second level audit took place but the finalisation of the report took an unusually long time as compared to other programmes. This prolonged engagement (April to December) puts considerable time pressure commitments on the auditee. The outcome of the audit was satisfactory.

First Level Control - Northern Ireland

SEUPB is responsible for the First Level of Control for the 16 Northern Ireland partners currently involved in Atlantic Area projects. During 2014, SEUPB continued to work with approved projects to give guidance on the claims and verification process.

Participation in the Working Group for the preparation of the Operational Programme for 2014-2020

The UK continued its active engagement in the 2014-2020 Atlantic Area Working Group during 2014 with representation from the Department for Communities and Local Government at the national level and from the Welsh and Scottish Governments. The UK ETC Board received regular progress reports on development of the 2014-2020 programme

Stakeholder engagement and consultation was promoted across the UK Government policy input to the development of the new programme and review of the SEA was sought through contact between the OP drafters and respective policy departments.

In Wales WEFO’s European Territorial Co-operation Workstream was kept informed of progress and updates were provided via the ETC pages of WEFO’s web-site.

In Scotland, engagement was coordinated through Scotland Europa, to ensure that national interests were fully recognised and feedback on proposals encouraged, to better inform the process during the development of the new programme. Marine Scotland also had input into the shaping of the Atlantic Area sea-basin strategy.

In Northern Ireland all stakeholders were circulated with all relevant information to allow them the opportunity to comment at all stages of the development of the Co-operation programme and also to comment on the CP strategy and the Strategic Environmental Analysis.

Synthesis of the activities developed by the Certifying Authority in 2014

Certification of Expenditure

In 2014 four requests of certification and declarations of expenditure and payment claims were made to the EC, involving a cumulative expense, in terms of total eligible expenditure of € 119.750.247,67, which corresponds to a public expenditure of € 112.294.342,58. The related ERDF reimbursement claims related to certified expenditure, amounted to € 18.568.704,23, from which €11.287.031,16 have been transferred by the EC in this year. The difference of € 7.281.673,07 is related with the the last certification of 2014 submitted to the EC on 15/12/2014 and to be reimbursed in 2015.

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In the table below are identified by axis, the cumulative amounts for 2014, as the cumulated amounts 2009-2014 certified to the EC, total expenditure and public expenditure as well as the corresponding ERDF reimbursements claims.

22. Global amounts certified and reimbursements claims

Support controls on expenditure Certification

In 2014, the certification of POCTEA expenditure control action was concluded with the issuance of the final report, it started in 2013.

That audit concluded that, in general, and despite the shortcomings detected, the procedures currently implemented by entities involved in the management process, over the selection of operations and validation of expenditure in respect of six projects checked, provide reasonable assurance as regards the legality and regularity of expenditure presented by the Managing Authority for certification purposes.

However, verifications carried out by audited operation final results, also produced a number of expenses, the total cost amounts to € 340,759.61 with a corresponding ERDF contribution of € 221,493.75, whose eligibility is subject to the presentation of additional elements by the Managing Authority. There is a total amount of proposed financial corrections, associated with the sample operations of € 3,925.87 in total cost with a corresponding ERDF contribution of € 2,551.82.

The amounts in question were not, as a precautionary measure, certificates to the European Commission until the situations mentioned in the final report are clarified.

Follow-up work on the recommendations of the Certification Authority in the above-identified report started.

Forecast of Payment claims

Pursuant to paragraph 3 of article 76. of Regulation (EC). 1083/2006 of 11 July and in accordance with subparagraph d), no. 1 of article 40. º Regulation (EC). No 1828/2006 of 8 December, April 29 2014, were submitted via SFC 2007 the forecasts of ERDF and cohesion fund payment claims for the year 2014 and 2015:

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23. Forecast of payment claims for 2014 and 2015

Furthermore it should be noted that in July 2014 the Director General of the EU budget questioned about possible adjustments to the forecast of ERDF and Cohesion Fund Payment Requests forwarded to the European Commission in April 2014. ADC informed that considering the ERDF amounts requested to EC until that date and the estimated values to ask until October and December, the forecasted values remained valid and was not considered justified its upgrade

Synthesis of the activities developed by Audit Authority in 2014

The Audit Strategy of the Atlantic Area Programme being stabilised and accepted by the European Commission since January 2009, it wasn’t changed. Therefore the 2014 audit in was fully implemented, the following actions were completed:

 The specific audit to the procedures of the Certifying Authority, which is carried out repeatedly during the programming period, when there is sufficient material for this (that is, expenditure certified in the previous calendar year);

 Audits of 5 operations by the Consortium of external auditors, focusing on a total of 10 beneficiaries located in different Member States participating in the Programme;

 Audits of 2 operations, directly carried out by the AA: Technical Assistance and operation REINFFORCE.

In line with the adopted strategy steps and bearing in mind the approach of the end of the 2007-2013 programming period, in 2014, special attention was given to the follow-up of the results of the audits performed in previous years, specifically those of 2013.

Concretely, procedures were implemented concerning the Managing and Certifying Authorities, specifically focusing on the collection of evidence on the measures adopted, in order to comply with the recommendations made in audits reports.

It shall be referred the modification introduced in the Description of the Management and Control Systems of the Certifying (and Paying Authority) (CA). The Financial Institute for Regional Development, IP (IFDR) was merged with two other structures related with funds management and an observatory as a result the Agency for Development and Cohesion IP (Agency) took over their assignments.

After the merger, the Description of the Management and Control Systems of the Agency was elaborated in accordance with the regulatory framework. Given the scope of the functions of the Agency, as well as the relevance of their intervention, across all ERDF, CF and ESF programmes, its evaluation was undertaken and the Audit Authority communicated its opinion to the European Commission, via SFC2007 on 19/May/2014. On 30/Jul/2014, the European Commission stated there were no comments or questions to clarify, according to the letter ARES (2014) 2529140.

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Indeed, based on the analysis performed, the Audit Authority concluded that the Description of the Management and Control Systems of the Agency does not include any significant change compared to systems that worked in the organisations that composed it, which were audited during the current programming period and remains valid.

There is a reasonable assurance that it is in compliance with the requirements of Articles 58 to 62 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 and Section 3 Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of the Commission.

In 2014 there were no changes in the description of the management and control systems of both Managing Authority and Audit Authority.

Systems Audits

Regarding Systems audits, following the forecast of the Audits Strategy timely communicated to the EC, the AA developed in 2014 an audit to Systems of the CA which took into consideration the evaluation of the risk regarding the available information, the audit paid special attention to the following aspects.

In the audit performed to the procedures of the CA which aimed at sustaining the contents of the annual control report and increase the level of assurance in the issue of the opinion. The Certifying Authority’s internal control procedures were audited, taking into account the requirements of Article 61. of Regulation (EC) n. 1083/2006 and Article 20. of Regulation (EC) n. 1828/2006.

Additionally, the follow-up of all recommendations previously made to the Managing and Certifying Authorities was done.

Nevertheless, and whenever it seemed necessary, additional steps were developed, including the request of information to the Managing Authority, or for the purpose of re-verification of the certification of expenditure process, or for the follow-up of the implementation of AA recommendations.

This audit report concludes that, in general terms, the procedures developed by the Certifying Authority under analysis, concern the Description of the Management and Control Systems sent to the European Commission in due course, although requiring some improvement, work reliably and safeguard the fulfilment of applicable requirements of Article 58 to 61. of Regulation (EC) n. 1083/2003 of the Council and Section 3 of Regulation (EC) n. 1828/2006 of the Commission.

Accordingly, it was concluded with reasonable assurance that the work performed by the Certifying Authority and the corresponding statements of expenditure submitted to the Commission during the 2014 financial year are reliable.

Audits of Operations

The Audit Authority followed, in 2014 the EC suggestion to follow the guidance note on sampling, revised in April/2013, the sampling methodology was revised accordingly.

Considering the Programme error rates and the structure of the operations, it was considered appropriate to stratify the population based on a cut-off of 4% of certified expenditure during the reference year (2013).

Thus, the upper stratum was with 6 projects (out of 50), representing 31% of certified expenditure (€10.597m / € 33.711m). Three of these six projects had already been audited in previous years, without any special risk situations detected. Two other projects had been initially selected to be audited in 2014

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whilst one project only (REINFFORCE) had not been audited nor selected for 2014. A further selection of this project was then made, and it was audited by the Audit Authority directly.

In the lower stratum, four projects were selected of a total of 44, representing about 11% of certified expenditure, with the exception of the Technical Assistance Project, which has specific characteristics, in all other cases the Lead Partner and one other partner were always audited.

Expenditures included in the documents that were subject to audit tests (expenses effectively audited) amounted to a total of € 2.950m where € 1.841m in the upper stratum and the other € 1.109m representing, respectively, 17% and 5 % of certified expenditure in each stratum, and accounts for 9% of total certified in the reference year in terms of aggregate expenditure effectively audited.

As a result of what is described above, the methodology reasonably responds to regulatory requirements, taking into account the structure of the programme.

Moreover, also in terms of representation there is a good coverage, since there are audits on all measures on sufficiently diversified natures of beneficiaries and covering all Member States.

The sample of audited operations is identified in the following table:

24. Sample for audit to operations

OPERATION LP/P BENEFICIARIES MS Departamento de Economia, Hacienda, Industria y LP ATLANTKIS Empleo, Gobierno de NAVARRA ES CTEA-01-0000-FEDER-000033 P Conselleria Innovacíon e Industria - Xunta de Galicia ES

LP Universidade do Algarve KIMERAA PT CTEA-01-0000-FEDER-000102 P Universidade do Porto PT

MAREN LP Cardiff University UK CTEA-02-0000-FEDER-000007

P National University of Ireland, Galway IE

SITE LP Nantes Métropole Communauté Urbaine FR CTEA-03-0000-FEDER-000170 Société d'économie mixte des transports de P l'agglomération nantaise FR

LP Diputación Foral de Álava ECOSALATLANTKIS ES CTEA-04-0000-FEDER-000140 P Universidade de Aveiro PT

LP Institut Européen de la Fôret Cultivée REINFFORCE FR CTEA-02-0000-FEDER-000005 P Instituto Superior de Agronomia PT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MA Managing Authority (CCDR Norte) PT CTEA-05-0000-FEDER-000001

TOTAL - 7 operations

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An amount of € 7000 of ineligible expenditure was identified in 6 of the 13 bodies audited (in 4 of the 7 projects), the error rate reached 0.24% of the expenditure audited.

After the errors analysis, the AA concluded that they assumed a random nature. Accordingly the error rate does not have a significant expression.

The CA was informed and proceeded to the deduction of this amount on the last certification expenditure of 2014.

On the other hand, considering the non-eligible amounts on each operation, there are no irregularities to communicate to OLAF in accordance with art. 28 of Commission Reg. (EC) n.º 1828/2006.

Annual examination conclusions

Based on the examination referred to above the Audit Authority concluded that for the period concerned, the management and control systems established for the Atlantic Area Transnational Cooperation Operational Programme complied with the applicable requirements of Articles 58 to 62 of Council Regulation (EC) n.o 1083/2006 and Section 3 of Commission Regulation (EC) n.o 1828/2006 and functioned effectively so as to provide reasonable assurance that the transactions are legal and regular.

Exceptions are internal control procedures by entities involved in the management and certification of expenditure. As a result of audits to their management and control systems and operations was acknowledged that are needed some improvements, so that recommendations were made in order to be implemented by audited entities.

Nevertheless, the Audit Authority considered that the deficiencies identified moderately affect the essential requirements of the functioning of management and control systems and it should be classified in Category 2, as provided for in the EC Guidance Note on a common methodology for the evaluation of systems management and control in the Member States (document COCOF 08/0019/00)

3. Implementation by priority

3.1 Priority 1

3.1.1. Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress

 Information on the physical and financial progress of the priority

The next table and graphics provides a summary of the number of projects and ERDF approved during the 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 calls, for priority 1 as well as the distribution of funding by the corresponding operational objectives. Within the priority 1, 28 projects were approved, with a total ERDF of 32.4 million euros.

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25. Projects approved on priority 1

Call Projects ERDF (€) 2008 8 11202971.96 2009 11 12329285.01 2011 6 6572077.42 2013 3 2289349.26 Total 28 32393683.65

Projects per objective – Priority 1 ERDF (M€) approved per objective – Priority 1

The following graphic represents, for priority 1, the frequency distribution of output indicator performances. Implementation performances are measured, for each indicator, by the percentage of achievement in relation to corresponding targets.

26. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 1

27 28

7 3 1 1

0 [0% ; 50%[ [50% ; 75%[ [75% ; 100%[ 100%

The tables below provide information about achievement of output and results indicators within priority 1, from 2007 to 2014. Output indicators related to the participation on transnational events (0106 to 0107e) and publications (0108 to 0108f) and results indicators related to connections to websites (0208a

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and 0208b) are measured according to year of achievement. All other indicators are measured cumulatively for each year (cumulated values from 2007 until the end of the reference year). The total number of connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) is the average value of the last two years.

27. Output indicators of priority 1

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0101a Number of projects approved 20 0 8 19 19 20 25 28 28 28

0101b Number of projects completed 20 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 12 12

Number of partners with a status of 0102a 64 0 46 64 64 67 85 91 91 91 public authority Number of partners with a status of 0102b 3 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 cross-border or transnational entity Number of partners with a status of not- 0102c 45 0 23 47 47 47 58 68 68 68 for-profit organisation Number of partners with a status of 0102d 47 0 3 47 47 54 71 78 78 78 research/education centre Number of partners with a status of 0102e 5 0 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 public enterprise Number of partners with a status of 0102f 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 private enterprise

0103 Number of associate partners 20 0 1 19 19 19 28 28 28 28

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104 the development and implementation of 50 0 0 16 32 45 49 78 84 84 projects Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104a the development and implementation of 30 0 0 10 19 26 31 52 56 56 projects - posts filled by a woman Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104b the development and implementation of 20 0 0 6 13 19 18 26 28 28 projects - posts filled by a man

0105 Investment made by projects3 42.1 0 0 1.7 8.6 18.3 26.1 36.4 39.7 39.7

Number of attendees participating in 0106 transnational meetings and events 7640 0 0 1152 2788 4815 2953 1884 1339 14931 organised by projects Number of attendees participating in 0106a transnational meetings and events 4030 0 0 434 1042 2210 1357 935 536 6514 organised by projects - women Number of attendees participating in 0106b transnational meetings and events 3610 0 0 718 1746 2605 1596 949 803 8417 organised by projects - man Number of entities represented in 0107 transnational meetings and events 2135 0 0 174 1042 1779 1349 759 654 5757 organised by projects Number of public authorities 0107a represented in transnational meetings 740 0 0 58 451 332 292 147 125 1405 and events organised by projects Number of cross-border or transnational bodies represented in transnational 0107b 5 0 0 0 3 41 23 4 5 76 meetings and events organised by projects Number of not-for-profit organisations 0107c represented in transnational meetings 70 0 0 46 146 232 112 45 69 650 and events organised by projects

3 Millions Euros

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of research/education centres 0107d represented in transnational meetings 110 0 0 6 190 370 290 167 109 1132 and events organised by projects Number of enterprises represented in 0107e transnational meetings and events 1210 0 0 64 252 804 632 396 346 2494 organised by projects

0108 Number of publications made by projects 1340 0 0 79 259 410 444 314 694 2200

Number of publications made by projects 0108a 100 0 0 6 30 35 17 22 12 122 - interim study reports Number of publications made by projects 0108b 190 0 0 2 6 22 13 21 20 84 - final study reports Number of publications made by projects - articles in press or specialised 0108c 620 0 0 52 139 204 315 158 117 985 magazines and communications in congresses and conferences Number of publications made by projects 0108d 140 0 0 3 36 54 19 67 9 188 - issues of a project newsletter Number of publications made by projects 0108e 90 0 0 4 4 15 27 4 3 57 - handbooks, guides and catalogues Number of publications made by projects 0108f - brochures, leaflets and other 215 0 0 12 44 80 53 42 533 764 awareness-raising publications Cooperation intensity - number of 0109a 14 0 7 18 18 19 24 27 27 27 projects with transfer of know-how Cooperation intensity - number of 0109b projects pooling a critical mass of 16 0 8 19 19 19 24 27 27 27 resources Cooperation intensity - number of 0109c 14 0 7 18 18 19 24 27 27 27 projects tackling a transnational issue

28. Results indicators of priority 1

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of AA projects generated on the 0201 6 0 3 8 8 9 11 12 12 12 basis of other pre-existing projects Number of AA projects having the 0202 14 0 0 0 3 5 7 10 13 13 intention of generating new projects Number of AA projects having the 0203 14 0 0 2 4 9 11 12 12 12 intention of generating new networks Number of programmes influenced on 0204 165 0 0 0 8 27 35 54 76 76 the projects implementation context Number of programmes influenced on 0204a the projects implementation context - EU 40 0 0 0 3 5 7 9 12 12 programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204b the projects implementation context - 25 0 0 0 2 2 6 7 15 15 national programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204c the projects implementation context - 95 0 0 0 2 12 16 28 33 33 regional programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204d the projects implementation context - 50 0 0 0 1 8 6 10 16 16 local programmes Number of policies influenced on the 0205 155 0 0 0 9 24 36 45 63 63 projects implementation context Number of policies influenced on the 0205a projects implementation context - EU 20 0 0 0 3 5 5 6 7 7 policies

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of policies influenced on the 0205b projects implementation context - 25 0 0 0 2 4 7 7 12 12 national policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205c projects implementation context - 95 0 0 0 2 11 17 24 30 30 regional policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205d projects implementation context - local 50 0 0 0 2 4 7 8 14 14 policies Job creation (in full time equivalent) 0206 770 0 0 0 11 31 46 50 52 52 induced by projects implementation Investment induced by projects 0207 11.0 0 0 0 3.0 27.4 27.4 29.2 30.8 30.8 implementation4 Average number of connections/month 0208a to the projects page of the Programme 250 0 0 156 126 128 90 104 90 97 website Number of AA projects having decided to 0209 carry on cooperating after the project 14 0 0 0 0 4 5 13 15 15 completion

 Qualitative analysis

In 2014, with a total of 28 projects approved, representing a total ERDF of 32.4 M€, priority 1 is overcommitted with 100.8% of available funds (32.2 M€). In view of avoiding losing funds and having in consideration released funds of closed projects, in 2013, the PMC decided to approve 3 new projects for priority 1 with an overbooking of 1.4 M€. Meanwhile, with the funds released back into the Programme, the overbooked amount has decreased of 1.2 M€.

All operational objectives are covered by approved projects. The distribution by objective is now relatively balanced, with 42.6% of ERDF concentrated on objective 1.3 (11 projects), 29.3% on Objective 1.1 (8 projects) and 28.1% on Objective 1.2 (9 projects).

Output indicators were significantly improved. 27 of 32 output indicators were completely achieved. 4 output indicators have achievement rates over 50%, and only 1 output indicator (final study reports) have achievement rate below 50%.

Currently the average financial execution of priority 1 is 78% and its operational activities were achieved on average at 80%. Until the end of 2014, priority 1 projects created 84 direct jobs, a total of 5757 institutions and 14931 people met in transnational events, and they produced a total of 1405 publications, out of which 84 are final study reports and 985 articles in the press and specialised magazines.

3.1.2. Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them

No significant problems were encountered.

4 Millions Euros

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3.2 Priority 2

3.2.1. Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress

 Information on the physical and financial progress of the priority

The next table and graphics provide a summary of the number of projects and ERDF approved during the 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 calls, for Priority 2, as well as the distribution by the corresponding operational objectives. Within the priority 2, 24 projects were approved, with a total ERDF of 38.3 million euros.

29. Projects approved on priority 2

Call Projects ERDF (€) 2008 8 12688655.86 2009 7 13511196.55 2011 6 9224638.31 2013 3 2868070.88 Total 24 38292561.60

Projects per objective – Priority 2 ERDF (M€) approved per objective – Priority 2

The following graphic represents, for priority 2, the frequency distribution of output indicator performances. Implementation performances are measured, for each indicator, by the percentage of achievement in relation to corresponding targets.

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30. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 2

24 24

8 3 2 2 4 1

0 0% ]0% ; 50%[ [50% ; 75%[ [75% ; 100%[ 100%

The tables below provide information about achievement of output and results indicators within Priority 2, from 2007 to 2012. Output indicators related to the participation on transnational events (0106 to 0107e) and publications (0108 to 0108f) and results indicators related to connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) are measured according to the achievement year. All other indicators are measured cumulatively for each year (cumulated values from 2007 until the end of the reference year). The total number of connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) is the average value of the last two years.

31. Output indicators of priority 2

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0101a Number of projects approved 22 0 8 15 15 21 21 24 24 24

0101b Number of projects completed 22 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 9 9

Number of partners with a status of 0102a 74 0 36 51 51 71 71 81 81 81 public authority Number of partners with a status of 0102b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 cross-border or transnational entity Number of partners with a status of not- 0102c 40 0 11 27 27 46 46 50 50 50 for-profit organisation Number of partners with a status of 0102d 86 0 33 58 58 78 78 91 91 91 research/education centre Number of partners with a status of 0102e 6 0 3 3 3 9 9 9 9 9 public enterprise Number of partners with a status of 0102f 1 0 1 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 private enterprise

0103 Number of associate partners 69 0 17 47 47 62 62 63 63 63

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104 the development and implementation of 65 0 0 14 53 74 80 96 95 95 projects Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104a the development and implementation of 35 0 0 10 33 44 49 58 57 57 projects - posts filled by a woman Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104b the development and implementation of 30 0 0 4 20 30 31 38 38 38 projects - posts filled by a man

0105 Investment made by projects5 58.0 0 0 2.3 9.9 20.6 31.7 41.9 44.8 44.8

Number of attendees participating in 0106 transnational meetings and events 6490 0 0 1134 3037 3250 3669 2695 1736 15521 organised by projects Number of attendees participating in 0106a transnational meetings and events 2960 0 0 374 1285 1464 1469 997 521 6110 organised by projects - women Number of attendees participating in 0106b transnational meetings and events 3510 0 0 760 1752 1786 2200 1698 1215 9411 organised by projects - man Number of entities represented in 0107 transnational meetings and events 4860 0 0 501 2013 1724 1809 1778 1454 9279 organised by projects Number of public authorities 0107a represented in transnational meetings 2110 0 0 95 515 460 615 544 182 2411 and events organised by projects Number of cross-border or transnational bodies represented in transnational 0107b 150 0 0 0 21 22 21 17 7 88 meetings and events organised by projects Number of not-for-profit organisations 0107c represented in transnational meetings 260 0 0 26 153 150 300 155 289 1073 and events organised by projects Number of research/education centres 0107d represented in transnational meetings 600 0 0 100 475 643 512 592 204 2526 and events organised by projects Number of enterprises represented in 0107e transnational meetings and events 1740 0 0 280 849 449 361 470 772 3181 organised by projects

0108 Number of publications made by projects 1280 0 0 98 224 445 476 357 116 1716

Number of publications made by projects 0108a 330 0 0 21 61 78 87 106 18 371 - interim study reports Number of publications made by projects 0108b 200 0 0 3 18 60 69 42 27 219 - final study reports Number of publications made by projects - articles in press or specialised 0108c 370 0 0 56 75 190 220 91 22 654 magazines and communications in congresses and conferences Number of publications made by projects 0108d 110 0 0 3 10 27 16 19 2 77 - issues of a project newsletter Number of publications made by projects 0108e 180 0 0 0 12 30 34 39 13 128 - handbooks, guides and catalogues Number of publications made by projects 0108f - brochures, leaflets and other 120 0 0 15 48 60 50 60 34 267 awareness-raising publications Cooperation intensity - number of 0109a 24 0 8 15 15 21 21 24 24 24 projects with transfer of know-how Cooperation intensity - number of 0109b projects pooling a critical mass of 24 0 8 15 15 21 21 24 24 24 resources

5 Millions Euros

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Cooperation intensity - number of 0109c 24 0 8 15 15 21 21 24 24 24 projects tackling a transnational issue

32. Results indicators of priority 2

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of AA projects generated on the 0201 21 0 7 13 13 18 18 20 20 20 basis of other pre-existing projects Number of AA projects having the 0202 21 0 0 1 3 6 10 14 16 16 intention of generating new projects Number of AA projects having the 0203 24 0 0 1 4 8 10 11 13 13 intention of generating new networks Number of programmes influenced on 0204 360 0 0 20 23 38 57 122 133 133 the projects implementation context Number of programmes influenced on 0204a the projects implementation context - EU 35 0 0 5 5 5 8 25 26 26 programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204b the projects implementation context - 80 0 0 3 4 7 12 27 31 31 national programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204c the projects implementation context - 170 0 0 8 9 10 20 38 40 40 regional programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204d the projects implementation context - 75 0 0 4 5 16 17 32 36 36 local programmes Number of policies influenced on the 0205 250 0 0 15 15 29 50 88 100 100 projects implementation context Number of policies influenced on the 0205a projects implementation context - EU 35 0 0 2 2 3 9 16 20 20 policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205b projects implementation context - 65 0 0 3 3 7 13 21 25 25 national policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205c projects implementation context - 125 0 0 8 8 10 17 30 32 32 regional policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205d projects implementation context - local 35 0 0 2 2 9 11 21 23 23 policies Job creation (in full time equivalent) 0206 165 0 0 0 3 7 29 37 54 54 induced by projects implementation Investment induced by projects 0207 19.0 0 0 0 0.02 0.6 0.6 0.9 2.0 2.0 implementation6 Average number of connections/month 0208a to the projects page of the Programme 250 0 0 203 141 143 95 119 96 108 website Number of AA projects having decided to 0209 carry on cooperating after the project 24 0 0 0 0 2 5 9 10 10 completion

6 Millions Euros

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Qualitative analysis

In 2014, with a total of 24 projects approved, representing a total ERDF of 38.3 M€, priority 2 is overcommitted with 103.8% of the available funds (36.9 M€). In view of avoiding not using funds and having in consideration released funds of closed projects, in 2013, the PMC decided to approve 3 new projects for priority 2 with an overbooking of 2.4 M€. Meanwhile, with the funds released back into the Programme, the overbooked amount has decreased by 1.0 M€.

All operational objectives are covered by approved projects. The distribution by objective is now relatively balanced, with 38.5% of ERDF concentrated on objective 2.2 (8 projects), 24.4% on Objective 2.1 (7 projects), 19.8% on Objective 2.4 (4 projects) and 17.3% on Objective 2.3 (5 projects).

Output indicators were significantly improved. 24 of 32 output indicators were completely achieved. 5 output indicators have achievement rates over 50%, and only 3 output indicators (number of projects completed, number of partners with the status of transnational entity and number of partners with a status of private enterprise) have achievement rates under 50%.

Currently the average financial execution of priority 2 is 75% and its operational activities were achieved on average at 83%. Until the end of 2014, priority 2 projects created 95 direct jobs, a total of 9279 institutions and 15521 people met in transnational events, and they produced a total of 1716 publications, out of which 219 are final study reports and 654 articles in the press and specialised magazines.

3.2.2. Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them

No significant problems were encountered.

3.3 Priority 3

3.3.1. Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress

Information on the physical and financial progress of the priority

The next table and graphics provide a summary of the number of projects and ERDF approved during the 2008, 2009 and 2011 calls, for priority 3, as well as the distribution by the corresponding operational objectives. Within the priority 3, 7 projects were approved, with a total ERDF of 15.0 million euros.

33. Projects approved on priority 3

Call Projects ERDF (€) 2008 3 6812967.63 2009 0 0.00 2011 3 7276142.56 2013 1 953095.52 Total 7 15042205.71

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Projects per objective – Priority 3 ERDF (M€) approved per objective – Priority 3

3. 1 6

The following graphic represents, for priority 3, the frequency distribution of output indicator performances. Implementation performances are measured, for each indicator, by the percentage of achievement in relation to corresponding targets.

34. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 3

12 12

10 8 8

6 5 5

2 1 1

0 0% ]0% ; 25%[ [25% ; 50%[ [50% ; 75%[ [75% ; 100%[ 100%

The tables below provide information about achievement of output and results indicators within Priority 3, from 2007 to 2012. Output indicators related to the participation on transnational events (0106 to 0107e) and publications (0108 to 0108f) and results indicators related to connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) are measured according to the achievement year. All other indicators are measured cumulatively for each year (cumulated values from 2007 until the end of the reference year). The total number of connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) is the average value of the last two years.

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35. Output indicators of priority 3

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0101a Number of projects approved 8 0 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 7

0101b Number of projects completed 8 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2

Number of partners with a status of 0102a 56 0 21 21 21 36 36 37 37 37 public authority Number of partners with a status of 0102b 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 cross-border or transnational entity Number of partners with a status of not- 0102c 8 0 3 3 3 8 8 9 9 9 for-profit organisation Number of partners with a status of 0102d 19 0 7 7 7 10 10 14 14 14 research/education centre Number of partners with a status of 0102e 11 0 5 5 5 15 15 16 16 16 public enterprise Number of partners with a status of 0102f 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 private enterprise

0103 Number of associate partners 35 0 12 12 12 26 26 28 28 28

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104 the development and implementation of 15 0 0 6 6 6 39 65 82 82 projects Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104a the development and implementation of 10 0 0 2 2 2 16 30 37 37 projects - posts filled by a woman Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104b the development and implementation of 5 0 0 4 4 4 23 35 45 45 projects - posts filled by a man

0105 Investment made by projects7 28.4 0 0 0.7 4.1 6.7 9.6 15.7 17.9 17.9

Number of attendees participating in 0106 transnational meetings and events 2590 0 0 407 342 718 462 593 409 2931 organised by projects Number of attendees participating in 0106a transnational meetings and events 1300 0 0 162 142 368 164 206 138 1180 organised by projects - women Number of attendees participating in 0106b transnational meetings and events 1300 0 0 245 200 350 298 387 271 1751 organised by projects - man Number of entities represented in 0107 transnational meetings and events 3080 0 0 55 57 198 163 267 170 910 organised by projects Number of public authorities 0107a represented in transnational meetings 860 0 0 21 31 40 61 108 40 301 and events organised by projects Number of cross-border or transnational bodies represented in transnational 0107b 80 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 2 12 meetings and events organised by projects Number of not-for-profit organisations 0107c represented in transnational meetings 160 0 0 2 2 8 3 29 11 55 and events organised by projects Number of research/education centres 0107d represented in transnational meetings 490 0 0 18 6 22 26 46 13 131 and events organised by projects Number of enterprises represented in 0107e transnational meetings and events 1490 0 0 14 18 128 70 77 104 411 organised by projects

7 Millions Euros

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0108 Number of publications made by projects 460 0 0 25 60 95 102 81 7 370

Number of publications made by projects 0108a 110 0 0 1 14 23 7 19 0 64 - interim study reports Number of publications made by projects 0108b 50 0 0 0 1 2 24 2 0 29 - final study reports Number of publications made by projects - articles in press or specialised 0108c 160 0 0 14 32 47 53 45 2 193 magazines and communications in congresses and conferences Number of publications made by projects 0108d 40 0 0 5 11 8 6 6 2 38 - issues of a project newsletter Number of publications made by projects 0108e 30 0 0 0 0 3 5 3 2 13 - handbooks, guides and catalogues Number of publications made by projects 0108f - brochures, leaflets and other 80 0 0 5 2 12 7 6 1 33 awareness-raising publications Cooperation intensity - number of 0109a 6 0 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 7 projects with transfer of know-how Cooperation intensity - number of 0109b projects pooling a critical mass of 6 0 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 7 resources Cooperation intensity - number of 0109c 6 0 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 7 projects tackling a transnational issue

36. Results indicators of priority 3

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of AA projects generated on the 0201 6 0 3 3 3 6 6 7 7 7 basis of other pre-existing projects Number of AA projects having the 0202 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 intention of generating new projects Number of AA projects having the 0203 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 intention of generating new networks Number of programmes influenced on 0204 250 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 5 the projects implementation context Number of programmes influenced on 0204a the projects implementation context - EU 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 5 programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204b the projects implementation context - 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 national programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204c the projects implementation context - 80 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 regional programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204d the projects implementation context - 125 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 local programmes Number of policies influenced on the 0205 100 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 5 5 projects implementation context Number of policies influenced on the 0205a projects implementation context - EU 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205b projects implementation context - 30 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 national policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205c projects implementation context - 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 regional policies

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of policies influenced on the 0205d projects implementation context - local 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 policies Job creation (in full time equivalent) 0206 100 0 0 0 0 0 25 20 20 20 induced by projects implementation Investment induced by projects 0207 11.0 0 0 0 0 0 1.4 3.8 5.2 5.2 implementation8 Average number of connections/month 0208a to the projects page of the Programme 250 0 0 137 132 122 100 117 97 107 website Number of AA projects having decided to 0209 carry on cooperating after the project 6 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 3 completion

Qualitative analysis

In 2014, with a total of 7 projects approved, representing a total ERDF of 15.0 M€, priority 3 is undercommitted with 97.5% of available funds (15.4 M€). In view of avoiding losing funds and having in consideration released funds of closed projects, in 2013, the PMC decided to approve one new project for priority 3 with an overbooking of 0.3 M€. Meanwhile, the funds released back into the Programme (0.7 M€) have completely compensated the overbooked amount.

All operational objectives are covered by approved projects. However the distribution by objective is still extremely unbalanced: Six projects of objective 3.1 concentrate 92.5% of priority funds, while objective 3.2 is covered with only one project of 1.1 M€ of ERDF.

With the worst performances on indicators concerned with approval procedures, priority 3 involves also indicators related to projects implementation relatively modest. 10 of 32 output indicators reveal achievements levels below 50% of targets. Such performance is mostly justified by the fact that projects of 2011 and 2013 calls represent 57% of the total projects approved under this priority.

Currently the average financial execution of priority 3 is 77% and its operational activities were achieved on average at 79%. Until the end of 2014, priority 3 projects created 82 direct jobs, a total of 910 institutions and 2931 people met in transnational events, and they produced a total of 370 publications, out of which 29 are final study reports and 193 articles in the press and specialised magazines.

3.3.2. Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them

No significant problems were encountered.

3.4 Priority 4

3.4.1. Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress

Information on the physical and financial progress of the priority

8 Millions Euros

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The next table and graphics provide a summary of the number of projects and ERDF approved during the 2008, 2009 and 2011 calls, for priority 4, as well as the distribution by the corresponding operational objectives. Within the priority 4, 12 projects were approved, with a total ERDF of 13.7 million euros.

37. Projects approved on priority 4

Call Projects ERDF (€) 2008 5 4706702.72 2009 6 8237615.35 2011 0 0.00 2013 1 737210.75 Total 12 13681528.82

Projects per objective – Priority 4 ERDF (M€) approved per objective – Priority 4

5 5 4.1 4.2

2 4.3

The following graphic represents, for priority 4, the frequency distribution of output indicator performances. Implementation performances are measured, for each indicator, by the percentage of achievement in relation to corresponding targets.

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38. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 4

20 18

8 5 4 3 4 1 1

0 [0% ; 25%[ [25% ; 50%[ [50% ; 75%[ [75% ; 90%[ [90% ; 100%[ 100%

The tables below provide information about achievement of output and results indicators within Priority 4, from 2007 to 2012. Output indicators related to the participation on transnational events (0106 to 0107e) and publications (0108 to 0108f) and results indicators related to connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) are measured according to year of achievement. All other indicators are measured cumulatively for each year (cumulated values from 2007 until the end of the reference year). The total number of connections to websites (0208a and 0208b) is the average value of the last two years.

39. Output indicators of priority 4

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

0101a Number of projects approved 12 0 5 11 11 11 11 12 12 12

0101b Number of projects completed 12 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 5

Number of partners with a status of 0102a 64 0 28 57 57 57 57 63 63 63 public authority Number of partners with a status of 0102b 5 0 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 cross-border or transnational entity Number of partners with a status of not- 0102c 15 0 9 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 for-profit organisation Number of partners with a status of 0102d 10 0 2 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 research/education centre Number of partners with a status of 0102e 11 0 6 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 public enterprise Number of partners with a status of 0102f 5 0 0 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 private enterprise

0103 Number of associate partners 18 0 12 17 17 17 17 18 18 18

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104 the development and implementation of 70 0 0 15 19 26 39 40 40 40 projects Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104a the development and implementation of 40 0 0 6 8 11 16 17 17 17 projects - posts filled by a woman

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Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Jobs (full-time equivalents) created for 0104b the development and implementation of 30 0 0 9 11 15 23 23 23 23 projects - posts filled by a man

0105 Investment made by projects9 22.0 0 0 0.6 3.4 9.8 13.5 18.1 19.1 19.1

Number of attendees participating in 0106 transnational meetings and events 7950 0 0 242 6915 5031 1847 620 781 15436 organised by projects Number of attendees participating in 0106a transnational meetings and events 3890 0 0 140 3756 2409 845 316 349 7815 organised by projects - women Number of attendees participating in 0106b transnational meetings and events 4060 0 0 102 3159 2622 1002 304 432 7621 organised by projects - man Number of entities represented in 0107 transnational meetings and events 1290 0 0 116 438 805 463 466 445 2733 organised by projects Number of public authorities 0107a represented in transnational meetings 710 0 0 37 228 324 342 102 229 1262 and events organised by projects Number of cross-border or transnational bodies represented in transnational 0107b 25 0 0 3 10 18 6 7 22 66 meetings and events organised by projects Number of not-for-profit organisations 0107c represented in transnational meetings 115 0 0 10 30 91 26 11 25 193 and events organised by projects Number of research/education centres 0107d represented in transnational meetings 110 0 0 7 89 182 33 80 51 442 and events organised by projects Number of enterprises represented in 0107e transnational meetings and events 330 0 0 59 81 190 56 266 118 770 organised by projects

0108 Number of publications made by projects 1120 0 0 22 146 170 95 106 62 601

Number of publications made by projects 0108a 130 0 0 1 19 21 2 0 10 53 - interim study reports Number of publications made by projects 0108b 65 0 0 1 2 7 7 4 10 31 - final study reports Number of publications made by projects - articles in press or specialised 0108c 630 0 0 7 56 83 55 79 37 317 magazines and communications in congresses and conferences Number of publications made by projects 0108d 40 0 0 1 26 35 7 8 1 78 - issues of a project newsletter Number of publications made by projects 0108e 180 0 0 2 17 10 5 5 0 39 - handbooks, guides and catalogues Number of publications made by projects 0108f - brochures, leaflets and other 95 0 0 10 26 14 19 10 4 83 awareness-raising publications Cooperation intensity - number of 0109a 10 0 5 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 projects with transfer of know-how Cooperation intensity - number of 0109b projects pooling a critical mass of 10 0 5 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 resources Cooperation intensity - number of 0109c 10 0 5 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 projects tackling a transnational issue

9 Millions Euros

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

40. Results indicators of priority 4

Code Indicator Target 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Number of AA projects generated on the 0201 6 0 3 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 basis of other pre-existing projects Number of AA projects having the 0202 10 0 0 0 2 5 5 7 7 7 intention of generating new projects Number of AA projects having the 0203 8 0 0 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 intention of generating new networks Number of programmes influenced on 0204 240 0 0 0 17 23 30 32 27 27 the projects implementation context Number of programmes influenced on 0204a the projects implementation context - EU 20 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204b the projects implementation context - 30 0 0 0 1 1 6 6 1 1 national programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204c the projects implementation context - 60 0 0 0 1 3 3 3 3 3 regional programmes Number of programmes influenced on 0204d the projects implementation context - 150 0 0 0 15 19 19 21 21 21 local programmes Number of policies influenced on the 0205 120 0 0 0 1 17 27 27 27 27 projects implementation context Number of policies influenced on the 0205a projects implementation context - EU 20 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205b projects implementation context - 20 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 national policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205c projects implementation context - 35 0 0 0 0 3 5 5 5 5 regional policies Number of policies influenced on the 0205d projects implementation context - local 70 0 0 0 1 14 18 18 18 18 policies Job creation (in full time equivalent) 0206 170 0 0 0 5 11 15 10 5 5 induced by projects implementation Investment induced by projects 0207 16.0 0 0 0 0.1 0.5 0.8 1.9 1.9 1.9 implementation10 Average number of connections/month 0208a to the projects page of the Programme 250 0 0 140 117 128 93 113 99 106 website Number of AA projects having decided to 0209 carry on cooperating after the project 10 0 0 0 0 2 3 6 8 8 completion

Qualitative analysis

In 2014, with a total of 12 projects approved, representing a total ERDF of 13.7 M€, priority 4 is overcommitted with 102.7% of available funds (13.3 M€). In view of avoiding losing funds and having in consideration released funds of closed projects, the PMC decided to approve one new project for priority 4 with an overbooking of 1.0 M€. Meanwhile, with the funds released back into the Programme, the overbooked amount has decreased by 0.6 M€.

10 Millions Euros

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

All operational objectives are covered by approved projects. The distribution by objective was improved with the 2013 call for projects, but is still relatively unbalanced. Objective 4.2 is the worst represented with two projects amounting to 2.0 M€ of ERDF, representing 14.4% of funds available under this priority. Objectives 4.1 and 4.3 involve 5 projects each, corresponding respectively to 6.3 M€ (46.2%) and 5.4 M€ (39.4%) of ERDF.

Output indicators were significantly improved. 18 of 32 output indicators were completely achieved. 6 output indicators have achievement rates over 75%, and only 5 output indicators (number of projects completed, total and women jobs created within the projects, number of interim and final studies and number of handbooks) have achievement rates below 50%.

Currently the average financial execution of priority 4 is 90% and its operational activities were achieved on average at 90%. Until the end of 2014, priority 4 projects created 40 direct jobs, a total of 2733 institutions and 15436 people met in transnational events, and they produced a total of 601 publications, out of which 31 are final study reports and 317 articles in the press and specialised magazines.

4. ESF Programmes: Coherence and Concentration

Not applicable

5. ERDF/CF Programmes: major projects (if applicable)

It is not expected that major projects will be submitted under this operational Programme.

6. Technical Assistance

The TA advances and reimbursements up to 2014 as for MA/JTS reached an amount of € 4 503 531m.

The amortization of the advances attained an amount of €416 912.97m yet short of €258 087.03m to be amortised.

In the following table are displayed the TA amounts declared and ERDF reimbursed per year, up to 2014:

41. TA Advances and reimbursements MA/JTS

date ERDF Total ERDF Type Entity Year Date claim reimbursem declared declared reimbursed ent

Advance MA/JTS 2008 0,00 0,00 145 000,00 03/07/2008 07/07/2008 Advance MA/JTS 2008 0,00 0,00 155 000,00 23/09/2008 23/09/2008 Advance MA/JTS 2008 0,00 0,00 375 000,00 31/10/2008 31/10/2008

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Reimbursement MA/JTS 2009 311 475,06 311 475,06 311 475,06 07/01/2009 22/01/2009 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2009 158 705,00 158 705,00 158 705,00 06/08/2009 13/08/2009 Amortization advance MA/JTS 2009 329 255,61 329 255,61 0,00 06/10/2009 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2010 530 920,93 530 920,93 530 920,93 15/07/2010 22/07/2010 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2010 216 493,90 216 493,90 216 493,90 15/07/2010 22/09/2010 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2010 210 909,03 210 909,03 210 909,03 05/11/2010 26/11/2010 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 183 527,44 183 527,44 183 527,44 12/04/2011 09/05/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 112 008,53 112 008,53 112 008,53 27/04/2011 09/05/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 10 490,50 10 490,50 10 490,50 27/04/2011 06/05/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 68 607,35 68 607,35 68 607,35 15/06/2011 22/06/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 5 381,88 5 381,88 5 381,88 24/05/2011 22/06/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 62 019,25 62 019,25 62 019,25 28/07/2011 30/08/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 90 311,95 90 311,95 90 311,95 30/09/2011 16/10/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 103 557,20 103 557,20 103 557,20 21/11/2011 26/11/2011 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2011 138 251,86 138 251,86 138 251,86 12/01/2012 07/02/2012 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2012 69 165,02 69 165,02 69 165,02 09/03/2012 14/03/2012 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2012 75 657,84 75 657,84 75 657,84 17/05/2012 16/07/2012 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2012 76 049,16 76 049,16 76 049,16 24/07/2012 16/08/2012 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2012 340 506,32 340 506,32 340 506,32 03/10/2012 09/01/2013 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2013 42 678,39 42 678,39 42 678,39 31/01/2013 12/03/2013 Amortization advance MA/JTS 2013 87 657,36 87 657,36 0,00 20/03/2013 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2013 202 068,03 202 068,03 202 068,03 03/07/2013 02/09/2013 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2013 202 882,25 202 882,25 202 882,25 17/10/2013 05/12/2013 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2013 108 654,54 108 654,54 108 654,54 26/11/2013 24/01/2014 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2014 145 838,85 145 838,85 145 838,85 05/03/2014 22/04/2014 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2014 106 451,12 106 451,12 106 451,12 05/06/2014 20/06/2014 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2014 255 919,53 255 919,53 255 919,53 08/09/2014 21/10/2014 Reimbursement MA/JTS 2014 97 763,76 97 763,76 0,00 29/10/2014 /2014 Regarding National Correspondents’ TA the total expenditure declared until the end of 2014 amounts to €1 951 120, the ERDF reimbursed reaches €248 145 06, the remaining amount representing the national “In kind”. Counterpart.

The global % of expenditure declared in relation to the National Correspondents TA budgeted amount for the programming period was 72%.

The global national counterpart certified “in kind contribution” is about 93,8,% while the ERDF amount reimbursed only reaches 39,5 % . Disparities between NCs/MS are observed regarding the completion of their respective TA approved budget.

An amount of € 4.065,55 of declared expenditure was considered ineligible and classified as irregularity in Audits performed by the Audit Authority to the TA of MA/JTS between 2007 and 2011. Consequently the referred amount was deducted on the related budget lines as shown in the table below and the global TA will be slightly reduced accordingly.

In 2014 the TA error rate was zero.

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The following table displays the NCs TA expenditure declared and ERDF reimbursed per year:

42. NC TA expenditure declared and paid

Year NCs Total declared ERDF paid 2010 NC PT 18 674,54 0,00 2010 NC PT 53 714,71 0,00 2010 NC UK 103 817,35 16 006,40 2010 NC UK 67 650,55 16 382,60 2010 NC FR 10 626,69 0,00 2010 NC FR 62 768,06 0,00 2010 NC ES 38 023,97 13 459,97 2011 NC ES 81 412,21 0,00 2011 NC FR 165 105,18 0,00 2011 NC IE 31 668,38 16 382,50 2012 NC UK 59 516,15 5 092,08 2012 NC ES 49 110,90 0,00 2012 NC IE 31 396,83 0,00 2012 NC FR 93 647,99 0,00 2012 NC ES 74 561,90 0,00 2012 NC PT 41 504,95 0,00 2012 NC PT 39 477,75 0,00 2012 NC UK 56 493,67 0,00 2012 NC IE 49 401,79 22 812,79 2013 NC FR 100 705,48 0,00 2013 NC ES 102 293,86 49 110,90 2013 NC IE 53 862,63 23 866,94 2013 NC IE 34 289,64 0,00 2013 NC PT 71 212,59 0,00 2013 NC UK 55 760,00 0,00 2014 NC PT 56 950,07 29 396,15 2014 NC FR 81 295,70 0,00 2014 NC PT 49 176,46 0,00 2014 NC PT 119 876,87 55 634,73 2014 NC UK 97 123,12 0,00

The Certifying Authority records a significant surplus until 2014 as the spending related to audits was not declared given that the audits were performed by the CA without the support of external auditors. Therefore the global expenditure declared is €55,779, which is only about 29.4 % in relation to the budget for the programming period amounting to €190,000. Therefore the CA released 74 112.01€, to be transferred to the MA budget in 2015.

The following table displays CA declared expenditure per year until the end of 2014.

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43. Certifying Authority TA declared expenditure Total ERDF Year Declared reimbursed 2010 4552,09 4552,09 2010 5189,68 5189,68 2012 10952,04 10952,04 2014 12632,88 12632,88 2014 3217,9 3217,9 2014 8667,87 8667,87 2014 10566,53 10566,53

The Audit Authority up to the end of 2014 claimed €212 350 as advance, the expenditure declared and certified being €6 743.15 corresponding to about 44.8 % of the total AA TA budget. The remaining amount transferred as an advance to be to be certified beginning 2015. The following table displays AA declared expenditure per year until the end of 2014.

44. Audit Authority TA declared expenditure ERDF Total Year transferred Declared 2009 3950 0 2010 8000 0 2011 40000 0 2011 0 315,22 2011 0 488,44 2011 0 9655,8 2011 0 39682,55 2011 50000 0 2012 1200 0 2013 0 53181,81 2013 56000 0 2013 0 53419,33 2014 53200 0

The following table contains the budget approved expenditure for the years 2007 to 2014 and the foreseen budget for 2015.

The amounts deducted due to irregularities detected by the Audit Authority and, accordingly the reduction of the total of the global TA budget from €8 238 737.75 to €8 242 803.30 are also displayed.

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45. TA budget consolidated until 2014 and forecasted budget for 2015

Budget Foreseen TA Final Balance Initial subItDenom 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Budget 2014 2015 Expenditure Balance Consolidated Expenditure 2014 budget 2015 inc balance 2015 Budget 2014 2014 MA/JTS Staff expenditures JTS 0,00 311 475,06 311 888,93 328 279,25 333 690,75 346 138,26 337 801,39 367 953,60 335 296,46 32 657,14 113 438,76 146 095,90 317 713,98 -171 618,08 2 622 284,08 Staff expenditures MA 6 084,64 154 196,07 153 320,45 153 194,55 140 303,75 179 866,18 175 831,23 167 457,74 167 856,97 -399,23 11 681,39 11 282,16 167 812,00 -156 529,84 1 298 465,84 Offices Rent 1 572,30 16 336,80 17 933,50 16 860,00 16 915,00 17 415,00 17 999,00 18 269,30 16 618,00 1 651,30 18 614,80 20 266,10 14 355,36 5 910,74 136 004,96 Light 0,00 482,21 1 379,74 1 708,34 2 021,73 2 377,21 1 830,29 1 560,41 2 330,25 -769,84 2 078,46 2 482,91 2 482,91 0,00 14 612,68 Water 0,00 95,37 256,74 287,22 272,74 340,83 282,56 588,12 305,89 282,23 503,30 785,53 350,00 435,53 2 191,35 Telephone 0,00 306,10 854,42 1 043,56 1 041,07 998,89 903,24 3 878,14 883,74 2 994,40 2 836,28 5 830,68 2 250,00 3 580,68 8 281,02 Cleaning Services 0,00 0,00 1 480,42 2 557,32 3 754,31 3 493,38 3 779,25 3 797,05 3 271,20 525,85 3 838,46 4 364,31 3 250,00 1 114,31 21 585,88 Office Material 0,00 3 034,20 3 430,37 2 868,39 4 931,84 2 118,20 2 844,36 4 170,54 1 240,09 2 930,45 3 166,95 6 097,40 3 500,00 2 597,40 23 967,45 Office Furniture 0,00 16 739,93 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 6 250,00 0,00 6 250,00 310,00 6 560,00 0,00 6 560,00 16 739,93 Office Maintenance 0,00 22 827,62 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 22 827,62 Office equipment 0,00 0,00 316,80 334,62 324,72 324,72 297,66 443,06 325,67 117,39 369,44 486,83 486,83 0,00 2 411,02 WEB CommPlatform 6 031,85 73 924,35 0,00 45 991,94 5 166,00 5 166,00 0,00 10 960,23 5 166,00 5 794,23 5 591,84 77 234,90 77 234,90 0,00 218 681,04 Informatics and AudiovEquip. 0,00 49 249,51 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 2 954,53 18 505,47 5 847,42 12 658,05 540,00 13 198,05 8 012,10 5 185,95 66 063,56 Electric System 0,00 10 980,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 10 980,00 Technical Support 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1 210,13 31 472,32 4 407,04 27 065,28 8 583,19 35 648,47 20 147,10 15 501,37 25 764,27 Transnational Seminars 0,00 21 451,26 1 417,09 0,00 23 084,80 16 130,55 0,00 46 805,93 12 869,69 33 936,24 0,00 33 936,24 25 000,00 8 936,24 99 953,39 Other information events 3 237,50 5 330,65 5 189,00 5 852,35 4 995,64 8 957,06 2 846,13 36 508,80 14 692,33 21 816,47 13 999,85 35 816,32 5 000,00 30 816,32 56 100,66 Travel and Accomodation MA 12 954,30 3 972,23 15 064,01 6 293,25 9 425,32 4 570,02 13 873,05 19 974,72 15 268,75 4 705,97 17 015,04 21 721,01 10 000,00 11 721,01 91 420,93 Travel and Accomodation JTS 0,00 2 982,28 23 040,85 17 172,95 18 539,71 16 140,82 19 212,70 20 302,54 16 993,25 3 309,29 17 294,28 20 603,57 17 294,28 3 309,29 131 376,84 Programme Impl Manual 0,00 44 275,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 44 275,00 Programme Evaluation 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 64 580,00 8 420,00 0,00 8 420,00 0,00 8 420,00 0,00 8 420,00 64 580,00 Interpretation 2 014,95 5 379,66 0,00 0,00 2 208,47 0,00 0,00 30 929,27 1 678,95 29 250,32 0,00 29 250,32 10 000,00 19 250,32 21 282,03 Translation 252,50 22 453,12 3 791,10 31 988,79 7 715,68 1 130,32 3 901,77 53 759,80 16 896,06 36 863,74 11 129,00 47 992,74 20 000,00 27 992,74 108 129,34 Other Expenditures 150,00 0,00 1 003,00 870,00 0,00 946,49 21 612,28 181 378,55 76 103,90 105 274,65 1 133,38 113 605,92 52 000,00 61 605,92 152 685,67 641 679,36 756 889,46 -115 210,10 interest generated 115 210,10 115 201,10 Certifying Authority* 756 889,46 756 889,46 0,00 5 260 664,56 CA Human Resources expenditures 0,00 3 132,95 3 988,06 10 901,56 9 225,75 6 268,82 19 047,31 110 435,55 24 500,00 85 935,55 0,00 34 500,00 34 500,00 0,00 111 564,45 CA functionning expenditures 0,00 1 419,14 1 201,62 50,48 90,48 265,73 187,09 23 785,46 500,00 23 285,46 0,00 500,00 500,00 0,00 4 214,54 Audit Authority* 35 000,00 35 000,00 115 778,99 Projects Audits 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 9 746,37 51 585,45 53 029,84 170 577,40 53 188,95 117 388,45 0,00 117 388,45 117 388,45 0,00 284 939,06 Systems Audits 0,00 0,00 0,00 195,57 39 718,35 0,00 147,02 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 40 060,94 Audit Authority meetings 0,00 0,00 0,00 292,87 188,85 1 596,36 242,47 22 679,45 2 486,13 20 193,32 0,00 20 193,32 20 193,32 0,00 25000 National correspondents* 137 581,77 137 581,77 350 000,00 Spain NC expenditure 0,00 14 267,36 67 144,85 49 110,90 74 561,90 102 293,86 115 654,90 110 625,23 110 000,00 625,23 625,23 625,23 625,23 0,00 533 659,00 France NC expenditure 0,00 10 626,69 62 768,69 165 105,18 93 647,99 100 705,48 81 295,70 219 513,07 90 000,00 129 513,07 28 677,20 158 190,27 90 000,00 -68 190,27 762 340,00 Ireland NC expenditure 0,00 38 023,97 31 668,38 31 396,83 53 862,63 49 401,79 34 289,64 64 195,56 30 213,97 33 981,59 12 280,20 46 261,79 46 261,79 0,00 315 119,00 Portuguese NC expenditure** 0,00 18 674,54 53 714,71 80 982,70 83 667,93 93 159,01 120 389,05 33 594,06 100 000,00 -66 405,94 0,00 0,00 85 500,00 151 905,94 484 182,00 United Kingdom NC expenditure 0,00 103 817,35 67 650,55 59 516,15 56 493,67 55 760,00 97 123,12 149 918,96 10 000,00 139 918,96 23 220,20 163 139,16 96 780,00 -66 359,16 613 500,00 368 216,45 319 167,02 2 708 800,00 * NCs and CA expenditure in 2014 and 15 is a forecast. AA only in 2015 ** PT National Contribution higher than budgeted but ERDF received Initial Total budget 8 324 099,00 the budgeted Deducted Irregularities 4 065,55 Interests generated 115 210,10 Total Budget Final 8 435 243,55

7. Publicity and information In 2014 continuity was given to the Marketing and Communication Action Plan designed in 2012 for the period 2012-2015, the communication activities being performed with the aim of highlighting the closing projects results and capitalization of Programme’s results as well as the transition to the new Programme.

The preparation of the next programming period 2014-2020, was a milestone in the current Programme’s agenda, has involved a series of informative activities in which the MA and JTS were engaged, with the aim of focusing on the main orientations that will better communicate and promote the Atlantic Area Programme for beneficiaries, key decision makers and other relevant stakeholders,

The following activities were planned and implemented during 2014:

 Programme annual event under the theme: “Learning today, improving tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020”;

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 3 newsflashes;

 E-goi implementation tool for database management and layouts conception;

 Compendium distribution by post or in events to relevant stakeholders, potential beneficiaries, beneficiaries and media; promotion of the publication through Newsflash, PCC and social media;

 Public consultation Survey for the 2014-2020 Atlantic Area Programme;

 Social media: update of Facebook and Twitter accounts with relevant information related with the Programme and cofinanced projects;

 Collaboration with INTERACT and other Transnational Programmes on the definition of the ETC branding for the next programming period;

 Dissemination on the Collaborative and Communication Platform (PCC) of news and events related with the projects and the Programme;

 Training session on communication to approved projects;

 Support and guidance on projects communication;

 Organisation and participation in project and Programme events.

Regarding the Programme 2014-2020, a first approach and explanation on joint branding for ETC Programmes was presented in the framework of the Working Group. No decision was taken yet and a more consistent proposal will be made at a later stage to define the visual identity of the new Programme,

A brochure introducing the strategy and investment priorities for 2014-2020 was also produced and widely distributed, as well as a roll-up to showcase at events.

Programme Events

The MA, JTS and NC participated in several events related with the management of cooperation programmes and relevant thematic events, as maritime or territorial cooperation policies and the preparation of the next programming period 2014-2020, eight Working Group meetings were organized by the MA/JTS for the preparation of the Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020, besides the usual Programme structure meeting.

The participation in project’s events and meetings was ensured by MA, JTS and NCs as a way to collaborate on their implementation or closure activities follow up, as many projects ceased their activities during 2014.

The Programme annual event was held in Seville, on 16 December with around 200 participants. The scope of the event was to present main the achievements of the current Programme by capitalising on projects best practices by showcasing their transnational activities and the results attained. It was also the opportunity to highlight the perspectives for the upcoming period. Following the evaluation of the event participants highlighted the quality of the presentations and the opportunity to share experiences with current projects as well as to understand the challenges for the next period. The conference was also broadcasted in live web streaming. An exposition with projects’ material was showcased in parallel of the main panel discussion and plenaries.

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The table below presents a summary of the events with MA/JTS/NC presence as organisers or as participants.

46. Participation in events 2014

Participation in events 2012 2013 2014 Programme events 18 23 26 Project events 14 7 9 With MA/JTS presentation 14 22 29

Programme events

Events in which MA/JTS participated or organized related with the scope of the Programme:

Date Event Organisation Place Communication 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid MA /JTS 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid MA /JTS 17.02 Workshop “European funds for Atlantic DG MARE Brussels MA strategy implementation” 19.02 European Seminar “Marine energies in Région Bretagne Bordeaux JTS Atlantic regions” 27.02 Workshop on indicators, performance DATAR Paris MA frameworks and monitoring tool for 2014-2020 Programmes 04.03 Group of Auditors meeting MA/JTS Lisbon MA/JTS 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 26/28.03 Annual seminar on communication / INTERACT Helsinki JTS Transnational Programmes communication officers meeting 07/08.04 Atlantic arc working group meeting on Atlantic Arc Gijón MA tourism and culture commission 30.04 Conference on INTERREG Programmes Euclid London JTS 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 19/20.05 EC annual meeting with managing EC Brussels MA authorities 22.05 Training workshop for approved MA/JTS Porto JTS projects 22/23.05 INFORM network meeting EC Prague JTS 28/30.05 Forum do Mar Oceano XXI Porto MA/JTS 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 30.06/01.07 Management tools training sessions DCLG London JTS 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto MA /JTS 22.10 Seminar on Monitoring and Managing INTERACT Brussels MA systems 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid MA / JTS 10/11.12 Workshop on Project Reporting and INTERACT Innsbruck JTS Monitoring

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27.11 Training session on 2014-2020 funds Eurocidade Verin- Chaves JTS Chaves 16.12 Programme annual event “Learning Atlantic Area Seville MA / JTS today, improving tomorrow, towards Programme Atlantic 2020” 2/3.12 INFORM network meeting CE Brussels

Projects Events

Events organised by projects in which MA and JTS participated:

Date Event Organization Place Communication 29.04 Closure event ATLANT-KIS project ATLANT-KIS Dublin JTS 20.05 Results presentation of HARVEST ATLANTIC HARVESTATLANTI Santander JTS project C project 28.05 International Conference: “Marine Socio- MARNET Porto MA economic analysis in the Atlantic Area – The MARNET project” 13.06 SITE project final conference “Smart SITE project Dublin JTS ticketing for mobility in Europe - The contribution of the Atlantic Area Cities” 02.07 Atlanticpower Cluster project final Atlantic Santander JTS conference PowerCluster project 08.07 Conference on fisheries management GEPETO project Vigo MA /JTS 29.10 Conference: Smart mobility + BUGA bike SITE Aveiro JTS sharing system 01.10 Forum “from Climatlantic to Climatlantic+» CLIMATLANTIC+ Ourense MA / JTS 19.11 BATTERIE final conference BATTERIE project Belfast JTS

National Correspondents Events

Events organised by the NC or in which they participated:

España Date Event Organization Place 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 06/07.03 Economic Forum ES NC Mérida 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Economic Forum ES NC Sto Domingo de la Calzada 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid 06/07.11 Economic Forum ES NC Calatayud

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16.12 Programme annual event “Learning today, improving Atlantic Area Seville tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020” Programme

France Date Event Organization Place 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 27.02 Workshop on indicators, performance frameworks and DATAR Paris monitoring tool for 2014.2020 Programmes 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 27.05 Seminar « Optimisation du processus de sélection des DATAR Paris projets de CTE » 19.06 Seminar « Mesures de prévention et de lutte DATAR Paris anti.fraude » 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid 11.12 Seminar « Coordination entre l’Etat et les Régions CGET Paris atlantiques » 12.12 Seminar « Autorité nationale des programmes de CTE CGET Paris assurée par l’Etat » 16.12 Programme annual event “Learning today, improving Atlantic Area Seville tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020” Programme

Ireland Date Event Organization Place 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 04.02 AtlanticBlueTech kick.off meeting Atlanticbluetech Galway 12.02 ATbrand launch event Atbrand Dublin 14.02 CINEW kick off meeting CINEW Claremorris 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 20.05 Consultation event on the proposed Co.Operation BMW Regional Ballaghaderreen Programme Assembly 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 08.10 Major EU Cross Border Environmental Conference Dundalk 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid 19.11 East Border Region Interreg Workshop East Border Region Armagh 28.11 Joint Assembly Conference on EU Funding Southern and Eastern Wexford Opportunities Regional Assembly,

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the BMW Regional Assembly 16.12 Programme annual event “Learning today, improving Atlantic Area Seville tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020” Programme

Portugal Date Event Organization Place 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 21.05 Partners training seminar NC PT Porto 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid 16.12 Programme annual event “Learning today, improving Atlantic Area Seville tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020” Programme

United Kingdom Date Event Organization Place 16.01 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 20/21.02 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Madrid 25.03 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 15.05 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 21.05 ETC event NC UK Abergavenny 25.06 Wales European Officer Group Welsh Assembly Cardiff 26.06 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 10/11.07 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 30.06/01.07 Management tools training sessions DCLG London 27.08 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 11.09 Working Group meeting MA/JTS Porto 23.10 Monitoring Committee meeting MA Madrid 29.10 TESLA event covering Atlantic and other transnational TESLA Bangor programmes 16.12 Programme annual event “Learning today, improving Atlantic Area Seville tomorrow, towards Atlantic 2020” Programme

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Communication Plan indicators

The Programme has a general good performance in terms of communication indicators. Some indicators increased their values due to the JTS engagement and communication activities carried out to provide beneficiaries and stakeholders with information about the future Atlantic Area Programme 2014.2020. Other indicators are lower because many projects closed in 2014, reducing therefore projects and programme communication activities for the current period.

Some data related to 2013 was updated with recently available data from projects while the data for 2014 remains provisional and will be updated once project reports data is made available in 2015.

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47. Communication Plan indicators 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total 1 . Overall information measures 1.1 Kick off transnational seminar launching the OP Number of people invited 1,745 1,745 Number of participants Women 147 147 Number of participants Men 201 201 Number of completed questionnaires 54 54 Number of media invited 12 12 Number of media present 4 4 Number of press references about the event 6 6 Number of covers produced 1,000 1,000 Number of publicity pens 1,000 1,000 Number agendas 300 300 1.2 Creation of a contact list of external disseminators partners Number of external partner bodies in the contact list 1,700 2,210 2,910 3,346 3,643 4,010 2,858 3693 3,693 Number of external partner bodies in the contact list having included, on the 41 54 62 68 76 100 20011 601 respective website, information and links to the Programme website 1.3 Website communication platform Number of visits 21,948 169,400 206,692 211,507 258,531 1,151,880 1,146,207 3,166,165 Number of visits per stakeholder 56,255 51,054 52,613 44,938 44,945 223,137 282,20612 755,148 Number of times that the website contact list was acceded 625 2,330 2,590 2,131 2,062 3,786 4,063 17,587 2,989,06 11,170,81 13,273,84 43,170,38 Number of hits 1,409,242 4,602,512 6,854,923 2,869,988 8 3 0 6 1.4 Programme information and dissemination events Number of information events 1 2 1 3 6 4 2 19 Number of people invited 1,576 5,820 47 13,800 8,060 155 3,000 32,458 Number of participants female 64 138 14 316 152 67 125 876

11 Data obtained by sample 12 Average number of visits by registered user

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total Number of participants male 74 167 16 474 324 73 84 1,212 1.5 Participation in external events relevant to the Programme Number of external events attended 11 10 16 23 27 16 14 14 131 Number of communications presented 10 10 10 12 6 5 8 10 71 1.6 Adoption of a statement highlighting the role of the Community Number of times that the statement was used 2,104 396 455 496 545 930 7303 5,656 1.7 Creation of the Logo and Graphical Identification ID of the Programme Number of times the logo was used 26 7,000 9,240 10,626 11,582 12,740 12,500 97503 73,464 Percentage of communication activities complying with the OP graphical ID 100% 100% 100% 100% 80% 80% 80% 90%13 91% 1.8 Flying the flag of the European Union Percentage of times the flag of the European Union has been fled as required 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 2 . Information measures for potential beneficiaries 2.1 Creation of a contact list of potential beneficiaries Number of potential beneficiaries in the contact list 2,186 2,354 2,652 2,949 3,310 2,224 2,647 2,647 Number of project applicants that were in the contact list of potential 894 1,054 0 150 0 250 014 250 beneficiaries before applying for the OP 2.2 Applications toolkit pack Total number of applications 68 78 0 30 0 105 0 281 Percentage of applications complying with the admissibility minimum 94% 91% - 93% . 100% . requirements 2.3 Newsletters addressed to potential beneficiaries Number of newsletter addressed to potential beneficiaries produced 1 2 2 2 2 5 3 17 Number of potential project applicants having received the newsletter 2,251 2,385 2,743 2,789 2,780 2,100 2647 2,647 Number of potential project applicants entering the Programme website to 2,150 2,618 2,530 1,9004 2,400 11,598 search additional related information

13 Data obtained by sample 14 No applications were submitted in 2010, 2012 and 2014

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total 2.4 Flyers and brochures addressed to potential applicants Number of flyers/ brochures edition produced 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Number of flyers/ brochures edition distributed 0 0 0 0 250 150 100 500 2.5 Project Ideas Register Number of registered project ideas 20 30 7 9 3 0 0 69 Number of project ideas register visitors 2,434 12,843 15,578 14,873 2,400 3,480 4,030 55,638 3 . Information measures for beneficiaries 3.1 Project partnerships beneficiaries lists Number of lead partners in the contact list 24 48 48 48 63 69 71 71 Number of project partners in the contact list 187 469 469 468 511 570 592 592

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total 3.2 Newsletters addressed to beneficiaries Number of newsletters addressed to beneficiaries produced 1 2 2 2 2 5 3 17 Number of beneficiaries having received the newsletter 0 517 517 516 574 639 663 663 Number of beneficiaries entering the Programme website to search 380 380 395 408 41015 410 additional related information 3.3 Programme tools for the support of projects partnerships management Number of items in the project communication resource centre 227,996 655,613 776,130 612,000 676,771 672,80816 672,808 Number of visitors of the project communication resource centre 17,539 77,225 94,268 99,209 1,151,880 1,146,207 2,586,328 Number of times advice to project leaders and partners was provided 62 82 258 332 397 550 53015 2,211 3.4 Projects results dissemination Number of project website item 24 48 48 63 63 71 71 Number of project information events 131 305 340 293 197 120 1386 Number of participants in project information events 2,935 13,082 13,814 8,931 5,792 4,328 48,882 Number of projects mentions in the media 129 302 524 643 373 17817 2149 4 . Information measures for key decision.makers 4.1 Creation of a contact list of key decision.makers Number of key decision.makers in the list 70 200 326 355 370 420 650 650 4.2 Newsletters addressed to key decision.makers Number of newsletters addressed to key decision.makers produced 1 2 2 2 2 5 3 17 Number of key decision.makers having received the newsletter 150 198 228 249 270 390 650 2,135

15 Data obtained by sample 16 Items are considered as pages (Projects area on PCC was developed in June 2009) 17 Number of articles published by projects on media and specialised magazines

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total 5 . Information measures for the general public 5.1 Creation of a contact list of media Contact database of media Number of general media in the contact list 218 218 218 218 218 218 218 218 Number of specialized media in the contact list 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 5.2 Media Relations Number of published articles/news items 0 0 0 0 0 0 018 0 % of articles where facts have not been related correctly 0 0 0 0 0 0 08 0 5.3 Flyers and brochures addressed to potential applicants Number of flyers/ brochures editions addressed to general public produced 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Number of flyers/ brochures editions addressed to general public distributed 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

18 Data not available

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8. Conclusion and forecast for 2015

The year 2014 continued to be a challenging period for both MA and JTS operational teams in terms of workload given the limited staff numbers. Despite this, a good level of support to the Programme was ensured allowing relevant progress. The teams’ commitment was instrumental to meet the annual financial target but also on most performance indicators, showing that the Atlantic Area programme is on track to meet its global objectives supported by the incoming operation results, as a number of projects have completed their activities in 2014 and subsequently closed.

Again, achieving the N+2 2014 target mobilised the JTS and MA as most projects were faced with difficulties in preparing and submitting their transnational and multipartner financial reports. However with the efforts of the programme team including National Correspondents, a follow- up and support approach was deployed which resulted in exceeding buy almost €1 million the N+2 target.

Another 2014 high intensity activity for National representatives and MA/JTS was the preparation of the next Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 period, with the organisation of no less than 8 working Group meetings over a period of nine months. MA/JTS ensured the coordination of the works of two appointed consultants for the OP drafting and ex-ante evaluation, the production of the relevant documents, the monitoring of EU legislation, the consultation of stakeholders and a significant contribution to revising the OP document.

The Programme has also continued to accompany the activities of the Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area through the organisation of a specific workshop to take place within the Jan. 2015 Atlantic Stakeholder Platform; providing information to Programme stakeholders and promoting coordination between various instruments to implement the objectives of the Action Plan, and by participating in Action Plan coordination meetings in Brussels.

The eight 4th call projects approved in December 2013 started their activities and benefited from specific JTS support –with a dedicated information and training session to Lead Partners– and close follow-up to allow as much as possible to stick to the tight time schedule for implementation. The total number of approved project is now 71.

Again in 2014 the audits performed by the Audit Authority led to a 0.24% error rate, providing a very satisfactory performance indicator for which all programme bodies hold a responsibility.

The area of programme communication and marketing maintained the 2013 momentum following the implementation of the marketing and communication plan, particularly with communication actions directed at a number of 2014-2020 programme stakeholders and the organisation of a major Programme capitalisation event in Seville in December 2014.

2015 will be dedicated to project monitoring and more specifically to project closures given that 41 project will close in 2015 including the 8 new projects launched at the beginning of 2014. The

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Programme is focused on closure with specific support provided by JTS/MA when Lead Partners face special difficulties.

The other challenge will be to prepare the launch of the 2014-2020 programme as soon as it is approved by the EC, to set the new management and control tools, to establish programme rules and tools for the beneficiaries, to launch the relevant surveys to set indicators baselines which will serve the evaluation approach, and organise a launch event and the subsequent 1st for projects. The new programme will also see the establishment of a new governance model including a quality assurance approach whose foundations were laid during 2014 following discussions between Member States representatives and the Managing Authority.

In 2015 it will be possible to measure more precisely the Programmes’ contribution to its own objectives and to the cohesion of the Atlantic Area, however already this year some very relevant results are highlighted in the 2014 Programme Achievements section (Annex V), which confirm the first elements brought forward by the 2013 ongoing evaluation, that is the trend of projects to develop specific products and tool responding to needs of regions which are not provided by other instruments, particularly in the maritime sector.

In addition a relevant impact on policy and strategy development and on sectorial and thematic regional plans can be highlighted. These first results need to be completed when the programme finishes, however at this stage they are encouraging and confirm the validity of the project selection approach determined and approved by the PMC and implemented by the JTS under the supervision of the Managing Authority and above all the relevance of cooperation in the Atlantic Area.

The new Programme to be launched in 2015 will have to build on these results to support regions in developing their innovation potential, their capacities to grow in a sustainable manner thanks to green growth and eco-innovation. In addition, at the heart of the new programme will be the need to protect the territory against threats of various origins and develop regions’ natural and cultural assets to generate more environmental safety, preserve biodiversity and create new added value cultural products.

Whilst such an approach is coherent with the EU Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area and Europe 2020 strategy objectives, it is to be hoped that it will be complemented by national and regional strategies, in order to benefit from the relevant support for local and regional development to promote genuine quality of life improvements and a more socially and economically strong and cohesive Atlantic Area.

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9. Index of Figures

1. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at Programme Level ...... 5 2. Output indicators ...... 6 3. Result indicators ...... 8 4. Impact indicators ...... 9 5. Financial table ...... 10 6. Approved Projects and OP financial allocation ...... 10 7. Overbooking by priority...... 10 8. Partners by Member State ...... 11 9. Projects participation, Lead Partners and partners per MS ...... 11 10. Participating non eligible Regions of AA MS ...... 11 11. Pre-financing ERDF payments ...... 12 12. Advances...... 12 13. Financial implementation ...... 13 14. ERDF Certification dates and amounts certified ...... 13 15. Automatic Decommitment targets (December 2014) ...... 14 16. Projects closed until the end of 2014 ...... 14 17. Projects closed until the end of 2014- financial data ...... 15 18. Audit’s recommendation’s in the end of 2014 ...... 16 19. Breakdown of expenditures per priority and year ...... 16 20. Information about the breakdown of use of the funds by category ...... 17 21. Projects reporting situation ...... 24 22. Global amounts certified and reimbursements claims ...... 42 23. Forecast of payment claims for 2014 and 2015 ...... 43 24. Sample for audit to operations ...... 45 25. Projects approved on priority 1 ...... 47 26. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 1 ...... 47 27. Output indicators of priority 1 ...... 48 28. Results indicators of priority 1 ...... 49 29. Projects approved on priority 2 ...... 51 30. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 2 ...... 52

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31. Output indicators of priority 2 ...... 52 32. Results indicators of priority 2 ...... 54 33. Projects approved on priority 3 ...... 55 34. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 3 ...... 56 35. Output indicators of priority 3 ...... 57 36. Results indicators of priority 3 ...... 58 37. Projects approved on priority 4 ...... 60 38. Percentage of achievement of the output indicators at priority 4 ...... 61 39. Output indicators of priority 4 ...... 61 40. Results indicators of priority 4 ...... 63 41. TA Advances and reimbursements MA/JTS...... 64 42. NC TA expenditure declared and paid ...... 66 43. Certifying Authority TA declared expenditure ...... 67 44. Audit Authority TA declared expenditure ...... 67 45. TA budget consolidated until 2014 and forecasted budget for 2015 ...... 68 46. Participation in events 2014 ...... 70 47. Communication Plan indicators ...... 75

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10. Index of Appendices

Annex I. 2014 dashboard Annex II. Technical assistance budget for 2014 Annex III. Agenda and Minutes PMC Meeting 23.10.2014 Annex IV. Project activities monitoring and progress implementation Annex V. Projects achievements

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APPENDIX IV| INFORMATION RELATED TO PROJECTS APPROVED Project activities monitoring| Progress implementation until 2014

I. Physical and financial execution regarding projects working plan ...... 2 II. Priority 1 - Promote transnational entrepreneurial and innovation networks………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 Objective 1: Develop knowledge transfers between companies and research centers ...... 10 Objective 2: Enhance competitiveness and innovation capacities in maritime economy niches of excellence ...... 27 Objective 3: Stimulate economic conversion and diversification by promoting regional endogenous potential ...... 97 III. Priority 2 - Protect, secure and enhance the marine and coastal environment sustainability ...... 122 Objective 1 - Improve maritime safety...... 123 Objective 2 - Sustainable management and protection of the resources of marine spaces ...... 174 Objective 3 - Exploit the renewable energy potential of the marine and coastal environment ...... 191 Objective 4 - Protect and promote natural spaces, water resources and coastal zones ...... 208 IV. Priority 3 - Improve accessibility and internal links ...... 223 Objective 1- Promote interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/airintermodality ...... 224 V. Priority 4 - Promote transnational synergies in sustainable urban and regional development ...... 253 Objective 1- Pool resources and skills in the field of sustainable urban and rural development ...... 254 Objective 3 - Conserve and promote Atlantic cultural heritage of transnational interest ...... 275

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I. Physical and financial execution regarding projects working plan (all projects are included on this table)

Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

TOTAL 153126400,5 119963605,9 78,34 512 302 58,98 44 8,59 40 7,81 33 6,45 91 17,77 422,9 82,59

1 49885780,11 38750085,93 77,68 199 121 60,8 20 10,05 21 10,55 6 3,02 31 15,58 159,8 80,29

1.1 14634581,07 12913023,95 88,24 57 48 84,21 8 14,04 1 1,75 0 0 0 0 49 86

ATLANTKIS 2278341,19 2278341,19 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

ENERMATaa 1870103,05 1870103,05 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

KNETWORKS 1844000 1464324,69 79,41 9 9 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 100

NETALGAE 1514049,54 1514049,54 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

PHARMATLANTIC 1930968,67 1930968,67 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

ShareBiotech 2423536,12 2423536,12 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

SHIPWELD 1431700,69 1431700,69 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

STAMAR 1341881,81 0 0 9 0 0 8 88,89 1 11,11 0 0 0 0 1 11,34

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

1.2 14045472,49 7647302,8 54,45 63 19 30,16 8 12,7 9 14,29 5 7,94 22 34,92 41,9 66,55

ACRUNET 2251115,74 643794,39 28,6 9 1 11,11 2 22,22 4 44,44 2 22,22 0 0 3,1 33,93

AtlanticBlueTech 1186769,43 196610,95 16,57 6 1 16,67 2 33,33 0 0 2 33,33 1 16,67 2,5 40,89

AUXNAVALIA 1534865,2 1534865,2 100 12 12 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 100

GEPETO 1587498,07 839424,78 52,88 6 0 0 1 16,67 0 0 0 0 5 83,33 4,6 76,93

HARVESTAtlantic 1003555,61 547412,81 54,55 6 1 16,67 0 0 1 16,67 0 0 4 66,67 4,5 74,84

KIMERAA 1182117,59 962641,71 81,43 5 2 40 0 0 0 0 1 20 2 40 4,2 83,5

LABELFISH 1922838,78 1296194,04 67,41 6 1 16,67 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 83,33 5,3 88,6

MARMED 2066765,96 1146527,37 55,47 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100 3,9 78

MARNET 1309946,11 479831,55 36,63 8 1 12,5 3 37,5 4 50 0 0 0 0 1,9 24

1.3 21205726,55 18189759,18 85,78 79 54 68,35 4 5,06 11 13,92 1 1,27 9 11,39 68,8 87,14

ATCLUSTERS 1280394,53 1280394,53 100 4 4 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 100

ATVENTURE 1208537,65 1208537,65 100 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100

CANTATA2 1845486,3 1845486,3 100 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

CINEW 993428 106717,01 10,74 7 0 0 2 28,57 5 71,43 0 0 0 0 1,9 27,63

CISNET 1515551,82 756621,73 49,92 6 0 0 0 0 5 83,33 0 0 1 16,67 2,5 42,37

ECOINNOVA 1236602,84 1236602,84 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

IMAGINAATLANTICA 1776626,42 1776626,42 100 11 11 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 100

INNOVATE 2261379,99 1636702,35 72,38 9 3 33,33 1 11,11 1 11,11 1 11,11 3 33,33 8 89,3

NEA2 5051659,05 4306010,4 85,24 7 1 14,29 1 14,29 0 0 0 0 5 71,43 6,3 90,41

RethE 1665755,71 1665755,71 100 10 10 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 100

WINAtlantic 2370304,24 2370304,24 100 9 9 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 100

2 59042893,53 44396402,61 75,19 169 81 47,93 8 4,73 14 8,28 21 12,43 43 25,44 140,1 82,91

2.1 14381700,28 9511381,88 66,14 55 26 47,27 3 5,45 6 10,91 6 10,91 14 25,45 44,5 80,97

ARCOPOL 2564198,67 2564198,67 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

ARCOPOLplatform 1584989,39 202232,2 12,76 8 0 0 1 12,5 4 50 3 37,5 0 0 3,8 47,04

ARCOPOLPLUS 1677203,4 1677203,4 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

AUXNAVALIAPLUS 1977792 1351826,89 68,35 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 9 90 8,8 87,77

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

MARLEANET 1977996,66 1977996,66 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

NETMAR 2809707,16 871520,74 31,02 9 1 11,11 2 22,22 2 22,22 2 22,22 2 22,22 4,1 45,66

SPRES 1789813 866403,32 48,41 7 4 57,14 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 42,86 6,9 98,36

2.2 22771360,48 20386661,85 89,53 48 33 68,75 0 0 0 0 5 10,42 8 16,67 45,8 95,42

BIOTECMAR 2227820,02 2227820,02 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

EASYCO 2358153,1 2358153,1 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

FAME 3523166,9 3191732,65 90,59 4 4 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 100

MAIA 3032604,35 2298416,8 75,79 7 1 14,29 0 0 0 0 5 71,43 1 14,29 4,4 62,84

MeshAtlantic 3426403,15 3426403,15 100 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100

PORTONOVO 1314064,82 1314064,82 100 8 4 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 25 8,9 111,65

PRESPO 3709675,14 3050985,13 82,24 6 5 83,33 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 16,67 6 99,82

SEAFARE 3179473 2519086,18 79,23 5 1 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 80 4,5 89,62

2.3 10217729,37 3392399,38 33,2 39 4 10,26 5 12,82 7 17,95 10 25,64 13 33,33 23,1 59,16

ATLANTICPOWER 2894805,79 1143867,73 39,51 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100 6,7 95,62

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Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

EnergyMare 3042432,4 770773,27 25,33 8 1 12,5 0 0 4 50 3 37,5 0 0 3,8 47,93

MAREN 1453063,68 1035623,36 71,27 7 1 14,29 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 85,71 6,2 88,17

MAREN2 1052952,25 113250 10,76 6 1 16,67 2 33,33 2 33,33 1 16,67 0 0 1,7 28,15

TURNKEY 1774475,25 328885,02 18,53 11 1 9,09 3 27,27 1 9,09 6 54,55 0 0 4,7 42,6

2.4 11672103,4 11105959,5 95,15 27 18 66,67 0 0 1 3,7 0 0 8 29,63 26,7 98,93

AARC 4416332,7 3850188,8 87,18 9 1 11,11 0 0 1 11,11 0 0 7 77,78 8,7 96,97

ANCORIM 1602380,21 1602380,21 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

Atlantox 1698420,63 1698420,63 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

REINFFORCE 3954969,86 3954969,86 100 5 4 80 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 5 99,66

3 23146186,94 17848522,14 77,11 54 31 57,41 6 11,11 3 5,56 5 9,26 9 16,67 42,8 79,17

3.1 21409102,62 16111437,82 75,26 46 23 50 6 13,04 3 6,52 5 10,87 9 19,57 34,8 75,55

BATTERIE 3435848,11 2150099,01 62,58 7 1 14,29 0 0 0 0 1 14,29 5 71,43 5,7 81,87

CFAEFFIPLAT 1320718,74 123506,28 9,35 4 0 0 4 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

DURATINET 2590628,42 2590628,42 100 10 10 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 100

INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE

Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

REPUTE 1466301 48890,14 3,33 6 0 0 2 33,33 3 50 1 16,67 0 0 1,8 29,87

SITE 6437499,14 5040206,76 78,29 8 1 12,5 0 0 0 0 3 37,5 4 50 6,2 77,85

START 6158107,21 6158107,21 100 11 11 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 100

3.2 1737084,32 1737084,32 100 8 8 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 100

PROPOSSE 1737084,32 1737084,32 100 8 8 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 100

4 21051539,87 18968595,18 90,11 90 69 76,67 10 11,11 2 2,22 1 1,11 8 8,89 80,2 89,14

4.1 9723530,73 9545527,29 98,17 35 31 88,57 0 0 1 2,86 0 0 3 8,57 34,4 98,28

AAPUBLICSERV 2247263,55 2247263,55 100 7 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 100

ANATOLE 1835797,78 1835797,78 100 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100

BATFARM 2083067,56 2083067,56 100 6 5 83,33 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 16,67 6 99,6

CLIMATLANTIC 1999434,67 1821431,23 91,1 6 3 50 0 0 1 16,67 0 0 2 33,33 5,4 90,39

PARKATLANTIC 1557967,17 1557967,17 100 11 11 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 100

4.2 3039109,86 1904939,29 62,68 20 14 70 6 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 70

ATBrand 1134170,57 0 0 6 0 0 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Eligible expenditure of the operational Number of operational activities activities

>= 50% e < >= 75% e < Project Appr 100% < 25% >= 25% e < 50% Average Approved Executed 75% 100% oved executed executed executed execution executed executed

€ € % Nº Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº % Nº %

KNOWCITIES 1904939,29 1904939,29 100 14 14 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 100

4.3 8288899,28 7518128,6 90,7 35 24 68,57 4 11,43 1 2,86 1 2,86 5 14,29 31,8 90,93

ATLANTERRA 2382284,71 1843514,03 77,38 6 2 33,33 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 66,67 5,8 96,87

CruiseAtlanticEuro 693213,13 693213,13 100 6 3 50 0 0 1 16,67 1 16,67 1 16,67 4,8 79,54

DORNA 1583244,51 1351244,51 85,35 12 8 66,67 4 33,33 0 0 0 0 0 0 10,2 85,35

ECOSALATLANTIS 2817735,7 2817735,7 100 6 6 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100

ULTREIA 812421,23 812421,23 100 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100

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II. Priority 1 - Promote transnational entrepreneurial and innovation networks Objective 1: Develop knowledge transfers between companies and research centers

. ATLANTKIS . STAMAR Objective 2: Enhance competitiveness and innovation capacities in maritime economy niches of excellence

. ACRUNET . ATLANTICBLUETECH . GEPETO . HARVESATLANTIC . KIMERAA . LABELFISH . MARMED . MARNET Objective 3: Stimulate economic conversion and diversification by promoting regional endogenous potential

. CINEW . CISNET . IMAGINAATLANTICA . INNOVATE . NEA2

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Objective 1: Develop knowledge transfers between companies and research centers

ATLANT-KIS | Priority:1.1 |Nº 2008-1/033 www.atlantkis.eu

Title ATLANT-KIS

Slogan “ATLANTKIS- Platform of Knowledge Intensive Services for Innovation and Technology and Knowledge Transfer”

Project summary The overall goal of ATLANT-KIS is to enhance the Knowledge and Technology Transfer and innovation processes on SMEs through the promotion and co-operation of Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS) at the Atlantic Area. Additionally, and as a longer term goal, it also aims to contribute to the development of Clusters of KIS at the Atlantic Area, which might help identify the area as an excellent one in the supply of KIS. The project submitted an extension facility form in February 2013, which was approved during the summer. The extension runs from 01-09-2013 to 30-04-2014 and included 6 out of the 8 original partners plus one new partner (South East Business & Information Center, from Ireland). The project extension included 3 new actions: 1. Implementation of Regional Action Plans (RAP) agreed by partners for the mainstreaming of transferred Best Practices. 2. Implementation of the ATLANT-KIS Platform’s Sustainability plan. 3. Further dissemination of platform results and KIS sector capabilities vis a vis the new EU programming period programmes and strategies. Project Lead Partner Departamento de Economía, Hacienda, Industria y Empleo del Gobierno de Navarra.

Partnership Bretagne Développement Innovation (FR). Has not joined the extension; Consellería de Innovación e Industria, Xunta de Galicia (ES); Agência de Innvação (PT). Has not joined the extension; Devon and Cornwall Business Council (UK). Has not joined the extension; South & Eastern Regional Assembly (IE); Westbic (IE); Border, Midlands and West Regional Assembly (IE); South East Business & Information Centre Ltd. New partner for the extension. Starting date 01-06-2009

Ending date 09-07-2014

Total eligible budget € 2 278 966,19

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Total ERDF budget € 1 480 921,77

Global performance

1) Implementation Progress- Activities

2) Main project The results achieved in the present reporting period are the following: achievements - Outputs Activity 2 - Final Steering Committe and Technical Committee meetings and corresponding minutes Activity 5 - 3 new Good Practices on Kis promotion transferred ( Innovation vouchers to Navarra, Business Accelerator to Galicia and International Cooperation Projects to BMW) and 1 improved ( Roscomm Innovation House in BMW). Activity 6 All required actions were taken by the responsible partner (partner 9: SEBIC) for the redevelopment and migration of the Platform to the participating regions. - 3 new regional platforms have been developped, launched and promoted at regional (national in Ireland) level. Navarra www.internet.gccpublica.navarra.es/bonoSIC/default.aspx Galicia http://atlantkis.pinng.es/ Ireland at country level www.biz4biz.ie Activity 7 - Final Seminar - Platform dissemination activities at regional level ( brochures, mailing, events) - Regional events on Europe 2020 opportunities for KIS 3) Project Results and A5 Transfer of Good Practices – New action nº 3: “Implementation of RAP for mainstreaming of Best Practices”. Impacts Navarra: Navarra Government has deepened on the “Innovation Voucher” GP transferred from Border Midlands and Western Region in Ireland. After its test implementation on limited pilot in 2012, Navarra Government has defined an Innovation Voucher instrument (BONO SIC), based upon such good practice, which is included on the 4th Technology Plan of Navarra (2012-2015): “Grants for the elaboration and presentation of national and/or international cooperative R+D projects”. In March 2014 first call was launched (Official Journal of Navarra, 28th February 2014) and the call deadline was 15th December 2014. This tool allows SMEs to receive, under certain conditions, funds for hiring technical assistance by a KIS provider to help them prepare a R&D project proposal. In a context where regional budget is limited, this measure may help SMEs to get EU or national funds for developing their R&D activities. The results are a high number of projects presented by regional entities to different calls (especially H2020…). Galicia: GAIN has conducted the definition of a new business accelerator for technology based companies in Galicia region based on the Navarra case EIBT Network (technology based companies network). The information about this practice was provided in the beginning of ATLANT KIS

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project providing information about the budget, human resources and results. During 2014, GAIN and its regional partner, TECNOPOLE, Galician Technology Park, develop this definition of a new business accelerator and a draft of a new call to promote in the near future a start up competition in Galicia. Ireland: The BMW Regional Assembly is managing a pilot project focused on improving KIS transfer from public bodies to the medical technology sector. As part of the MetricIreland Initiative previously supported by the AtlantKIS the Assembly is overseeing a €25,000 research voucher programme. The programme of work has been agreed and the first payment was issued in December 2013. During 2014 the first pilot project was put in place focusing upon determining a Supply-Chain Business Model for the Med-Tech Sector. Likewise, in the Border Midlands and Western region (Ireland), Westbic has worked in close cooperation with BMW Assembly, the other Irish partner in this region, on performance, priority actions for the region and proposed delivery mechanisms for the project extension. A review of performance to date of good practice transfers and evaluation of potential for further transfer activity/mainstreaming of existing initiatives was conducted as follows:  Exploration of opportunities for further mainstreaming of the PRDT (Innovation House) initiative, including discussion with Roscommon County Council and other stakeholders as part of Enterprise and Innovation Strategy for the region; Also discussion with stakeholders in other areas for development of similar initiatives and for sector-specific approaches  Research into possible new international-co-operation projects as part of second good practice transfer, including review of interreg calls (e.g. Northern Periphery and Cross Border programmes), H2020 drafts/final documents and discussion with regional stakeholders and international partners on project priorities /potential; A6 Virtual platform - New Action nº 5: “Implementation of Platform Sustainability Study”.The sustainability plan for the platform was conducted in 2012. Contacts with Europe Enterprise Network as a stakeholder organisation were undertaken during Atlant-KIS but discussions were not fruitful most likely due to financial issues (cost of hosting and maintaining the platform and database). A discussion was conducted during the extension kick-off in Pamplona on September 26th 2013 and partners agreed that the most financially feasible option was to split the platform among the different regional partners but retaining the transnational element. During 2014, partners conducted the migration of KIS4SMES platform to regional platforms. In the case of Galicia and Navarra, it has been integrated with other related platforms or websites and in the case of Ireland, developing a national version. The individual regional platforms are interconnected between them ensuring the trans-national outreach of the platform. - Navarra Government: developped the platform http://internet.gccpublica.navarra.es/bonoSIC/default.aspx - GAIN conducted the necessary work for the integration of the KIS4SMES platform with an Open innovation platform created on the framework of ATLAN-KIS project, the so called Pinng platform (http://atlatkis.pinng.es), created as a 2.0 network for technology transfer, as a transfer of Navactiva good practice from Navarra. SEBIC, SERA, BMW Assembly and Westbic started the development of the national (Irish) version of the KIS4SMES platform, which has been launched in a transnational event held in Dublin on the 29th April 2014. www.biz4biz.ie is a free service for organisations & professionals in the knowledge economy to find and do business with each other. The new platform incorporates the feedback from the focus group/interviews in Ireland. The result is a simple, easy to use system that is optimised for Search Engine Optimization and supported by FB, Twitter and Linkedin.

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A7 Promotion, dissemination and exploitation activities In order to enhance KIS sector capabilities vis a vis the new EU programming period programmes and strategies, several infodays have been organized with more tahn 400 attendants (mostly SMEs): Navarra: 5 Info Days KIS and Europe 2020 - Secure, clean and efficient energy, on 09/01/2014; - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy, on 28/01/2014; - Nanotechnologies, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing and processing, and biotechnology (industrial leadership), on 06/03/2014; - Health, demographic change and wellbeing, on 22/01/2014; - SME instrument, on 10/04/2014. Galicia KIS promotion and H2020 events: - Trainig related to H2020 and KIS promotion at NAVALIA ( international shipbuilding Exhibiion) in Vigo 24th and 26th May 2014 - May 7th 2014 on H2020 and Safety Spocieties - May 13th 2014 on H2020 and transport 4) Main contributions to the The activities carried out during 2014 contribute to the objective 1.1 of the Operational Programme (OP) leading to the “Development of Atlantic Area Programme Knowledge Transfer between companies and research centers” and more precisely “pooling of expertise in transnational technical assistance achieved networks to help SMEs diagnose and solve legal, organisational and human issues associated with innovation processes” In the Atlantic area, Knowledge Intensive Services Providers have a key role as intermediaries or facilitators for the Knowledge Transfer. ATLANT KIS activities have been oriented to the promotion of these services in order to encourage and ease SMEs’s innovation processes. This objective has been achieved thanks to the following activities/outputs: Further implementation of the GPs transferred by partners in the respective regions (A5) according to the regional action plans. Further promotion of KIS in the regions taking part in the extension through the transfer of the KIS4SMEs platform at the regional level. Dissemination events linked to H2020 Transnational problem: ATLANT KIS tackles the issue with a transnational approach. During 2014, partners have further implemented the GP transferred from other regions in order to strengthen their KIS sector in their region as identified during the diagnosis phase (A3) and the initial transfer that took place in A5 up until 2012. The KIS4SMEs platform created under A6 fosters transnational networking of the final beneficiaries of the project and key actors of the knowledge economy: SMEs and KIS providers. During 2014, the platform has been transferred at the regional level while maintaining the transnational approach, in order to ensure its sustainability as highlighted in the sustainability study conducted in 2012. Territorial balance: The partnership taking part in the project extension is composed of Atlantic Area regions ranging all levels of development on the Relative Development Index (RDI), from very high such as Ireland, to low RDI, such as Galicia in Spain. Despite their differences in RDI, the project has highlighted that regions face the same challenges.

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Cohesion policy: During A5, the experimentation of new approaches to the promotion of KIS based upon successful experiences in the Atlantic Area was been carried out. An evaluation on the the experimentation in the regions participating in the project extension has allowed mainstreaming some pilot projects into regional polices in order to strengthen the KIS sector on involved regions, and reduce regional economic disparities. This is for example the case of Navarra in the GP transferred (“Grants for the elaboration and presentation of national and/or international cooperative R+D projects”) has been implemented as a regional call. 5) Implementation The aspects related to the methodology developed and implemented in 2014 are the following: methodology aspects Transfer of Best Practices and new models on the promotion of KIS: Activity 5. attained 3 new good practices on KIS promotion have been transferered to other regions and 1 good practice transferred during project execution until 2012 has been imporved and further opportunities developped. Networking of KIS on the Atlantic Area: Activity 6. The ATLANT KIS platform KIS4SMEs was launched on-line in August 2011. Since then a great effort on dissemination at regional level was done.During project extension the platform has been transferred to each of the regions Navarra www.internet.gccpublica.navarra.es/bonoSIC/default.aspx , Galicia http://atlantkis.pinng.es/ and Ireland at country level www.biz4biz.ie while maintaining its transnational character though a functionality that will allow connecting the regional databases and conducting transnational searches. This has been the option selected by projects taking part in the project extension in order to ensure the mid to long term sustainability of the platform, as highlighted by the platform sustainability study conducted in 2012. 6) Innovative aspects of the Transnational approach: project achieved The exchange of good practices amongst partners was made during the project duration based upon the results of the regional audits, and this ensured that the regional and transnational needs were met by the GP transferred in the framework of the AtlantKIS project. This has been furthered during the project extension, during which participating partners are further implementing these GPs. Horizontal approach: ATLANT-KIS is aware that other new complementary initiatives are being launched at the EU level dealing on the KIS and services sector innovation. A benchmarking on existing tools and networks was developed during project duration and some exchanges with some tools managers were done. Tools: All the works, tools and deliverables follow an internal strategy and are oriented to achieve ATLANT KIS objective. The innovative aspects related to the tools utilized in 2014 are: - New good practices has been transferred at regional level through the implementation of the Regional Action Plans in the participating regions (Navarra, Galicia and BMW). - Transfer of the virtual KIS – Platform (KIS4SMEs) to the regions in order to ensure its sustainability beyond project lifetime. A functionality allowing for cross-searches of the database independently of the origin of the search query will ensure maintaining the transnationality of the platform

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Operation management

1) Management and Consortium meetings coordination activities The last transnational meeting took place in Dublin, on 29th April 2014. P6 SERA hosted and organised the meeting. Lead partner prepared the organized in the period agenda and minutes and animated the meeting. All partners attended the meeting. The agenda for the meeting was: Official welcome (SERA) Summary of activities in the regions (GPs and platform) Navarra Galicia Border, Midlands &Western Region (GPs) Southern & Eastern Region (Platform) Each partner explained the status on the implementation of the good practices and SERA presented the platform. There was an exchange on the regional experiences. ACTIVITY 2 Management and Coordination (Navarra) Status of 8th Progress report and Payment claim 9th(Final) Progress Report Concerning the final report it was agreed by the partnership and the JTS that the expenditure to include in the report should be made and paid for before 31st May. Future Collaboration Possibilities & Closing remarks (Navarra and SERA) Partner involved on project extension showed their interest in following up ATLANT KIS cooperation under Atlantic Area or other European Programmes. 2. Tools: The coordination and management tools used during this period were the same as those from previous periods, with the exception of the project intranet that has been substituted by a dropbox account. The lead Partner was in permanent communication through e-mails, intranet and telephone with project partners and the Joint Technical Secretariat. 2) Monitoring and A balanced scorecard with indicators on project progress was updated all along the project life. It was agreed by partners not to implement a evaluation activities BSC during project extension given the nature of the activities and the reduced number of partners taking part. The progress of the activities is organized in the period monitored by the LP.

3) Main problems found Final Report. The submission of the progress report was very delayed. Several first leve contol processes have been longer than expected but the and solutions adopted delay was mainly due to a very late submission of requested documents by P3 Xunta de Galicia. The JTS accepted and extension on the final during the period report submission date. The partnership and JTS agreed on including on the final report expenditure paid until the 31st May 2014.

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4) Majors impacts of N/A eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Final Dissemination Seminar held in Dublin on the 29th April 2014 with the attendance of 14 delegates. P6 SERA was the hosting partner. The communication final seminar’s aim was to present the final project outcomes, to launch the Irish platform, to present the pilot project on promotion on KIS in achievements Medical Devices Sector in BMW Region and to show new opportunities for collaboration on the new programming period 2014-2020. The organization of 8 Info Days about the opportunities in Horizon 2020 in Navarra and Galicia with more than 400 participants. Regional promotion of regional platforms (brochures, mailing campaigns…) Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, N/A handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Promotional brochures of regional platforms (Galicia and Ireland) handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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STAMAR | Priority: 1.1 |Nº 2013-1/210 www.stamar-project.eu

tle ESCAPARATE DE TECNOLOGÍAS APLICABLES A PYMES DEL SECTOR MARÍTIMO EN EL ÁREA ÁTLÁNTICA

Slogan STAMAR

Project summary STAMAR Project aims to improve the competiveness and innovation capacity of SMEs in the Atlantic Area maritime sector by facilitating technology transfer processes through the creation of a transnational demonstration centre of capacities and technologies which are applicable to the maritime industry, paying special attention to those technologies which favour an environmental sustainable development. The project focuses on six main activities apart from management and coordination, evaluation and communication: Sectorial Technology surveillance. Creating the technologies portfolio which best fit with the maritime sector. Creating a transnational demonstration Centre; Design and development of a common transfer strategy based on “technology push”; Organization of Co-creation events between SMEs and investigation/technological Centres; Dealing with previous selected technologies transfer. Project Lead Partner Axencia para a Modernización Tecnolóxica de Galicia - AMTEGA

Partnership University of Porto (Portugal); Tipperary County Council (Ireland); University of Algarve (Portugal); Marine Institute (Ireland); University of ; trathclyde (United Kingdom); Inescporto (Portugal); Axencia Galega de Innovación (Spain); Technopole Brest Iroise (France) Starting date 01-01-2014

Ending date 30-06-2015

Total eligible budget 1.341.881,81 €

Total ERDF budget 872.223,16 €

Global performance

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1) Implementation During 2014 STAMAR has advanced in the following activities: Progress- Activities Sectorial technological surveillance in the project participating regions Partnership has created a transnational working group, which has already organized 2 meetings (Waterford, 31st July, and Brest; 11th December). On the basis of the technologies identified in the survey sheets collected in the activity 2, this working group has elaborated the first surveillance report in each one of the participating regions and the draft of the second one. Preparation of a transnational portfolio of best available technologies for the maritime sector (BAT) A methodologies document was elaborated in order to implement this activity and the previous one. The first aim was to collect all the information regarding technological centers and R&D companies and their corresponding ICT technologies focused on the maritime affairs, using for this objective a common survey form. After that, partners involved in this activity pre-selected the best technologies in their corresponding regions, suggesting 3-5 of them to be part of the BAT (Best Available Technologies) portfolio of the Atlantic Area. Finally a draft document of the BAT portfolio was created. Creation of the Transnational Demonstration Centre of Technologies A comprehensive proposal of Transnational Demonstration Centre creation was presented based on the experience of the Galician Demonstration Centre. Moreover, in order to promote this Transnational Centre and to provide its different head offices with a homogenous structure, a specific corporate image has been designed. Regarding the dissemination of the BAT portfolio, partnership is working on the identification of stakeholders and specialized websites and magazines in the maritime sector. Each region also will take advantage of the Demonstration sessions to SMES to disseminate the BAT portfolio. Partners involved in this task are organizing their own sessions in order to celebrate them in March, following the next steps: Analysis of the BAT portfolio and all the surveillance reports, and identification of the most interesting technologies for their regional maritime SMES Management and coordination of these events: lounges, dates, invitation of interesting technological centres in Galicia and outside, etc. Dissemination of these events focused on maritime SMES Design and implementation of a joint strategy to approach technology to the market Partnership has created the corresponding working group of this activity, which meeting will take place in Porto (Portugal) on the 10th February 2015. Each region has sent its own technology push regional methodology and in this future working group meeting they will decide together the strategy to follow in the valorization of the technologies. Organization of co-creation sessions between Research Centres and SMEs

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Taking into consideration the activity aim (To encourage work dynamics that facilitate the incorporation of market needs to research processes through the organization of joint working sessions between SMEs and research/technology centres) partnership has started in the organization of these events. The idea of STAMAR is to analyze the ICT technological offer (close to the market but still not in the market), but there is an important gap to fill in: to know the maritime sector technological needs. That´s why the lead partner, after contracting all the tasks intended for it in the project, has used the remaining budget to launch a new contract in order to make a survey about technological needs in the maritime sector. This study can be used as background and starting point in the co-creation sessions, intended to be organized in April 2015. Implementation of technology transfer pilot projects with SMEs of the maritime sector After the pre-selection of technologies in each region, partners have been working on the identification of the most adequate technologies to be piloted in a concrete SME. The idea is that each region matches a SME need with a technological solution identified previously, encouraging the concrete implementation of this technology in this maritime sector SME. For example, the lead partner has identified a technological solution based on electronic auction for a fish market. Implementation of the project communication actions The STAMAR partnership has developed the following communication actions: Design and elaboration of the project corporate image Creation of a project micro-website in the lead partner web: http://amtega.xunta.es/amtega/proxectos_europeos/stamar/stamar.html Creation of a project official e-mail: [email protected] Register of the domain names of the official website: www.stamar-project.com/es/net/org/eu and first design of its contents Creation of STAMAR social networks to disseminate the project: facebook, google+, linkedin, flickr, slideshare and youtube. Design of newsletter contents Organization and celebration of the launching conference in Santiago de Compostela (28.11.2014) and a project presentation in Ireland First news in a general information newspaper (as electronically as on paper): http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/economia/2014/12/15/super-tecnologia-maritima/0003_201412G15P22992.htm Direction, management, coordination and monitoring of the project STAMAR has created the Steering Committee during the Kick off meeting of Santiago de Compostela, 20-21 March, in which the partnership was informed about rules and procedures of the Atlantic Area programme together with the different activities, tasks and indicators of the STAMAR application form. After this kick off meeting, partnership has organized two other Steering Committee meetings during 2014 (Waterford, 31 July; and Brest, 11 December). For these meetings and agenda, powerpoint presentation and minutes were elaborated. The lead partner has contracted a technical assistance to help it to carry out the coordination and management of the project, and it has presented the first execution report (January-31st June 2014) and the first modification request. Moreover, the lead partner gave access to the rest of partners to the STAMAR section of the Atlantic Area webpage in order to download and upload execution reports and other functionalities related to the project management.

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Project’s external evaluation and audit Almost every partner have contracted its own first level controller and received the validation of the corresponding National Correspondent to audit the STAMAR expenditures of each participating partner. Furthermore the partner in charge of the external evaluation – GAIN – has already contracted it. 2) Main project - 1 Transnational Working Group for Technological surveillance achievements - Outputs - 2 meetings of the Transnational Working Group - 6 Regional surveillance reports about ICT technologies - 1 Draft version of the BAT portfolio - 1 proposal of Transnational Demonstration Centre contents - 1 specific corporate image for the Transnational Demonstration Centre (6 head offices) - 1 Steering Committee created - 3 meetings of the Steering Committee 3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts – This section must be completed. Impacts Definition - Results and impacts do no refer to project outputs or actions already described above. They are the concrete change generated by the project in terms of new forms of work, new inter-linkages with organizations and programmes, measurable change in organisation, legislation, plans of various nature, behavior/knowledge and awareness raising of specific target groups or beneficiaries; and of new products, services and processes generated. They should normally refer to the original specific objectives of the project, but also included project spinoffs Take into account the following elements and answer the questions when describing the results and impacts. 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree; The first part of the project (2014) was oriented to work on the identification of the most interesting ICT technologies in each region, to increase the available information about them through the regional surveillance reports and to reach the common agreement to provide the BAT report with the best ones. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) In terms of results linked to the specific objectives of the project, once identified the best technologies, the intended results will be accomplished during the first semester of 2015. 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? STAMAR will implement during the first semester of 2015 the activities that will produce the main results and impacts in the project, in terms of SMES informed about the best ICT technologies, technological centres aware about the maritime sector ICT needs, number of technologies valorized, specific implementation of technologies in concrete SMES, etc. These results are summarized in the following project specific objectives, although STAMAR expects to achieve other more: - Expand the portfolio of technology solutions so that these can be accessible by the maritime SMEs.

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- Encourage and promote the transfer of those technological solutions which contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the environment. - Provide maritime SMEs with a reference space to conduct activities which offer useful technology solutions for the sector - Design and develop a joint strategy so that it is easier for technologies to access the market and develop transfer processes. - Encouraging research centres to get closer to companies and generating, at the same time, joint workspaces. - Implement at least one transfer pilot experience in each of the participating regions

4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? The main beneficiaries/target groups are and will be the maritime sector SMES, and then other beneficiaries as research centres, R&D companies and public administrations. 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) 8-Social change generated; 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts During the first semester of 2015 STAMAR will have concrete results/impacts to be allocated in the different categories described above. 4) Main contributions to STAMAR project (Showcase Technology Applicable to SMEs in the Atlantic Maritime Area) aims at making progress in the effective transfer of the Atlantic Area technological knowledge generated in the areas related to maritime economy so that the research results reach the various productive Programme achieved sectors related to the sea. Thus, STAMAR aims to increase the chances of maritime SMEs to access technologies that help them improve performance and capacity through the creation of a transnational demonstration centre of capabilities and technologies which apply to the maritime industry, especially those which promote economic and trade development while preserving biodiversity and providing an environmentally sustainable development. The project is enshrined in priority one of the call that seeks to promote the creation and development of scientific and technological networks, increased regional RTD capacities and innovation, contributing directly to the balanced economic development of transnational areas. More specifically, the project aligns with objective 1.1 which aims to strengthen the knowledge transfer between companies and research centers. The innovative system of the Atlantic Area allocates numerous resources and staff to research, development and innovation

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and, to a lesser extent, to technology transfer. However, it is a must to promote this technology and knowledge transfer so that the productive sector and society can benefit from it. Although the European society has increased in recent years the commercial and industrial implementation of scientific, much remains to be done. However, the situation worsens, if we consider the production structure of the various sectors which conform the maritime economy, composed of local market-oriented SMEs. Moreover, the difficulties of the financial system (and the lack of adequate financial products) make the technology transfer process between knowledge production centres (mainly universities and research centres) to be developed on a smaller scale than desirable. Finally, it is also difficult to innovate through the integration of emerging technologies due to the lack of technology transfer instruments adapted to their particularities. The STAMAR project is working to overcome these difficulties from three perspectives: A technology demonstration centre, which can easily offer technological improvement opportunities. After the first six surveillance reports (one per region) about ICT technologies, the draft version of BAT and the design the corporate image, the ICT Transnational Demonstration Centre is starting its activity. The diversity of applicable approaches to promote the technology transfer, identifying which vehicles are suitable for each technology and sector. A territorial approach so that each region will focus their transfer and demonstration efforts taking into accounts their sectorial specializations. 5) Implementation Each participating region is focusing its demonstrating and transfer efforts in the strongest specializations for the sector SMEs from all methodology aspects participating regions in order to have access to the technologies which best meet their needs, regardless of their location. attained The STAMAR project contributes to the overall goal by pursuing the following specific objectives. 1. Expand the portfolio of technology solutions so that these can be accessible by the maritime SMEs. 2. Encourage and promote the transfer of those technological solutions which contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the environment. 3. Provide maritime SMEs with a reference space to conduct activities which offer useful technology solutions for the sector. 4. Design and develop a joint strategy so that it is easier for technologies to access the market and develop transfer processes. 5. Encouraging research centres to get closer to companies and generating, at the same time, joint workspaces. 6. Implement at least one transfer pilot experience in each of the participating regions In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the project is divided into seven different activities, as well as a management, coordination and evaluation activity: 1. Technology surveillance in the regions participating in the project. 2. Transnational technology portfolio. 3. Technology demonstration centre. 4. Push Technology 5. Co-creation 6. Steering. Management of transfer processes of previously selected technologies

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7. Communication campaign. 8. Coordination, management and evaluation. The methodology designed for the implementation of STAMAR, which is based on the general systems theory, implies that each of the project activities "works" or runs to make the rest of the activities "work" or run, thus allowing the whole project to “work”. With this objective in mind, the STAMAR project created a small management structure of each of the activities which, in turn, will be part of the management structure of the entire project. Thus, a working group was created for the activities 1&2, as well as for the activity 4, and they are integrated by a technical representative from each of the entities involved in the implementation of this activity. The working group of the activities 1&2 is conducted by Marine Institute, and the activity 4 one by University of Porto. These organizations are responsible for directing, supervising, planning and ensuring the implementation of the activity and the achievement of the objectives. At the same time, the Project Steering Committee, which is lead by AMTEGA as its main beneficiary, is responsible for the guidance, planning, management, implementation and monitoring of the entire operation. The Steering Committee consists of one representative, with decision- making power, from each of the entities of the partnership. The technical representative responsible for each entity, which is in charge of an Activity Working Group, is also part of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee would meet on regular basis once every four months. Meetings are held preferably on a rotating basis in all participating regions. In these Steering Committee meetings, the project strategic decisions were made. Minutes have been taken of all Steering Committee meetings and they have been sent to all members for approval. During this period three Steering Committee meetings were organized in Santiago de Compostela (20-21.03.14), Waterford (30-31.7.14) and Brest (11.12.14) Moreover, in order to strengthen the management and monitoring work, an external evaluation of the project has been contracted. This external evaluation will aim at increasing the quality of the effects of aid through a systematic assessment of the design, implementation, results and impacts of the project. This evaluation will be considered as a process to think about what exactly is being done with the sole aim of improving it. Thus, the evaluation proposed for the STAMAR project will aim at learning, so that the achievements can be incorporated into the management and planning and correct the aspects in which the original objectives of the project have not been achieved. Evaluation shares an on-going improvement philosophy. Finally, regarding the economic management of the project, in order to ensure transparency and proper management of the budget, the STAMAR partnership contracted an external economic and financial audit service. 6) Innovative aspects of the The STAMAR project presents methodologies and solutions which are innovative and specific to a traditional and cohesive environment: the project achieved Atlantic Area and its associated sectors. STAMAR identifies in an innovative way the dimension problems of sea-related companies, particularly SMEs. In these companies it is more difficult to incorporate innovation into the companies’ culture. Additionally, these companies often belong to well-established traditional sectors, which show a great resistance to changes and innovation and, in addition, the innovation processes are slower than in high-

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technology companies. However, the problems are not only related to the technology demand, also technology supply is often far away from the real needs (or at least far from the perception of those needs) of the sector companies. In order to identify the problems related to innovation and technology transfer within the maritime sector, innovative methodologies are also used in this period: integrated approach to maritime economy to address issues of the maritime sector as a whole seeking the most appropriate approach for each problem (co-working, Technology Push, etc.); creation of a technology demonstration centre of the sea-related sectors which offers research centres and SMEs in the service sector products such as a transnational VIT (Very Important Technology) portfolio of technology solutions for the sector. This centre will enable the demonstration of technology solutions which will be presented to the industry in a practical way and will serve as a reference centre for technology promotion for the whole sector; territorial approach in which each participating territory will focus its demonstration and technology transfer efforts in those specializations which are stronger so that sectors SMEs from all participating regions have access to their best suited technologies, regardless of their geographical location. Moreover, the project also deals with innovation in terms of the obtained results, which must be tangible, measurable and quantifiable. Among the expected results, the most important ones are the development of pilot experiences through the support and advice for the implementation of transfer pilot projects in those maritime SMEs which have interest in starting a technology innovation experience. The creation of a transnational portfolio of technology solutions is also innovative and must contribute to the biodiversity and environment conservation which favours the transfer and adoption of technology, including the best established marine economy sectors. At this moment, STAMAR has elaborated six regional surveillance reports and a BAT draft report, together with the identification of two SMES-Technologies in Galicia and Ireland to implement pilot projects and a technology to be part of the technology push process in Galicia. Furthermore the ICT Transnational Demonstration Centre is starting its activity. Operation management

1) Management and STAMAR has implemented the following management and coordination tasks during 2014: coordination activities Creation of the Steering Committee with at least one representative of each participating entity and lead by AMTEGA organized in the period Creation of the Activities 1&2 working group lead by Marine Institute. Creation of the Activity 4 working group lead by University of Porto Celebration of 3 Steering Committee meetings: Santiago de Compostela (20-21.03.14), Waterford (30-31.07.14) and Brest (11.12.14), with their corresponding agenda, powerpoint presentation and minutes Celebration of 2 Activities 1&2 working groups in Waterford and Brest Submission of an execution report to the JTS (January-June 2014) Submission of a modification request with the substitution of the partner nº3, and administrative and budgetary changes Creation of the STAMAR section in the Atlantic Area website, giving access to the different representatives of the partnership in order to download and upload reports

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2) Monitoring and As the lead partner as each activity leader have monitored the project activities implementation since the beginning of the eligibility period. evaluation activities This monitoring was implemented using different tools: fase-to-fase meetings, telephone, e-mail, etc. organized in the period Moreover, the partner nº 8 – GAIN – has already contracted the external evaluation of the project, which will carry out the independent monitoring and evaluation of the STAMAR implementation until the end of the eligibility period. 3) Main problems found The beginning of every project implementation is always difficult: most of times these projects have delays in the starting process of the and solutions adopted whole project in general and, specifically, in each activity launching. during the period In the concrete case of STAMAR there were two limiting factors: the short execution period available (aggravated by a delay in the official starting process of its implementation) and the nature of public administration of some key actors in the project (the lead partner, for instance). This second factor produces delays in the contracting process of several tasks intended in STAMAR. Despite these limiting factors the Steering Committee of STAMAR has developed several measures to avoid their negative influence. Namely: A new tight calendar to implement all the activities and their corresponding results before the end of the eligibility period Design of a set of contracts to carry out (mainly thinking in public administrations as the lead partner) in order to reduce the effects of long contracting procedures launching all of them together. 4) Majors impacts of STAMAR´s partnership considered appropriate to request a modification and reallocation of its budget between years and budget headings. eventual project revisions It was also reported the substitution of South East Regional Authority (SERA) by Tipperary County Council (TCC): due to internal changes in during the period Ireland, some public administrations took over the management of certain ERDF founded projects. In this case TCC has adopted al the competencies of SERA for the execution of STAMAR project, even if the technical team in charge of all the tasks has not been changed. Moreover, the partnership takes the chance to report the changing of the legal representative for partner nº2 (Universidade do Porto), and partner nº4 (Universidade do Algarve). It was also announced the delegation of signature and responsibilities from the Director of the lead partner (AMTEGA) on the general manager of the organization, and for partner nº9 (Technopole Brest Iroise), in this case, from the President on the general director. This modification request was finally officially approved by a letter dated on 19.12.14. Communication achievements

1)Main project During this year 2014 STAMAR has achieved the following communication outcomes: communication - Design and elaboration of the project corporate image achievements - Creation of a project micro-website in the lead partner web: http://amtega.xunta.es/amtega/proxectos_europeos/stamar/stamar.html - Creation of a project official e-mail: [email protected] - Register of the domain names of the official website: www.stamar-project.com/es/net/org/eu and first design of its contents - Creation of STAMAR social networks to disseminate the project: facebook, google+, linkedin, flickr, slideshare and youtube. - Design of newsletter contents - Organization and celebration of the launching conference in Santiago de Compostela (28.11.2014) and a project presentation in Ireland - First news in a general information newspaper (as electronically as on paper):

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http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/economia/2014/12/15/super-tecnologia-maritima/0003_201412G15P22992.htm Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Six regional ICT surveillance reports (Galicia, North Portugal, South Portugal, Scotland, Ireland and Brittany) handbooks, guides…) BAT (Best Available Technologies) draft report published on any format, as ICT Transnational Demonstration Centre common promotional materials well as all promotional Plotter, poster, invitation and programme for the launching conference of Santiago de Compostela material produced in the STAMAR Corporate image guide framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Twelve regional ICT surveillance reports (2nd and 3rd surveillance report of each region) handbooks, guides…) to be Definitive BAT report published on any format, as Dissemination plan of the BAT and ICT Transnational Demonstration Centre well as all promotional Reports of Demonstration sessions implementation in each region material to be produced, Technology push common methodology until the end of the Project. Reports on valorisation of 6 technologies Reports of Co-creation sessions implementation in each region Reports on piloting of 6 technologies in 6 specific SMES 4 project newsletters Project website Materials of project closing events

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Objective 2: Enhance competitiveness and innovation capacities in maritime economy niches of excellence

ACRUNET | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/148 www.acrunet.eu

Title A Transnational Approach to Competitiveness and Innovation in the Brown Crab Industry

Slogan

Project Summary ACRUNET aims to secure the economic and social viability and sustainability of the European brown crab industry. Challenges include: managing supply from a shared resource to benefit all; poor quality consistency in live and processed sectors; increased consumer demand for products from responsibly fished stocks; shortage of value added crab products appropriate for modern consumer demands; poor market visibility and profile for brown crab product due to lack of appropriate consumer education, marketing and promotion. These will be addressed through forming a transnational network to identify and address factors to improve brown crab competitiveness through co-operation, communication and innovation with the following objectives: building an industry science interface to feed into management and policy for crab at national, regional and EU level; to develop and encourage the widespread adoption of an accredited European brown crab standard to deliver a quality, responsibly caught product to the market place; increasing economic viability of entire sector through characterisation, analysis and modeling of the industry and the identification of key cost points; enhancing competitiveness by introducing innovative practices and products informed by the industry analysis and to increase the market presence and visibility of brown crab through focused marketing and education. Project Lead Partner Bord Iascaigh Mhara(BIM (IE)

Partnership Killybegs Fishermens Organisation (IE), SeaFish (UK), FranceAgriMer (FR), Marine Institute (IE), Instituto Portugues do Mar e da Atmosfera -IPMA (PT), Centro Tecnologica Del Mar (SP), Comité National des Pêches Maritimes et des Elevages Marins (FR), Bord Bia (IE), Shellfish Association of Great Britain (UK), IFREMER (FR), Centre for Environmental, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science -CEFAS (UK), SeaFood Scotland (UK), Marine Science Scotland (UK), The University of Hull (UK). Starting date 01-07-2012

Ending Date 30-06-2015

Total Eligible Budget 2.251.115,74 €

Total ERDF Budget 1.463.224,75 €

Global performance

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1) Implementation Activity 2: Continued the role of coordinating the existing transnational network and developing new links both within the brown crab industry Progress (activities) and with other network-type organisations. Further detail of these actions are provided under each Activity below. The lead for Activity 2 (KFO) Organised 3 partner meetings (Edinburgh, Lisbon and Bristol). The transnational network was further developed by attendance at all national, Partner meetings; regular Strategic Review Committee meetings and maintaing links with other networks throughout Europe. Activity 2 also continued to deal with Industry Issues: 1.Cadmium levels in brown crab Member of industry-based WG liaising with other agencies (FSA in UK, FSAI in Ireland, Marine Institute), SAGB, Seafish, NFFO, Defra. Two meetings attended in London. 2. Effort constraints for >15 metre crabbers in ICES Areas VI & VII. Attended meeting in London. This work was greatly aided by partner 6 (IPMA) who assisted in the establishment of links with the brown crab industry and conducted a revision of ACRUNET factsheets and newsletter in Portuguese. Activity 3: Estimation of latent effort in the European crab fishery was identified as an important isssue within the Brown Crab industry and resulting from this a large amount of work was put into the following areas: • Analysis of the Irish data. • Report on latent effort in the Irish fishery. • A Partner meeting (Dublin Jan 2015) was held on latent effort in the crab fishery in UK, France and Ireland. • A document was producted integrating the results from Dublin Jan 2015 meeting. This work was greatly assisted by participation of Partner 2 (KFO) acting as the Industry-Science Management Interface, participating in regular dialogue between industry (fishermen) and science Partners throughout producer countries. This liaison ensured concerns & aspirations of the KFO crab sector members were conveyed to science Partners on the Latent Effort issue. Activity 4: The Standard (Final Annex) was completed and translated in the last period and in this period audits of participating fishing boats were conducted and completed in Ireland, the UK and France. An educational guide for fishermen was also created and completed. The Development of transnational brown crab quality standard was greatly assisted by participation of Partner 2 who worked closely with the Activity 4 Lead on development of this Activity elements. Feedback to and from local RSS (Irish) participants and prepared vessels for relevant audits and attended WG meeting in Portsmouth, February 2014, with Irish, UK and French fishermen to promote transnational aspect of standard. Activity 5: 1. Produced draft paper describing brown crab system from catch to consumer across partners countries. This was based on national information previously gathered on Geographical spread, Volume and value of landings, Fishing methods and activity, operations in catching, processing, wholesale/distribution, retail, food service, export and consumer. 2. Gaps in information sought in relation to stock information status and trends (through Activity 3 paper) and traded materials (through an industry survey). 3. Exploratory market research continued with the approach and engagement of potential customers in the UK and Spain to trial and test processed brown crab products.

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4. Potential case studies of key products and routes to market reviewed and discussed by industry. A case study focussed on consumer perception of brown crab products was produced (this included a review of key messages in the media and a technical paper outlining key risks from a media perspective). Partner 6 (IPMA) also fed into this activity by: • Participation at the meeting in Madrid meeting. • Collecting and collating national information on Portuguese brown crab industry system. • Collecting and collating national information on stock information. • Collecting and collating national information on volume and value of landings and traded materials through the value chain. • Collecting and collating national information on large/medium/small operations in catching, processing, wholesale/distribution, retail, food service and export. • Examining and highlighting critical issues and hotspots from on case studies of key products and routes to market, key characteristics in terms of price, nutrition, environmental performance at each stage. Partner 2 (KFO) also fed into this activity by: • Participating in drafting questionnaire to gather required data form industry. • Engaging with local processors/live crab exporters to complete questionnaires Activity 6: The following items summerises the work of Activity 6 in this period • National information concerning the Portuguese brown crab transport systems available and round tables to assess the interest to change practices to new transport systems • Participation and organization of London extra meeting. • Collection of information from processed products available in Ireland, Portugal, UK and Spain and preparation of a report with SWOT analysis • Chemical characterization of waste products of brown crab. Partner 2 (KFO) also fed into this activity by: • Organising Activity 6 WG meeting at Gatwick Airport to resolves issues regarding Bulk Transport. • Repeated dialogue with Irish industry operators regarding the Activity 6 issues. Activity 7: The work of Activity 7 continued. Promotion documents in partners’ languages were finalised and produced as agreed. The documents are available to all partners on the Acrunet platform. Native files were also provided to partners for dissemination in each country. This work was assisted by other partners who reviewed all promotional material. Activity 8: 1. Website maintained and ACRUNET updates posted. 2. ACRUNET Newsletter: Issues 2, 3 & 4 in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. 3. Press Release after each Partner Meeting. 4. ACRUNET articles in Irish & UK fishing trade press. Activity 9: Project management is on-going. General day-to day liaison with partners, assisting partners to use JTS Portal and prepare execution reports.

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2) Main project An education guide for Brown crab fishermen was produced. A major project achievement was the production of the brown crab standard in the achievements (outputs) last period. In this period a series of vessel audits against the standard were conducted in the UK, Ireland and France and all those that reached the standard “certified”. Further promotional material produced. Latent effort issues identified and science- industry collaboration towards a solution is progressing well. 3) Project results and Networking of industry has been further achieved and constructive collaboration has resulted. An important result of this transnational Impacts collaboration and networking has ben the identification and actions taken on the latent effort issue.

4) Main contributions to The main goal of the Atlantic Area Programme is to achieve progress on transnational cooperation geared towards cohesive, sustainable and the Atlantic Area balanced territorial development of the Atlantic Area and its maritime heritage. ACRUNET has contributed to this aim by forming an industry led Programme achieved forum with widespread industry collaboration and participation. This aspect of the project has been particularly successful with high industry attendance and active participation at the industry meetings held to-date. ACRUNET has contributed towards priority 1.1 of the Atlantic Area Programme by developing a mechanism for knowledge transfers between companies and research centres. For example Processors have contributed to the work of Activity 3 by describing their needs and suggesting research to address these needs in the area of transport, storage and quality which the relevant Activity leads have taken on-board to be addressed. Active contribution to priority 1.2 and 1.3 of the Atlantic Area Programme has also been achieved. 5) Implementation The methods employed for the successful implementation of all activities are designed around the 9 project Activities, each of which is divided methodology aspects into a number of further Actions. The measurement of attainment of these Activities and Actions is detailed in the “Follow-up indicators” for each attained action and a dedicated project spread sheet with detailed milestones and targets to allow monitoring of the methodology. The majority of these activities and actions are on-going while some have been completed in line with original project forecasts. 6) Innovative aspects of Activity 6 has started the process of addressing this issue through examining innovative technologies and practices these were further developed the project achieved in this period. This aspect of the project will be informed by and build on the information gathered in Activity 5 and the cross-cutting nature of this work requires more time before conclusions and recommendations to be made. Operation management

1) Management and Partner meetings are held as scheduled. The progress of the project is monitoried through a dedicated project spreadsheet with set milestones coordination activities and deliverables. This allows the idetification of issues as they arise and provided a mechanisim for any issues to be swiftly addressed Skype organized in the period conferences have been held on a regular basis among project partners to discuss and coordinate activities. Additional working group meetings were held as issues arose and these were co-ordinated by the ACTIVITY 2 lead partner. Management has coordinated the preparation of the execution reports and modification changes. Management has also liaised with partners relating to difficulties completing execution reports, prepared meeting minutes and uploaded these and other related documents to the PCC. 2) Monitoring and Monitoring and evaluation is continused through a dedicated project spreadsheet with set milestones and deliverables which allowd effective evaluation activities monitoring of the project and helps to identify issues arising. organized in the period Partner meetings are also used to monitor project progress and all minutes are uloaded to the PCC following meetings.

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Project management meetings have beed held at BIM headquarters on a monthly basis and when necessary additional meetings with other relevant project partners are held if required to address issues and progress. 3)Main problems found There have been no major problems encountered in this period. and solutions adopted during the period

4)Majors impacts of Only minor (budget) modifications have been conducted in this period. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1) Main project The project website has neen maintained and updated frequently and is on-line. In association with a specialist knowledge-transfer company, communication AquaTT, the branding and communication elements of the project were further developed. Resulting from this association a project logo, achievements Factsheet, Presentation template and pull-up banner are completed and in use. There has been widespread information dissemination of the project to industry through articles in relevant industry publications and press releases. A major step forward was ACRUNET signing up to MARNET– Marine Atlantic Regions Network – which is an EU transnational co-operation project involving eight partners from the five member states of the Atlantic Area. The aim of which is to create an EU Atlantic marine socio economic network that will develop a methodology to create and collate comparable marine socioeconomic data across the Atlantic regions and to use this data to support marine socio economic development initiatives along the Atlantic Area. Publications

2014 - Documents Brown Crab Educational guide. (studies, handbooks, Promotional matieral to increase the awareness and consumption of brown crab has been produced. guides…) published on any Newsletters preduced for 2014 (see http://www.acrunet.eu/acrunet-media-centre/factsheets-and-newsletters) format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents The majority of the planned publications have been produced. All additional publications for production will be discussed at the next Partner (studies, handbooks, meeting to be held in March 2014. guides…) to be published

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ATLANTICBLUETCH | Priority: 1.2 |Nº 2013-1/226 www.atlanticbluetech.eu

Title Atlantic Blue Tech

Slogan Imagine the marine bio-resources’ sector for 2014-2020

Project summary In context of global crisis of the economy, the blue economy represents an essential stake for the future development of our maritime territories. Often considered as a resource, the ocean has also to be envisaged as a source of innovation, of growth and jobs. In this sense, marine bio-resources constitute a sector with high growth potential but still largely unexploited by businesses. These latter have to face many constraints and barriers (legal, environmental, economic and social). The Atlantic Blue Tech project thus aims at promoting and developing at the Atlantic level and in a joint and concerted manner, the marine bio-resources’ sector. Gathering economic and innovation development agencies, local authorities and scientific organisations, the project aims at capitalizing projects and initiatives previously developed under this thematic. Project partners will identify the main obstacles to the development of the sector and will define corrective measures. Finally, through the identification of transnational structuring projects, the project will represent an essential link to the future 2014-2020 programming period. It will also contribute to the operational implementation of the action plan recently adopted in the framework of the EU Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic region. Project Lead Partner Technopôle Brest-Iroise (FR)

Partnership Brest métropole oceane (FR) ; Oceano XXI (PTl) ; Universidade do Algarve (PT) ; Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovacion Bahia de Cadiz (SP) ; Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) ; WestBIC (IE) ; National University of Ireland, Galway (IE) Starting date 01/01/2014

Ending date 30/06/2015

Total eligible budget € 1 186 769,43

Total ERDF budget € 771 400,10

Global performance

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1) Implementation The Atlantic Blue Tech project started on January 2014. Initially scheduled for 15 months, a 3 months extension was validated in order to Progress- Activities organise the final conference to be held in Cadiz, April 2015. In 2014, deliverables produced mainly concerned Activity 3 about the capitalization on former and existing initiatives, and Activity 6 on communication aspects. Productions also started on the other activities, deliverables will be produced in 2015. 2) Main project Activity 2 – MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION achievements - Outputs The project officially started on January 2014 and partners gathered on February in Galway for the first steering committee meeting. This early stage meeting was useful in order to put the project on good tracks and share responsibilities more in detail. Two other meetings were organized: in Porto in May alongside the Forum do Mar, and in Brest, in October, alongside the Sea Tech Week. Activity 3 – CAPITALISATION ON FORMER AND EXISTING PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES Led by Universidade do Algarve, this activity is to be completed on March 2015. During this first step activity, partners created 5 local action groups in the 5 regions represented in the partnership: Portugal, Pays de Brest, South West Region and other regions including Scotland, Border Midlands and Western Region, Province of Cadiz. Each local action group gathered local experts in the area covered by the project. The local action groups met 2 to 3 times each, enabled to provide the partners with a better knowledge of the marine bio-resources ecosystem. Partners also identified existing policies at local, regional and national levels to ensure that the Atlantic Blue Tech project results are fully in line with the public authorities main concerns. A similar approach was used to identify projects in the area of marine bio-resources to avoid redundancies with work that could have already been realized previously. A capitalization seminar was organized on May 2014 alongside Forum do Mar, gathering 40 participants. It enabled partners to present the first results of this activity, including cross-sectors interaction identified to develop new business opportunities, and collect feedback from the audience. During the development of this Activity it was highlighted that there are several barriers to overcome to strength the identified potential. The legal framework, the lack of cooperation between innovation actors and companies, the lack of funding and the need of implementation of long-term strategies to the sector were the main aspects mentioned. Activity 4 – JOINT IDENTIFICATION OF THE BARRIERS AND DRIVERS FOR SME AND DEFINITION OF CORRECTIVE MEASURES Led by National University of Ireland, Galway, this activity has been extended until June 2015. Based on the results of the previous Activity, a common Atlantic survey targeted at SME was developed early 2014 and 70 businesses involved in the marine biotech sector were identified to be questioned. A presentation of the first results was organized during the Sea Tech Week, organized in Brest, in October. Results are being analysed. To be noted: local experts from each region met during the Sea Tech Week during a “Joint Transnational Body” meeting which work as an advisory committee to support the project partners in the realization of activities. In Brest, it identified main barriers and innovation drivers from SME development, analysed market sizes and trends and identified structuring and pilot actions. Another study led by partners on the “Comparison of innovation systems at international level” started. This action focus on the exchange of good practices with the organisations from the US and Canada that act to deliver regional innovation systems. A marine biotech market study was subcontracted to a consultant by NUIGalway. The study will provide with an overview of the sectoral and sub-sectoral blue biotechnology market sizes and trends, with identification of growth areas for SMEs and exemplary routes to market.

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The results of this activity needs to be gathered in toolkits for SME and public authorities in 2015. Activity 5 – IMAGINE AND SUPPORT THE MARINE BIO-RESOURCES’ SECTOR IN 2014-2020 Led by Brest métropole, this activity is about anticipating the future of the marine bio-resources sector, and promoting the sector. Partners worked on the creation of a specifications document for the development of a video which aim is to promote the marine bio- resources sector in the Atlantic Area. This video is under development, under Activity 6, led by CEEI Cadiz. Within Activity 4, pilot actions were identified and partners had the opportunity to develop one. Technopôle Brest-Iroise decided to work on marine bio-resources trainings in Bretagne and Pays de Loire, and corresponding jobs. A methodology is to be delivered so that it can be replicated in other regions. Activity 6 – COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION Led by CEEI Cadiz, this activity was twofold: ease internal communication between partners & disseminate the project results outside the partnership. To reach dissemination outside the partnership, several means of communication were used: Participation in local, national and European events (e.g. BioMarine in Cascais, Italian Forum for Industrial Biotech in Genova, Interreg VB Annual event in Seville, …) Organization of workshops (e.g. Atlantic Stakeholder platform, Drivers and Barriers to the development of Blue Biotech SME,…) Design and printing of a flyer and a roll-up banner in the 4 languages Production of backpacks Creation and maintenance of a webpage (www.atlanticbluetech.eu) Press releases Digital newsletters Other communication tools are to come by June 2015: a video which aim is to promote the Atlantic Area marine biotech assets USB sticks A brochure 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts A strong partnership has been created, including local experts in the 5 regions involved, through the creation of the local action groups, and in a second step at EU level, between the partners and among the different experts, through the joint transnational body. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; Through the activity dedicated to capitalization, partners get a better knowledge on previous led projects and existing funding programmes at local, regional, national et European level. The project has improved synergies. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. The project partners have been in contact with the EU experts working on the bio-resources (DG MARE) and provided a tangible insight of the situation at local level.

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The project also identified the existing interactions between the blue biotechnologies and the other sectors of the Blue Growth. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Contribution to the Marine Biotechnology consultation, launched by DG MARE Contribution to the implementation of the Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area Contribution to different local, regional, national (e.g. in Portugal the Blue Bioresources Initiative), European and international events 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations Development of a video presenting the sector in the Atlantic Area. Implementation of pilot actions (e.g. in terms of identification of the existing educational programmes) The project also enabled partners to identify new projects opportunities, for their own organizations and/or for local stakeholders. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) “Looking back to Move forward”, under the supervision of University of Algarve. This document aimed at capitalizing data from the current programming period (2007-2013) in the marine bio-resource’s sector, and avoiding duplication of actions that already have been done by other projects at EU or national levels. 8-Social change generated; Better visibility and consideration of the marine bio-resources’ business sector. 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes In Brest, in the framework of the project, a specific workshop has been organized with local scientists and companies, focusing on new opportunities in terms of biopolymer and their application in the health sector. Diffusion of the projects’ main concerns and results within European and international networks (Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities, Maritime Innovative Territories International Network, Biomarine…) 4) Main contributions to Atlantic Blue Tech is fully in line with the general AA strategy to achieve significant and tangible progress in transnational cooperation geared the Atlantic Area towards cohesive, sustainable and balanced territorial development of the AA and its maritime heritage. Programme achieved Important disparities exist between regions of the AA, with a clear uneven nature of economic development, along with a tendency towards excessive specialization of the less privileged regions in low value-added activities. In addition, the context of nowadays crisis does not help territories to reach a common development. Over the last decades, in the framework of the Conference of Peripheral Port Cities, local authorities facing similar constraints and socioeconomic mutations have engaged in terms of economic diversification, research and innovation, developing high-tech and science parks to support new activities, developing their port’s competitiveness, enhancing and developing seafronts and programs for economic and urban reconversion. Even so, Atlantic port cities still rely mostly on traditional activities which are experiencing negative growth under the combined effect of factors like international competition and the decline in stocks of natural resources. ABT thus contributes to transform the AA in a most dynamic and attractive region at the global level, bringing out the numerous advantages that this area can offer and building on the wealth of its diverse marine biological resources, the depth of its marine biosciences knowledge, its maritime heritage and an active and connected entrepreneurial community.

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5) Implementation Atlantic Blue Tech has been designed with a clear and chronological methodology based on 3 content activities, with shared responsibilities methodology aspects between partners. The Lead partners ensured the liaison with the Joint Technical Secretariat. attained

6) Innovative aspects of the The AtlanticBlueTech project is in itself innovative because of the thematic covered: the Blue economy. If many position papers have been project achieved written on that topic, few projects have focused on its role as local economic development factor at transnational level. The Atlantic Blue Tech project is also innovative for its approach of the Blue Economy issue. It focuses on one of the most federative domain (marine bio- resources), which addresses at the same time one of the most challenging question of our century: providing food, while creating sustainable economies and preserving marine environment, especially coastal ones. Operation management

1) Management and As Lead partner, Technopôle put in place different activities: coordination activities 1/ Control of project’s activities and detection of budget and activity deviations. organized in the period 2/ Coordination of the budget change and activities extension. 3/ In 2014, preparation and organisation of 3 steering committee meetings: Galway, February Porto, May Brest, October In addition, monthly videoconferences were organised. 4/ LP coordinated the 1st payment claim covering the preparation period (2013) and the period January to June 2014.

2) Monitoring and Monitoring has been mainly undertaken via steering committee meetings, monthly videoconferences, email and telephone. Activity leaders evaluation activities have been in regular contacts with the partners involved. organized in the period The Local Action Groups experts and the Joint Transnational Body experts served as a guarantee on the good quality of deliverables, and to provide partners with orientations. 3) Main problems found There were not any relevant problems during this period. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of Some project activities were extended to June 2015, instead of March 2015. But this change has no major impact on the structure of the work eventual project revisions plan. It gives 3 more months to fulfil all activities, and notably the final conference to be organised in Cadiz. during the period

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Communication achievements

1)Main project 5 local action groups created in the 5 regions concerned by the project communication Participation in local, national and European events (e.g. BioMarine in Cascais, Italian Forum for Industrial Biotech in Genova, Interreg AA VB achievements Annual event in Seville, …) Organization of workshops (e.g. Atlantic Stakeholder platform, Drivers and Barriers to the development of Blue Biotech SME,…) 1 flyer and a roll-up banner in the 4 languages Production of backpacks Creation and maintenance of a webpage (www.atlanticbluetech.eu) Press releases Digital newsletters Other communication tools are to come by June 2015: a video which aim is to promote the Atlantic Area marine biotech assets USB sticks A brochure Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, 5 Reports on Local action groups actions handbooks, guides…) Capitalisation seminar minutes published on any format, as “Looking back to Move forward” study well as all promotional Development of a web-based platform material produced in the Questionnaire to SMEs developed, translated into 4 languages framework of the Project. 5 Reports on the results of the SMEs questionnaire, one per region “Drivers and Barriers to the development of blue biotech SMEs” minutes First Joint Transnational Body minutes (1) Creation of the specifications for the development of a promotional video Promotional and management material Steering committee minutes (3) Monthly conference minutes (11) Intermediate execution reports (1) Backpacks designed and printed (500) Corporate manual and logo Templates for internal use Development and maintenance of the webpage www.atlanticBluetech.eu

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Flyers in 4 languages (3000) Roll-up banners in 4 languages (10) Digital newsletters (2) Future documents (studies, Update of the “Looking back to Move forward” study handbooks, guides…) to be Second Joint Transnational Body minutes (1) published on any format, as Study on “Comparison of Innovation systems at international level” well as all promotional Common analysis of the 5 reports on the results of the SMEs questionnaire material to be produced, Toolkits towards SMEs and Public authorities (2), based on the common analysis until the end of the Project. Marine biotechnologies study Promotional and management material Steering committee minutes (1) Monthly conference minutes (6) Intermediate execution reports (1) Final execution report (1) Promotional video of the sector on the Atlantic Area

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GEPETO | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/159

Title FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & TRANSNATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Slogan SHARING KNOWLEDGE FOR SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES

Project summary GEPETO (Fisheries Management & Transnational Objectives) builds on a regional approach to fisheries management through a platform of governance that associates professional, scientific sectors and NGOs. Channelled through the South Western and North Western Regional Advisory Groups, GEPETO combines stakeholders’ resources and capabilities to improve the bio-socio-economical sustainability of long-term fisheries management plans in the Atlantic Area. Project Lead Partner CENTRO TECNOLÓGICO DEL MAR – FUNDACIÓN CETMAR (Spain)

Partnership Centro Tecnológico del Mar - Fundación CETMAR (Spain), Conseil Consultatif Régional pour les eaux occidentales australes (CCR Sud) (France), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER (IFREMER) (France), Fundación AZTI (Spain), Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) (Spain), Instituto Portugues do Mar e da Atmósfera – IPMA (Portugal), Marine Institute (Ireland). Associated partners: North Western Waters Regional Advisory Council (NWWRAC) (Ireland). Starting date 01/06/2012

Ending date 31/10/2014

Total eligible budget 1.587.498,07 €

Total ERDF budget 1.011.833,58 €

Global performance 100%

1) Implementation Four execution and financial reports have been presented since the beginning of the project and one extraordinary financial report in 2013. Progress- Activities The final execution and financial report will be presented at the end of February 2015. Presentation of the project to the DG MARE in Brussels (July 2013). Presentation of the ATLAS to the CCRs members in Lisbon (December 2013) A progress report done in October 2013. Interviews and workshops with fisheries stakeholders to populate the Atlas

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Workshop on Large Scale Management Plans in Dublin (March 2014) Workshop on Small Scale Management Plans in Madrid (April 2014) Final conference in Vigo. (July 2014) 2) Main project The ATLAS of fisheries. achievements - Outputs A participative module in GEPETO webpage. The development of 7 Case Studies: Multi-species management plan for the Bay of Biscay, Iberian mixed fisheries Management Plan, Fleet targeting the Octopus fishery in North West Iberian zone, Aveiro Estuary, Capbreton, Celtic Sea. (ICES zone VII f e g),Artisanal fisheries in the Canary Islands. A GEPE·TO working group in the framework of CCR 3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts Impacts The most important result achieved within GEPETO project was the proactive and interactive participation of stakeholders, among the fisheries sector, scientific sector and policy makers. The main result of GEPETO was to provide a Road Map for developing Long Term Management Plans for the fisheries sector in the Atlantic Area. As the project time was shorter than the time initially scheduled, it was impossible to provide, as the main outcome, the management fisheries plans for Atlantic Area. So, the consortium decided to change the strategy and we focused on developing a Roadmap working together with fisheries sector, scientist and policy makers. The main impact of this project was the involvement of fishieries sector and policy makers in each step of the project to achieve the main common elements to set up a management plan for fisheries in Atlantic Area. Therefore, their participation was not limited to consults in ad- hoc meetings, becoming partners taking part in the project from the very beginning. They were aware of all the issues, problems and needs discussed during the project. This innovative approach implies a new way of guaranteeing more tailored outcomes to the stakeholders’ needs of the fisheries sector in the Atlantic Area. However, this participative approach takes long time: at the beginning of the project the stakeholders were reluctant to participate in a proactive way, but after several meetings, they realized the importance of a more proactive interaction. For example, in view of the new challenges raised with respect to the cohabiting of waters, a cartographic tool seemed most appropriate and the idea of an atlas of fisheries was launched with the idea of using such a tool to improve the quality of recommendations given by the SWW RAC and all its members. Along with the new common fisheries policy, this tool should be one of the principal sources for discussion on regionalisation. The participation of Policy Makers from the Atlantic countries involved in the project has also a very important impact in GEPETO project and in the Atlantic Area. The recent modification of the Common Fisheries Policy implies a more regionalized approach in fisheries management and improves the governance and participation of the fisheries sector. These issues are discussed in GEPETO project that would be a good context to test the objectives of CFP. In order to address these principles of CFP, the case studies of GEPETO project deal with these key aspects as regionalization, discard plan, join recommendations, etc. The Consortium expects that the project will provide some inputs to propose modifications or suggestions to the new regulations linked to CFP. In accordance with varying contexts, the works carried out under GEPETO have enabled the identification of management measures to be put into place and the development of decision-making tools. Above all, GEPETO has brought a working dynamic into existence, enabling significant progress in terms of methodology and the provision of a response to new imperatives.

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The tools developed (atlas of fisheries, management units) and the methodologies under the programme must in effect be transmitted to all the stakeholders involved in the forthcoming works. We need to guarantee this participation approach in fisheries management in the forthcoming years. So, we can affirm that trhoug GEPETO meetings and interactions panels and workshops the way of being involved in projects from the very beginning almost in a co-creation process. The main result is visible and measurable: The Atlas that will be on line available for fisheries sector and policy makers providing them data about fisheries management. The beneficiaries of this project are the fisheries sector in atlantic area, represented by the SWWRAc, the policy makers in atlantic regions and countries and scientist.

1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations: a Discussion group on fisheries management plans was create in the framework of SWWRAc 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); As an example, the case study of the octopus management plan in Galicia was used by policy makers in the Galician regional governement to join together the Galician fisheries sector and public administrations (Consellería do Medio Rural e do Mar) in order to discuss new measures and rules for a common octopus management plan at regional level. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; during this lifelong GEPETO has a strong relation with GAP II project (a FPVII project) which mission is to facilitate collaboration between scientists and fishery stakeholders to enhance the understanding and management of fisheries. Both GEPETO and GAP II have set up a scientific paper titled: “Mixed fisheries forecasts in the Atlantic Iberian waters: preliminary results”. At the final Conference of GEPETO the consortium organized a round table discussion where different EU projects based on fisheries management were working together in order to find common lessons learns and common points to collaborate in the future in new pojects. These projects were GAP II, EcoFishMan project, SIMBAD project and SOCIOEc project. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) 8-Social change generated; 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts 4) Main contributions to the The collaboration between science, public authorities and society to manage fishing in a sustainable way in the Atlantic Area was one of the Atlantic Area Programme main contributions. The close collaboration between scientist and fishermen and policy makers trying to put in common all the needs, gaps to achieved be solved in fisheries Management and sharing knowledge to improve the sustainability of fisheries was the goal of GEPETO which proposed the creation of a new governance model, based upon collaboration and direct participation of all those stakeholders in the Atlantic Area,

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5) Implementation Monthly working meetings were organized by Work Packages (WPs) leaders and 2 coordination meetings per year in order to guarantee the methodology aspects Wps progress. The main methodological aspect attained is related with the direct participation of stakeholders in the project. This attained participation guarantees the coordination among Scientifics, fisheries sector and policy makers. The Case study meetings of GEPETO took place at the same time as the Advisory Councils (ACs) meetings ensuring the participation of those sectors. The introduction of a “participatory module” into the webpage was also a very important methodology innovative aspect in order to avoid the difficult and low level of participation of fishermen in this project. 6) Innovative aspects of the The direct participation of the fisheries sector in the Atlantic Area through the South Western Waters Advisory Council. project achieved The elaboration of the fisheries atlantic Atlas in a co-creation way: the fishermen organizations together with scientist and policy makers.

Operation management

1) Management and The coordination activities were focused on: coordination activities skype meetings for WPs coordination (monthly meetings), organized in the period seven coordination meetings (December 2012 in Madrid, April 2013 in Bilbao, May 2013 in Paris, December 2013 in Lisbon, March 2014 in Dublin, April 2014 in Madrid and July 2014 in Vigo), one extraordinary coordination Meeting in Brussels (July 2013) to present the project to the DG MARE. E-mails among partners for the development of the project. The coordination tasks regarding cost claims were developed by CETMAR, presenting in 2013 two ordinary cost claims and one extraordinary for IFREMER, in 2014 two cost claims and the final cost claim will be presented in 2015. There were several technical coordination meetings between CETMAR and CCRs. A follow-up meeting between JTS and CETMAR in Porto in July 2013. 2) Monitoring and As we have described in section 1, several meetings among partner took place for the monitoring of project activities. evaluation activities The presentation to DG MARE and CCRs members allow us to evaluate the interest on the project. organized in the period

3) Main problems found The main problem found was the renounce of University of Azores due to its financial problems. After trying to solve this problem through and solutions adopted different ways: JTS, National Correspondent, Authorities of the University…, the only solution found was its renounce and the acceptance of during the period its tasks and budget by the partner IEO.

4) Majors impacts of The major impacts of the revisions of the project are the renounce of University of Azores, the acceptance by IEO of the tasks and part of the eventual project revisions budget of Azores and the extension of the project until the end of October 2014. The major impact will be the introduction of a new case during the period study in Canary island trying to do something similar that Açores University in the framework of the project.

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Communication The website of the project allow to disseminate the project to the general public. Several stakeholders meetings to inform and involve the achievements sector in the project.

1)Main project There has been project dissemination in various media (newspapers, radio, TV…) communication A presentation to the DG MARE of the preliminary project results in Brussels (July 2013). achievements Presentation of the preliminary project results to the CCRs, mainly the ATLAS and the participative module in Lisbon (December 2013) Workshop on Large Scale Management Plans in Dublin (March 2014) Workshop on Small Scale Management Plans in Madrid (April 2014) Final conference in Vigo. (July 2014) Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, ATLAS of Fisheries (www.gepetoproject.eu) handbooks, guides…) Brochures, posters, promotional material (USB-Pen, bags, notebooks…) published on any format, as Newsletter. well as all promotional Paper “Mixed fisheries forecasts in the Atlantic Iberian waters: preliminary results”. material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Final report of GEPETO project handbooks, guides…) to be Final version of the Atlantic fisheries Atlas. published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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HARVESTATLANTIC | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/160 http://www.harvestatlantic.eu/pt/

Title Harnessing All Resources Valuable to Economies of Seaside Territories on the Atlantic

Slogan

Project summary HARVEST Atlantic intends to identify and exchange good practices and sustainable solutions based on innovation, diversification and marketing for the maritime economy and resources, in order to improve the socioeconomic situation of the Atlantic seaside territories, through transnational cooperation. In particular, it contributes to the enhancement of competitiveness and innovation capacities in 4 specific subsectors of the maritime economy: Biotech and Nutraceutical RDT+I in Navigation and gliding technologies (Shipbuilding and Yacht Building) Halieutic Industry Green Maritime Energy. In parallel, it tackles the transversal issues of the value added of the Atlantic products and natural resources and of the Human Capital. The partnership is integrated by 6 organizations with the capacity to develop the project activities and planned outputs, from different and complementary knowledge and competences. Project Lead Partner Mancomunidad de Municipios Sostenibles de Cantabria (MMSC) (SP)

Partnership Universidad de Cantabria (SP); South West Regional Authority – SWRA left the partnership on July 2014 (IE); Cork Institute of Technology (IE); Glasgow Caledonian University (UK); Universidade do Algarve – Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (PT);Cork County Council - CCC entered the partnership on July 2014 (IE) Starting date 02/07/2012

Ending date 31/12/2014

Total eligible budget € 1.003.555,61

Total ERDF budget € 652.311,14

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Global performance

1) Implementation 1) Sectorial Analysis and Benchmarking on the diferent subsectors analysed in the project. Progress- Activities 2) Evaluation of Human Capital and knowledge to implement innovation processes. 3) Identification and adoption of policies and measures to support innovation, diversification and marketing in the Atlantic Maritime economy. Creation of a policy toolkit. 4) Creation of AT- OME, the Atlantic Observatory of Maritime Economy. This Observatory has been created under the coordination of the School of Nautica of the University of Cantabria along the project and implemented as a sustainable outcome. 5) Workshops and Study visits. 6) Communication and diffusion activities (Web, social networks, Conferences...). 2) Main project Sectorial Analysis & Benchmarking, Assessment on Human Capital and Know-How. achievements - Outputs Analysis on recreational nautical sector and on shipbuilding and repair. Analysis on Marine Biotechnology & Nutraceutical products. Analysis on the Green Maritime Energy sector. Analysis on Innovation in the Seafood Economy. Assessment on existing Human Capital and know-how in the maritime economy sector. Transversal Value Added of the Atlantic products and Natural Resources Analysis. Innovation in Offshore Wind Energy in the Atlantic Policy Tool-Kit of Innovation for the Maritime Economy. Overview of business development opportunities for innovative Irish seafood companies in Spain. Atlantic Observatory of Maritime Economy (AT-OME) 3) Project Results and HARVEST Atlantic methodology, distribution of tasks and logical framework was designed to produce concrete outputs and results, both at short Impacts and mid-term. Expected results can be classified according to the proposed activities and the objectives sought, and according to their time span (short term outputs were achieved during project implementation, whereas medium and long term results will mostly be achieved once the project has been completed). Until 31st December 2014 only short-term results have been achieved. Some of them are: Activity 2. Management and Coordination: 2 Steering Committee meetings and corresponding documents (Agendas, attendance list & minutes and partners presentations) Activity 3. Sectorial Analysis & Benchmarking & Assessment on Human Capital and know-how: Works for the 5 Sectorial Diagnosis & SWOT Analysis on Innovation & the selected subthemes (Value to the remaining fish and natural resources / seafood economy / Biotech & Nutraceutical opportunities / Shipbuilding and the Recreational Nautical Sector / Green Maritime Energy). Elaboration of the final document and the case studies to illustrate the document. 5 Study visits to selected institutions and areas having developed relevant experience and expertise on the project issues: Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) in Clonakilty (Cork) and the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) in Ringaskiddy (Cork). At the occasion of the final conference the partners visited the companies selected for the University of Cantabria for the local case studies. The canned food facilities of “Consorcio”, the

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biggest one in Santoña; “Nuevo Libe”, a medium size canned Food Company that has all the process of the added value chain (from the fishing to the commercialization of the final product) and ASTANDER, a shipyard that specializes itself on making ship modifications due the lack of demand of new ships. A document related to the Innovation in the Offshore Wind Energy Industry in Scotland, Portugal, Spain and Ireland. This report is a valuable contribution to the knowledge and understanding of innovation across the industry and how it affects, and is affected by, a range of organisational and industry-level factors featuring attitudes, strategy, economics, culture and relationship building. The findings provide an insight into how and why innovation is supported and applied in different parts of the industry supply chain as well as highlighting some of the limiting factors to development and growth that helps inform policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders with an interest in the offshore wind energy industry in the Atlantic Area of the EU. Activity 4. Development of a Policy Tool-Kit of Innovation for the Maritime Economy Elaboration of the final document that has been uploaded to the project website as well as a a document that includes best practices in the seafood sector in Spain that might be taken into account by the Innovative Irish seafood companies that want to develop a business in Spain. The policy tool-kit presents a policy context for the 4 major topics of concern for the maritime sectors in the Atlantic Area, stakeholders’ perspectives on each topic (gleaned from a series of stakeholder interviews in four Atlantic Area Regions across four Member States) and good practice examples of the use of tools and approaches and support measures. The Toolkit also contains a set of policy recommendations for other Governments or regions to consider when preparing their own integrated maritime policies and strategies. Activity 5. Creation of AT-OME - the Atlantic Observatory of Maritime Economy (AT-OME). The observatory is one of the most important and sustainable results of the HARVEST Atlantic project. It will be of transnational interest, covering the 5 countries of the Programme, and bring a benefit not only to the partners, but to the future members of the Observatory and other interested stakeholders. This platform implements some mathematic formulas that can be used in the different regions of the Atlantic Area. More than 14 socioeconomic variables from Eurostat have been included into the platform that makes about 162.000 data. Using that data some indicators have been created for the final users. We hope that in the long term the results obtained in the project may serve to the different stakeholders and also the policy makers to design new policies in order to promote the innovation, diversification and marketing in the Atlantic Maritime economy. 4) Main contributions to the HARVEST Atlantic project focuses on promoting innovation, including new types of business services and innovative marketing techniques. The Atlantic Area Programme project intends to take into account and involve SMEs and partnerships of public and private nature as research centres, universities, maritime achieved industries and regional institutions in the project. Some of these public and private institutions collaborated within the partnership in the project through interviews. Their contributions were used to implement the sectorial analysis realized in the 4 specific subsectors of the maritime economy selected for the project (Nutraceutical and Biotechnology; recreational nautical sector and shipbuilding and repair; Halieutic Industry and Green Maritime Energy), as well as in the document for the Innovation in Offshore Wind Energy in the Atlantic and also in the policy tool-kit that will support regions in developing maritime policies and strategies. An initial review of Harvest Atlantic regions’ maritime policies has highlighted a number of areas of common need in relation to maritime policy and strategy as follows: Sustainable policies that reduce complexity and uncertainty for marine sector companies investing in business growth are needed. There is a need for more de-centralised and simplified decision-making processes for support measures.

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Support measures need to be developed to meet the specific needs of companies in the region. There is a need for an integrated and coherent eco-system based approach to addressing the needs of the marine sector as a whole and exploiting the assets of the sea in a sustainable manner. There is a need for marine spatial planning tools that can help to plan for and manage compatible uses of marine assets by different subsectors. These findings are also supported by the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy and the Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Ocean Area. 5) Implementation In order to reach the general aim of the project and the other 3 specific objectives of the project, the partnership built a project methodology methodology aspects linked to 5 Working Groups in which innovation processes and products were compulsory and where the partner’s responsibilities were divided attained among them according to their experiences, competences and preferences. The project was developed in accordance with the methodology provided in the application form and the partners took actions in the two main areas in which the methodology is structured: the administrative and budgetary management and the technical management. All partners agreed on a common methodology for conducting the studies and collected data of several companies in the 4 Atlantic Area regions of the project by using an online survey. Partners also worked on some case studies that would serve to illustrate the sectorial analysis and that reflect the transnational cohesive nature of the project. Each region compiled 3 case studies from their own subsector. The Scottish partner conducted the Innovation in Offshore Wind Energy in the Atlantic document. Regarding the activity 4 “Development of a policy tool-kit of innovation for the Maritime Economy” the SWRA was the partner responsible for this activity but all partners collaborated by collecting information on the policies, strategies and support measures that are in place for the maritime economy sectors in each of the Harvest Atlantic partner regions. They also interviewed some Maritime Policy Makers and Support Personnel with the aim to get a perspective on these areas of needs from policy makers and support personnel operating in the maritime sectors with a view to developing a policy toolkit and guidance to assist regions in developing their own policies and strategies. All this information was used to inform the development of the Harvest Atlantic policy toolkit and served to undertake a map and gap analysis of existing policies and support measures for maritime sectors in each of the partner regions. The proposed measures and policies identified as good practices in this tool we hope that may be progressively adopted by the partners according to their levels of capacity and, above all, transferred to policy-makers at local, regional and national levels if possible. 6) Innovative aspects of the As told in the 2013 project activities monitoring, the innovative aspects of the project are linked to two main aspects: the thematic of the project achieved project itself and its methodology and approach of cooperation. In fact, the activities foreseen to meet the project’s objectives are innovative in terms of tangibility and sustainability. The thematic of the project is clearly innovative in the framework of the Interreg IVB Atlantic Area programme, in the sense that, further to analyzing existing approved projects, we can affirm that none of them tackle the Innovation issues in the Maritime Economy from a global perspective. The project implementation methodology may also be considered as innovative, with a strong focus on the transferability of the good practices identified, checked and analysed. During the project execution, the intense cooperation between the partners was also one of the innovative aspects as practically each activity/output was led by one of the partners, but counted with inputs from each region (primary and secondary data). The project also had a strong focus on the transferability of the good practices identified, checked and analysed.

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The transnational component is high and partners have a strong component of on-line communication using dropbox and other technologies and applications available for sharing information. Operation management

1) Management and During 2014 two coordination and technical meetings were hold in Cork (Ireland) on 15th and 16th January and in Santander (Spain) on 19th coordination activities May 2014. At the 1st meeting partners agreed on the final steps to be done in order to finish the sectorial analysis on the 4 different subsectors organized in the period selected for the project. At the 2nd coordination meeting partners agreed to ask for an extension in order to finish all the activities, to carry out some new ones and to disseminate the project results. During 2014 the lead partner sent 2 ordinary reports to the JTS with information on the activities developed during the 2nd semester 2013 and the 1st semester 2014 and an extraordinary report. 2) Monitoring and Partners gave information to the company awarded of the contract for the project evaluation. They gave information for the intermediate evaluation activities evaluation and they will collaborate with the company in the final evaluation report. organized in the period

3) Main problems found South West Regional Authority (Partner nº 3) was dissolved due to a programme of reforms done by the Sub-national government in Ireland and solutions adopted In consultation with their elected representatives and their local stakeholders, the SWRA agreed that their portfolio of EU co-financed projects during the period remain in their former region and was transferred to Cork County Council (CCC), one of their three constituent local authorities, for implementation and completion. The project submitted an amendment to the JTS that was approved so Cork County Council is a new partner in the project since 1st July 2014 and it assumes the SWRA remaining budget (37.639,75 €) 4) Majors impacts of The partnership asked for a 6-months extension in order to finish all the planned activities and to carry out some new activities that partners eventual project revisions wanted to include in the project. The amendment was sent to the JTS on 26th June 2014 and was approved by the managing Authority during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project The lead partner promoted the project though regional and local press and also thought the MMS and the project website. Some partners communication printed the project information brochure for distribution at the occasion of meetings. SWRA included details for the project in “EU Atlantic achievements Action Plan 2014-2020 and interregional funding opportunities. CIT went to different education centres in India in January 2014 where they gave talks and presentations on research projects including HARVEST Atlantic. GCU printed copies of the human capital and the policy report for distribution in the ALL-Energy Conference in Aberdeen on May 22, 2014 and the University of Algarve made a poster about the scope of the study to be exposed in the Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics – CIEO. Web Page Brochure for the Final Conference Some press releases on the occasion of workshops and meetings

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Organization of the Final Conference in Santander on 20th May 2014 (The event was included in the European Maritime Day so it contributed to the diffusion of the project) Presentation of the project in the All-Energy Conference in Aberdeen (Scotland) on May 22, 2014. Project dissemination material - Details of HARVEST Atlantic project published in “EU Atlantic Action Plan (2014 – 2020) and interregional funding opportunities in Ireland. University of Algarve – One poster about the scope of the sectorial analysis of seafood to be exposed in the Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics – CIEO. Talks in different education centres in India about research projects including HARVEST ATLANTIC. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Sectorial Analysis of Marine Biotechnology, Seafood, Green Maritime Energy, Shipbuilding and the Recreational Nautical Sector handbooks, guides…) Assessment on existing Human Capital and know-how in the maritime economy sector published on any format, as Innovation in Offshore Wind Energy in the Atlantic well as all promotional Transversal Value Added of the Atlantic products and Natural Resources Analysis. material produced in the Policy toolkit of innovation in the Maritime Economy framework of the Project. Business develoment opportunities for innovative Irish seafood companies in Spain.

Future documents (studies, N/A handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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KIMERAA | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2009-1/102 www.kimeraa.eu

Title KIMERAA - Knowledge transfer to Improve Marine Economy in Regions from the Atlantic Area

Slogan Navigating through an ocean of knowledge

Project summary KIMERAA aimed to develop niches of excellence through the creation of bridges between the scientific knowledge and firms related with marine resources. To this goal, it was necessary to articulate knowledge transfer channels in the regions in the Atlantic Area, connecting different institutional actors that intervened in the maritime economy. With a series of studies and analysis, KIMERAA promoted a deeper understanding of the maritime clusters, innovation actors and institutions in the Atlantic Area. In the KIMERAA approach, mechanisms of knowledge transfer referred to the creation of spin-offs, the licensing of activities or sponsored/collaborative projects but also to other informal channels, such as workshops and S&T meetings, to create connections between regional actors. All these channels are decisive to consolidate an effective network of partners that can create robust niches of excellence in maritime clusters. The creation of maritime clusters may impact significantly in the growth of regions in the Atlantic Area. Project Lead Partner Universidade do Algarve (PT)

Partnership Universidade do Porto (PT), MIK, S. Coop. - Mondragon Ikerketa Kudeaketan (ES), Cardiff University (UK), Ionad Forbartha Gno t/a WESTBIC (IE), Universidad de Huelva (ES), Technopole Quimper-Cornouaille (FR), University of Manchester (UK) Starting date 01-04-2010

Ending date 31-10-2014

Total eligible budget € 1.182.743,25

Total ERDF budget € 768.783,10€

Global performance

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1) Implementation The implementation of the project, including the extension period authorized by JTS in the summer 2013, allowed the partnership to Progress- Activities accomplish the conclusion of several activities with success. These activities are identified as follows: A1 – Project Management and Coordination - that had the duration of the project. This activity was implemented through 7 actions: Establishment of a partnership agreement; Administrative and financial management; Preparation of the execution reports according to the schedule and the activities defined in the application phase; Preparation of the reimbursement claims; Implementation of the objectives and the specific activities as defined within the approved application; Supervisory implementation of the objectives and activities proposed in the application and the timings for their elaboration; Partners meetings. A2 – Maritime Clusters: Innovation Actors and Institutions in Atlantic Area - Implemented from 01-06-2010 to 31-05-2011. All partners provided to University of Cardiff (the action leader) the necessary information to the activity implementation. A3 – Conception of a competences and services catalogue in marine sciences and clusters in Atlantic Area - This activity was implemented with success (concluded at 31-05-2011), accomplishing all the results. The web tool is online and working. A4 – Creation of the European Network of Knowledge Transfer in Atlantic Area (ENKTAA) - This activity was developed until the end of June 2014, constituting the main activity in the extension period of the project. It included best-practices sharing and in 2014, included the assessment of innovation and knowledge needs (see full report) and the preparation of the network’s business plan (see full report). A5 – Communication - This activity was transversal to all the others mentioned before, and it was designed to be developed through the whole lifetime of the project. It was implemented through 12 actions: KIMERAA corporate image; Construction of website in all languages of partnership; Elaboration of Communication/Marketing Plan; Press releases; Newsletter Creation; Production of general flyers and leaflets; Attendance to seminars/conferences to present KIMERAA; Documentary “The Kimeraa of the Atlantic”; International seminar on March 2011; International seminar on July 2011; International seminar on October 2011; International seminar on May 2012, International seminar on April 2014. 2) Main project The main project achievements are related to tangible results that had brought a common benefit for all the partnership. In this sense, there achievements - Outputs were produced useful tools to improve maritime economy in the participant regions: The study “Maritime Clusters: Innovation Actors and Institutions in Atlantic Area” was a central output creating a common methodology to analyse maritime clusters and by presenting the specific cases of KIMERAA regions. The establishment of S2B units in each region allowed the support to technology-based companies in the field of marine sciences enhancing knowledge transfer from the academia to the business sector. The Sea Directory, a “Competencies and Services Catalogue in Marine Sciences and Clusters in Atlantic Area” had created a common repository of information about maritime actors, stimulating, in the long-run, the matching between innovation demand and supply. This tool was re-analysed and, with the support of all partners was improved with some additional capacities in 2014 (namely a pdf generator tool). Finally, the attempt to connect different entities with ENKTAA is also an important achievement of the project, making possible the increase of awareness of KIMERAA related topics in the Atlantic Area. More specifically, in the extension period the following sub-tasks were defined and concluded in 2014: Activity 1 – Project Management

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Task 1.1 – New partnership agreement addenda; Task 1.2 – Steering meeting – San Sebastian, Spain – October 2013; Task 1.3 – Steering meeting – Quimper, France – March 2014; Task 1.4 – Project Report 2013; Task 1.5 – Project Report 2014 ; Task 1.6 – Final communication report ; Activity 5 – Communication Task 5.1 – Update KIMERAA website, Facebook and remaining active channels (news + agenda of events + new partners); Task 5.2 – Update/manage online Sea Directory ; Task 5.3 – Newsletters (6 new issues) ; Task 5.4 – Press-releases (at least 2 –initial and closing seminar) ; Task 5.5 – Presentation of KIMERAA or related outputs in external events ; Task 5.6 –Insert full video of documentary in project website ; Task 5.7 - Final Workshop/Forum (Quimper – France, March 2014, TQC with support of all partners) Activity 4 – ENKTAA Task 4.1 - Knowledge transfer guides ; Task 4.2 –Survey to knowledge needs using Sea Directory organizations ; Task 4.3 – Regional maritime S&T meetings (1 by partner) ; Task 4.4 – ENKTAA Business model (responsible partner: MIK) ; Task 4.5 – ENKTAA and Sea Directory Members PDF Directory 3) Project Results and The project KIMERAA was relevant to identify the main centres of R&D linked to marine sciences in the KIMERAA regions. It facilitated not only Impacts the collection of information about science-related actors but also about other economic actors and sectors. The creation of the Sea Directory worked as a matching tool for these organisations where they can offer and seek innovation to improve the marine economy scientific and technical knowledge diffusion and provide additional ways for trans-regional cooperation. The organization of the S2B units was relevant to detect opportunities for science commercialization and other collaborative practices, supported by intermediation actors in the KIMERAA regions working in the marine economy activities. It induced the benchmarking definition and selection of best-practices in the utilization of spinning-off and IPR registration and licensing, in the valorisation of marine scientific knowledge among partners and in support to knowledge exchange. The project public events created opportunities of contact among traditional and technological sectors in the marine fields. KIMERAA induced clustering dynamics in the partner regions. Two good examples, are the Portuguese partners, University of Algarve and University of Porto, which under KIMERAA activities had deep collaboration with the maritime cluster regional agencies (MarAlgarve and OCEANO XXI). The consolidation of ENKTAA, stimulating the networking with private and public bodies, was important to motivate new collaborations. One of these collaborations is with the Seas-ERA partnership (http://www.seas-era.eu), which was very interested in project results. In the long-run, the outputs of the project KIMERAA may help a series of results and impacts towards the increase the competitiveness of the maritime economy by detecting new innovative projects, launch scientific partnerships, foster the internationalisation of existing actors, and induce cooperation in the maritime clusters. 4) Main contributions to The main contributions of KIMERAA project into the Atlantic Area Programme were achieved at two levels. At the partnership level, partners the Atlantic Area worked in a very motivating way and it was possible to establish networks with potential beyond the project lifetime. The increase of the Programme achieved knowledge about the maritime economy was also important to the partner’s daily activities increasing the knowledge transfer activities within this specific topic. At the territorial level, the involvement and cooperation of regional stakeholders into the project activities had positive effects in the enhancement of the participating Atlantic Area regions. The regional economies also benefited of the impact of the increased awareness on maritime clusters importance and its potential to the Atlantic Area economies. European Network of Knowledge Transfer in Atlantic Area (ENKTAA) may be regarded as the main contribution of KIMERAA to the Atlantic Area programme. It is the final activity of

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KIMERAA and a logical development of the work developed within the project. Building transnational collaboration is a challenging concept. For many actors it is a step too far. For policy-makers, promoting international collaboration is now an accepted part of building competitive centres of expertise/excellence. At a European scale, examples based upon a distributed model focused on co-located clusters of activity have emerged. There are opportunities for ENKTAA to build similar spaces of innovation excellence across the Atlantic Area, stimulating regional ‘smart specialisation’ and tackling ‘societal challenges’. Under the extension of KIMERAA project the concept, the initial actions to provide substance, raise awareness and test the concept are being developed. These tasks were concluded in 2014. 2014 was important to consolidate KIMERAA’s objectives and main goals. The partnership gave attention to the project dissemination increasing the involvement of regional/national and European stakeholders. Thus, the main contributions of KIMERAA in the current reporting period to the Programme are related to the reinforcement of the synergy and network approach in the Atlantic Area Maritime Clusters. In addition, the main result from Activity 3 - finished by the end of 2011 - the online platform Sea Directory captured the attention of several European stakeholders that showed interest in this tool. This was considered a good result for the KIMERAA project, in the sense that one of the main goals of the project is the involvement of European Maritime stakeholders in the improvement of the Atlantic Area economy. Particular interest in the tool was showed by EurOcean, an entity that manages several similar databases in the maritime activities and sciences. A back-up of the Sea Directory is presented is EurOcean website. Communication activities were continued in this period. KIMERAA partners disseminated the project, its objectives and achieved results in several initiatives (scientific conferences, regional workshops and regional/national/European meetings). 5) Implementation The achievement of KIMERAA´s specific objectives was based in the implementation of the methodology divided in three moments: the first, methodology aspects designed to consolidate the Partnership, was a partnership exercise to underline regional specificities but also the complementarities and attained common institutions in Maritime clusters and creation of niches of excellence based in marine resources. In this sense, this first moment of the project methodology implementation allowed the benchmark, the exchange of experiences and the increase of knowledge within the partnership as it regards to the Maritime Economy in the Atlantic Area. The second moment of the methodology implementation evaluated the potential of the Maritime Niches of Excellence, which was achieved with the creation of the KIMERAA catalogue of competencies and services materialized in the on-line tool to facilitate the knowledge demand-supply matching (Sea Directory). The implementation of the third moment was the consolidation of the knowledge and experience acquired with the previous moments. Thus, this phase intended to promote ENKTAA as a network in the field of supporting maritime niches of excellence, consolidating and formalizing a network that include not only KIMERAA initial partners but all relevant stakeholders interested in the initiative 6) Innovative aspects of Has it was established in the project proposal, KIMERAA manifests its innovative character through two main dimensions: internal and the project achieved external. The internal character refers to the project partnership dimension with the gathering of information on the maritime economy between all participant regions mainly through the creation of an inter-regional database available to all partners (Sea Directory). This database is itself an innovation achievement of the project because, in fact, is one of the only available databases facilitating the access to this kind of information. Other dimension that can be considered an innovative aspect achieved by KIMERAA is the external dimension. In fact, the project activities and results showed that the involvement of stakeholders is very important to the persistence of the acquired knowledge to reach results beyond KIMERAA lifetime. This involvement was possible, mainly through the efficiency of the project communication and through the establishment of ENKTAA network. Analysing the two mentioned dimensions is possible to say that KIMERAA activities during the

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initial period and the project extension created a new approach to the support of excellence using marine resources through knowledge effective transfer and share. The approach to regional stakeholders in promoting the project, the ENKTAA Network and the importance of the Maritime economy in the Atlantic Area was the main innovative aspect of the project achieved in this reporting period. The commitment of the partnership in support the knowledge transfer and the support of entrepreneurship projects within maritime economy was an important element to allow the reinforcement of the previous work. Furthermore, the elaboration of a Documentary entitled “Atlantic’s KIMERAA – When Science and Tradition Come Together” was also an innovative aspect of the project in the reporting period, allowing the promotion of the Atlantic Area, the Maritime Economy and the complementary vision between science and tradition. Operation management

1) Management and In 2014, the following activities related to Management and Coordination of the project were organized: coordination activities Administrative and financial management: accompaniment of the project activities and financial execution; organized in the period Preparation of the 2013 and 2014 execution report and reimbursement claim for these periods; Implementation and supervisory of the objectives and the specific activities as defined within the approved application for this period; Preparation of auditing processes to P1 and P2; 2nd Steering Meeting of the Extension Period in March 2014, TQC (France). 2) Monitoring and The activities of monitoring and evaluation are crucial to the development of KIMERAA project. In this reporting period the project monitoring evaluation activities activities were taken during the project partnership transnational meetings, telephonic and email contacts to other partners to assure the organized in the period implementation of planned activities. The lead partner monitored the project activities through a close contact with all the partners providing working documents to evaluate the implementation of the activities. Besides the project meeting in Quimper (France), the Lead partner and the project partners developed a series of Skype meetings (in June/July 2014). 3) Main problems found The main problems found during the considered period regard the financial and administrative situation of the project. The delay in the and solutions adopted presentation of previous reports created additional delays in the reporting of the period of 2013 and 2014. The validation of the expenses on during the period time to submit to JTS is a problem that is transversal to the entire partnership, except the Irish partner (WestBIC). The partnership has done the best efforts to accomplish the expectations. To overcome this problem, the articulation with the national authorities and JTS was very helpful. 4) Majors impacts of The project revisions were extremely useful to the accomplishment of the main objectives of KIMERAA. The increase of the awareness to the eventual project revisions project, its objectives and main results had a major impact with the project revisions. The revision under the Special Project Extension Facility during the period Form was considered particularly important to conclude some activities that otherwise would not have had a significant impact. This period in 2013-14 was useful to implement “new” activities such as the new cycle of regional S&T workshops, the study on innovation and knowledge needs, and the creation of a business model for ENKTAA. Communication achievements

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1)Main project This can be considered the KIMERAA main communication achievements. The project was proactive in developing communication activities: communication Concept and corporate image of the project; Streamlining the website; Organization of transnational events; Organization of regional events; achievements Presentation of the project at scientific and professional conferences ; Documentary "The Kimeraa of the Atlantic: Knowledge Transfer to Improve Marine Economy Regions in from the Atlantic Area" Specifically, during the extension period in 2014, the website www.kimeraa.eu was updated with new information (news and events, new partners, new objectives of the extension period, etc). Additional numbers of the project newsletters were produced (4 new numbers for 2014). The Sea Directory was updated with new entities; it was exported to EurOcean server, and was added of a new export/pdf generator facility. The Facebook page was re-activated with the insertion of more than 100 new posts. The documentary “Atlantic´s KIMERAA: When Tradition and Science Come Together” was disseminated in the project website and in the Youtube project channel. The project was presented in an European Commission Atlantic Action Plan Event (http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/sea_basins/atlantic_ocean/atlanticforum/events-2014/liverpool/index_en.htm ), 13th June 2014 in Liverpool (UK). The project was also presented as a best-practice in the Final conference of the project HARVEST Atlantic – Harnessing All the Resources Valuable to Economies of Seaside Territories in the Atlantic, held in Santander (Cantabria, Spain) in 19/20 May 2014. Regional partners have organized their own S&T regional workshops: University of Algarve: “Promoting Cooperation for the Blue Growth in Algarve”, held at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Algarve, with the label of the European Maritime Day given by the European Commission, 30th April 2014. University of Porto: A2B (Academia to Business) session at Sea Forum (Exponor, Matosinhos), Espaço Plateia, 28th May 2014. MIK: "European Sea Capital", at Bilbao in the Mondragon University's (MIK) headquarters, 2nd April 2014. WestBIC: "Capturing the Blue Resource - Marine Tourism Seminar", at the Mulranny Park Hotel, Mulranny, Co. Mayo, 9th May 2014. UHU: "Journey of Knowledge Transfer on Maritime Affairs", at the Faculty of Experimental Sciences, University of Huelva, 14th May 2014. TQC: “Innovation for a Sustainable Aquaculture”, in 27th March 2014. University of Manchester: “Creating networks and knowledge transfer for SMEs, at Manchester Business School, 11th June 2014. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, The period of 2014 as particularly important to achieve the final results of two studies: handbooks, guides…) Business model for ENKTAA - European Network of Knowledge Transfer in the Atlantic Area, available at: published on any format, http://kimeraa.eu/gestor/upload_files/Documentos/ENKTAA_Business_Model.pdf as well as all promotional Innovation and Knowledge Needs in the Maritime Economy, available at: material produced in the http://kimeraa.eu/gestor/upload_files/Documentos/Knowledge_Needs_and_Innovation_in_the_Maritime_Economy.pdf framework of the Project. PDF generator of Sea Directory Searches, available at: http://kimeraa.eu/mapa/index.php All newsletters, available at:: http://kimeraa.eu/newsletter.php For more project documents: see http://kimeraa.eu/actividades.php Future documents Project concluded in October 2014. (studies, handbooks, guide

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LABELFISH | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/163 www.labelfish.eu

Title ATLANTIC NETWORK ON GENETIC CONTROL OF FISH AND SEAFOOD LABELLING AND TRACEABILITY

Slogan LABELFISH

Project summary Traceability of fish and seafood is mandatory since 2005 within the EU. Full implementation requires an adequate management of information and also the availability of techniques which allow the verification of the information transmitted. One of the relevant aspects of the verification of traceability and labelling legislation is the capability of identify and authenticate biological species. In recent years a substantial amount of research has been invested in the development of genetic methods for the identification of commercially fish. However, there is still a need to standardize these methodologies among the user laboratories and also to update databases and genetic profiles of commercially relevant species in order to provide a standardized response regardless of the country, or laboratory, where the analyses are performed. The objective of LABELFISH is to set up a network of entities with interest in the development of a common strategy and in the use of standardized and innovative analytical techniques for the control of genetic traceability and labelling of seafood products. Expected outcomes are the protection of the both European consumers and SMEs involved in fisheries and aquaculture in the Atlantic regions. Project Lead Partner Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas – Consejo Superior de Incestigaciones cientíd¡ficas (IIM – CSIC) (ES)

Partnership Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera - IPMA (PT); Institut Français de Recherche Pour l´Exploitation de la MER - IFREMER (FR) ; Indigo Rock Marine Research Station (IE) ; University of Salford (UK); Max Rubner Institut (DE) Associated partners: Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) - Irish Fisheries Board (IE) ; Laboratoire Service Commun des Laboratoires de Marseille (FR); Secretaría General de Pesca - Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio ambiente (SP) ; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (UK); Puesto de Inspección Frnterizo de Vigo Puerto. Administración General del Estado (SP) Starting date 01-07-2012

Ending date 30-04-2015

Total eligible budget 1,922,838.78€

Total ERDF budget 1,249,845.20€

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Global performance 80%

1) Implementation Activity 2. Analysis of fish traceability and fish labelling in markets of the Atlantic region Progress- Activities Action 1. This action is aimed at analyzing the level of implantation of traceability processes in the seafood chain. Every partner has contacted and interviewed stakeholders to study the situation and reports on the level of implementation of traceability in every country have been developed. A final deliverable including the transnational comparison has been produced as well, and its publication in the journal Relatórios Científicos e Técnicos of IPMA accepted. Action 2. Evaluation of seafood labelling in view of the European, regional and national legislation. The sampling and species identification in seafood samples has finished in all of the countries. Results and conclusions have been compiled in national reports for Spain, France, UK and Ireland, whereas Portuguese data is now being evaluated. Action 3. Evaluation of consumers’ perception to labelling and traceability has been addressed through studies of consumer attitudes in each region. Online e-questionnaires were prepared and submitted to consumers from all of the countries via email and LABELFISH & partners’ webpages. Additionally, an expert research group has gathered information through direct interviews to Spanish consumers (300 one-hour personal interviews) and the same large-scale field study is now being carried out in Portugal. The obtained data has been analyzed and the Spanish report has been developed. Action 4. The assessment of the control of traceability by the stakeholders and the administration across the different countries has been completed. Information regarding the competences and activities of control bodies has been gathered and specific governmental agencies have been interviewed. Every partner have presented a report on these studies and a transnational deliverable is in progress. Activity 3. Standardisation of fish authenticity and genetic traceability methodologies Action 1. The objective is to analyse the current fish species identification techniques, the level of implementation in each country and the advantages and disadvantages for each of them. The review of current methods utilised obtained from all laboratories testing seafood (specifically of fish, not shellfish), has been finished and outcoming data used for the elaboration of a scientific publication in the previous reporting period. Action 2. The builiding up of a genetic database for species with interest for the Atlantic region has been completed. Sequences of DNA from relevant species have been obtained from the analysis of commercial samples and have been integrated to be available for all partners. All of them have been also uploaded into public databases (BOLD and GenBank). Action 3. Harmonisation and proposal of a standard European methodology for the control of fish labelling. After the review of current methods utilised in the scientific literature and official control laboratories, it was agreed to study the potential of COI barcoding as a method of choice for carrying species identification. In order to achieve this objective an international ring trial with the collaboration of external official control laboratories has been carried out. Not only the lab work has been finished in the period, but also a definitive draft of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been produced. Moreover, additional studies to identify novel methodologies that can tackle cases of ambiguity of current methods and identify fish species in mixed products have been initiated. Concretely, the alternative methods investigated to overcome the mentioned difficulties were 2bRAD, NGS and PCR-ELISA.

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Action 4. As for the transference of results to control labs and authorities, the involvement of official control laboratories with the ring trial has entailed the first move towards the achievement of this objective. Moreover, results obtained until now has been discussed with the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA). IIM-CSIC and IPMA were invited to a meeting organized by DG SANCO to discuss an European sampling plan on labelling compliance in seafood products, which will be implemented by official control labs in different member states. Activity 4. Atlantic Network for species Authenticity and Labelling Action 1. A transnational catalogue of entities with capacities, expertise or interest in fish traceability developed in previous periods has grown significantly thanks to the organization of the international final symposium ISLAS 2014. Action 2. Workshops for exchanging capacities, personnel and results have been established periodically throughout the project duration to put in contact different organistions and provide the framework for building up a network across Europe. During the period, the 2-days International Symposium of Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014) took place in November in Vigo, Spain Action 3. The European network for fish authenticity and control of traceability has been widely discussed during the face-to-face meetings held in 2014. The future Labelfish network has been presented also during the ISLAS symposium. Activity 5. Dissemination Action 1. The Labelfish website has been operating at full capacity during this period, with an average of 1,241 visitors per month. The flyer has been widely disseminated and distributed to all the attendees at ISLAS 2014. Action 2. The stakeholder list has continued to grow throughout the period, resulted in 156 contacts having been added.Two newsletters have been distributed to the contact list of beneficiaries via email in January and June. Action 3. The international conference ISLAS 2014 was held in Vigo in November. Action 4. Some meetings with different actors have taken place. Twelve oral presentations have been given at international and national events and five posters have been presented. Action 5. Three press releases (TV, Radio, Newspapers, internet news) have been issued during this reporting period. Action 6. One publication in a scientific peer reviewed journal has been addressed during this reporting period about the results of the results of activity 3.1. Activity 6. Project Management Action 1. As a result of the project revision, a revised “Application form” involving modifications in both the work plan and budget has been approved. Action 2. Project coordination and management has been headed by IIM-CSIC, with the involvement a technical assistance company. Two interim project meeting has been organized during the period: in May (hosted by MRI in Hamburg) and November (hosted by IIM-CSIC in Vigo). Action 3. During the period, the partnership has prepared and delivered the fifth and sixth execution reports, whereas the preparation of the report no. 7 has been initiated. A modification of the proposal has been also submitted and approved, resulting in a project extension until 30th April 2015 and budgetary adjustments.

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2) Main project Reports on the level of implementation of traceability in Galicia (Spain), France, UK, Ireland, Portugal and Germany achievements - Outputs Transnational report on the level of implementation of traceability in Atlantic regions Sampling and results of seafood labelling studies in in Galicia (Spain), France, UK, Ireland and Germany Performance of large field study on Spanish consumers perception about traceability On-line survey about consumers perception about traceability in every participating country Reports on level of labelling control in Galicia (Spain), France, UK, Ireland, Portugal and Germany Transnational report on level of labelling control in Atlantic regions Transnational report on current techniques for the control of authenticity and labelling in Atlantic regions Scientific publication: Current Methods for Seafood Authenticity Testing in Europe: is there a Need for Harmonisation? In Food Control Provision of genetic results of market samples for project database and uploading of DNA sequences to public databases (GenBank and BOLD) Proposal of a standard methodology for the control of fish labelling (COI barcoding). Validation through an International Ring Trial (involving the participation of official control laboratories) and production of the definitive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Organization of the International Symposium of Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014) with 130 attendees Further project dissemination through the new LABELFISH website, distribution of promotional material, 3 press releases, 2 project newsletters, attendance of representatives at international and national events.

3) Project Results and The real value of LABELFISH project is the proposed knowledge transfer to entities which have to control the veracity of labels. This would Impacts allow the protection not only of the consumer’s interest, but also the protection of the industry and the valorisation of seafood products quality. Nowadays, there are analytical tools for the control of mislabelling practices, however they are not well known by all the actors involved in the value chain or even consumers. There is also an urgent need for the harmonisation of these techniques across the different countries of the European area. The creation of a network for seafood labelling and authenticity participated by reference laboratories, public entities, research institutions… will give support to the control process. During the period, the Labelfish network has increased significantly as a result of the organisation of the conference ISLAS 2014. Representatives from several national authorities have been involved in the conference as invited speakers, together with representatives from private entities and research institutions with expertise in fish traceability and authentication. Official control laboratories have also participated actively in project activites, being involved in an international ring trial carried out in the period. This ring trial has been aimed at testing the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) developed by the consortium and proposed as a harmonized methodology for the control of seafood authenticity and labelling. 4) Main contributions to One of the main goals and potential contribution of Labelfish to the Atlantic Area Program is to promote the valorization of the Atlantic the Atlantic Area Seafood versus those products coming from outside the EC. The two seafood value chains selected in the first reporting periods, which Programme achieved characterize the industry of these regions, were: Cod products (fresh, frozen, and salted-dried) and Canned Tuna. All partners studied the value chains related with the production of these seafood products, giving the opportunity to analyze the results with a transnational approach.

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Other important contributions of Labelfish project to the Atlantic Area Program are: to validate and implement adequate laboratory tools for the authentication of species to foster the creation of a network of laboratories and potential beneficiaries. During the period, an international ring trial involving official control labs has been carried out in order to validate the analytical method to be proposed as the harmonized methodology for the control of fish labelling. As a result, a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been produced. Also, the initial core of the network has been expanded with the celebration of the ISLAS 2014. During this international event, several participants across Europe expressed their desire to be included in the network and in future actions related with this subject. The following activities represent the main work carried out for attaining the above mentioned achievements: - Besides the main value chains selected (frozen gadoids and canned tuna), all partners have finished the evaluation of specific cases which are commercially relevant for each country. The sampling plans for addressing the analysis of labelling of seafood across Atlantic area regions were carried out in previous periods, while the pending analyses were completed. - The research group with expertise in consumers’ studies, at University of La Coruña (Galicia, Spain) has supervised the internet survey in all Labelfish countries. Also a large scale field study consisting of direct interviews to Spanish consumers has been completed, while in Portugal the same task is being addressed. - Some meetings with labelling and consumption control bodies have taken place for determining the involvement of these entities in the progress of the Labelfish project, and to evaluate the actual situation regarding labelling. Studies on level of labelling control in all the countries have been finished. - An International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014) was organized and held in 25th and 26th of November in Vigo (Spain). The event was conceived to provide a forum to all the actors involved with seafood authenticity, from fishermen and industry stakeholders, to consumers and other segments of civil society, to discuss the key issues and move towards the solution. - The LABELFISH website has been updated since its creation, in January. The leaflet designed in previous periods has been widely distributed. New sections with information concerning the celebration of ISLAS 2014 were implemented. - Communication and diffusion of the project has been done through presentations by partners of the project by different means. 5) Implementation The project methodology is being implemented as outlined. From the beginning, the achievement of the main LABELFISH’s objectives was methodology aspects based in the implementation of 6 independent Workpackages (WP) or Activities, each of which was divided into a number of further Actions attained with detailed milestones and targets (“Follow-up indicators”) to allow an appropriate measurement of attainment. A leader was appointed for every activity and responsabilities were divided among partners in accordance with their experiences. During the period, all activities were on-going experienced a significant progress (except Activity 1, which was finished during the first period). By the end of 2014, workpackags reached the following percentage of technical execution: Activity 2. Analysis of fish Traceability and fish labelling in markets of the Atlantic Region - 95% Activity 3. Standarisation of fish authenticity and Genetic traceability methodologies - 80% Activity 4. Atlantic Network for Species authentication and labelling - 96% Activity 5. Dissemination - 95%

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Activity 6. Project management - 82% 6) Innovative aspects of the One of the innovative aspects of this project is to try to integrate the vision of the administration, consumers and industry, providing all these project achieved stakeholders, by means of the research on authenticity, with efficient tools for the correct verification of seafood labels. - Administration related with the control of food labels in each country has been contacted in some countries to be involved in the project. - Consumers’ points of view have been successfully integrated in the consortium by the technical assistance of an expert group on consumers’ studies, the expert has participated in project meetings and has contributed significantly to the progress of Labelfish. - Industry has been involved through the participation in workshops. Also in Spain, industry has been contacted to analyse the situation and

perception of traceability and labelling. Operation management

1) Management and IIM-CSIC, as lead partner and with the asistence of an external company, has continued with the coordination and general management of the coordination activities project. At this regard, the following coordinating activities were completed in the period: organized in the period Two interim meetings were held in May (Hamburg) and November (Vigo), in which the Lead Partner (IIM-CSIC) coordinated the evaluation of the progress in every activity. Execution reports no. 5 and 6 were prepared and submitted to JTS. The first project revision (involving both work plan and budget modifications) was prepared and submitted. A continuous communication between partners has been maintained to deal with administrative, scientific and technical issues There has been a close liaison with JTS 2) Monitoring and During this reporting period two interim meetings were organized, in which the progress degree of both technical and financial execution was evaluation activities evaluated and key issues were addressed. Monitoring indicators were revised as well, being considered as a measure of the achievement of organized in the period project objectives. As a result, future work and collaboration between partners for the completion of upcoming tasks was discussed and organized. In both cases, the coordination team circulated the agenda prior to meetings and, subsequently, minutes were drafted and reviewed by all partners. Moreover, a continuous monitoring of activities has been done through contact among partners via e-mail, a shared Dropbox folder and telephone and Skype calls. 3) Main problems found The late signature of the subsidy contract of the project, which was outside of control of LABELFISH consortium, entailed a subsequent delay and solutions adopted in the technical execution that has been dragging on until now. To be able to attain a full achievement of project objectives, the need for a during the period work plan modification was agreed by all the partners during the first interim meeting held in 2014. Therefore, a revision claim was prepared to request a project extension. The complexity of the project revision delayed its submission to JTS a certain time, which caused a consequent delay in the provision of the Execution Report no. 6 (1/2014). However, the Lead Partner coordinated the preparation of the report making use of the previous forms, so that the partners could work on their scientific and financial claims before the proper blank forms became availbale.

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4) Majors impacts of During the reported period, a project revision was submitted and approved. As a result, the duration of LABELFISH has been extended up to eventual project revisions April 2015, and the ending dates of every activity have been reviewed: during the period Activity 2: extended to October 2014 Activities 3, 4, 5 and 6: extended to April 2015 The budget of all the partners has been modified accordingly. Communication achievements

1)Main project LABELFISH website communication The final version of the LABELFISH website (www.labelfish.eu) went live in January 2014 with the aim of disseminating the project objectives, achievements actions, progress and results. It consists of the following public sections: The project: this section is aimed at providing general information about LABELFISH, such as objectives, project funding, activities and scope, contribution of the project and stakeholder register Publications: the compilation of publications produced in the framework of the project is presented News and events related to labeling, traceability and seafood authentication. Also, a Newsletter archive is accessible. Partners presentation Contact form

Since its launch, the website has been consistently updated with news, events and publications on a regular basis. According with the records, the total number of page views reached 13,655. Therefore, the website had on average of 1,241 visitors per month, of which 67% were new and 33% were returning visitors. LABELFISH stakeholders list and project newsletters A stakeholder database was developed from the beginning of the project and has continued to grow throughout the period. This contact list of potential beneficiaries was regularly updated with stakeholders registered both through the website and events organized by the partnership. During the period, LABELFISH newsletters (about documents and publications, development of the project, conferences, events, etc.) were distributed to a mailing list of 250 people in January and June. The text for the January 2015 newsletter was compiled and included changes to legislation, paper reviews and a brief summary of ISLAS 2014. Moreover, emails were sent to the stakeholder list in August, September and October with information on ISLAS 2014 and how to register. Organization of workshops Regional, national and transnational seminars focused to target stakeholders and to facilitate interactions between them have been organised from the beginning of the project. During the period, the International Symposium of Labelling ans Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014) was successfully organized by the Lead Partner (IIM-CSIC) in close collaboration with the rest of the partnership. The 2-days international conference, which was held on 25th-26th

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November in Vigo (Spain), has been planned in the framework of Labelfish with the aim of providing a forum to all actors involved in seafood authenticity, including representatives from academia, food authorities, fishermen and industry, consumers and policymakers. ISLAS 2014 hosted speakers and 130 attendees from across the world (Canada, Spain, UK, Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, Brazil, Iceland, Chile, Poland, Italy & Slovakia) and covered topics from labelling legislation and governance to seafood authentication methodologies. The dissemination of the conference was carried out via email and LABELFISH website, in which an specific section was created. Moreover, the creation and updating of a specific page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ISLAS2014) allowed its announcement through this social media. Participation in main seafood meetings, conferences and trade fairs The partners’ presence in such seminars, conferences, congress and fairs is considered as an opportunity to present the project development and results, to discuss on actual themes related to traceability and fish labelling and to reach potential beneficiaries. There has been partner attendance at major international and national events and presentation of the project at many of these: Rapid Methods Europe 2014- RME. March 2014, The Netherlands (IIM-CSIC) Fg Fisch. March 2014, Germany (MRI) 28th Meeting of the GDCh WG “Biochemical and Molecular Biological Analysis”. April 2014, Germany (MRI) Defra – Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG). April 2014, United Kingdom (USALFORD) Global Seafood Exposition. May 2014, Belgium (INDIGO) 3rd Kiel Food Science Symposium. May 2014, Germany (IIM-CSIC, MRI, IRFREMER, IPMA, INDIGO) West European Fish Technologists Association – WEFTA. June 2014, Spain (IIM-CSIC) Labelling Seminar organised by BIM. July 2014, Ireland (INDIGO) International Marine Conservation Congress 3 - IMCC3. August 2014, Scotland (USALFORD) 2nd Meeting of UK eDNA Working Group. September 2014, United Kingdom (USALFORD) Defra – Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG). September 2014, United Kingdom (USALFORD) CONXEMAR International Frozen Seafood Exhibition. October 2014, Spain (IIM-CSIC) Shellfish Conference & AGM. October 2014, Ireland (INDIGO) Aquaculture Europe 2014. October 2014, Spain (INDIGO) Forum Aquakultur EuroTier. November 2014, Germany (MRI) Food Fraud Lab Innovations. November2014, United Kingdom (USALFORD) Meeting §64 - WG “Molecular biological methods to plant and animal species differentiation”. December 2014, Germany (MRI) News published in media Media is a crucial mean of project communication with the general public. Regularly news were endorsed by media, mainly by press, to give a direct and actual overview of LABELFISH objectives and results. In February, LABELFISH and some of its preliminary results were presented to the general Spanish public through: - 3 television appearances and 6 radio interviews given by IIM-CSIC - 13 separate news articles (both online and in print)

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In July, LABELFISH was echoed in a total of four Irish media, including two local newspapers (who also published the article on their websites), a regional newspaper (who also published the article in their online edition) and a national news website. A press release for ISLAS 2014 was submitted in both English and Spanish to over 3,200 people. IIM-CSIC communicated with the media resulting in advertising and coverage of the event in 19 different newspapers/magazines/websites, a Spanish news programme and two radio shows. Dissemination material The LABELFISH logo has been extensively used throughout the project in the website, workshops, publications, leaflet, presentations, newsletter and other promotional material (stationery, pens, folders, USB keys). Dissemination material was produced and distributed during this reporting period at various events and meetings. The ISLAS 2014 book of abstracts was designed and produced by IIM-CSIC and a copy was given to all conference attendees, together with the LABELFISH project leaflet, USB key, pen and branded writing paper. Also, an advertising poster was used at the registration desk. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Scientific publications: handbooks, guides…) Griffiths, A. M., Sotelo, C. G., Mendes, R., Perez Martin, R. I., Schröder, U., Shorten, M., Silva, H. A., Verrez-Bagnis, V. & Mariani, S. 2014. published on any format, as Current Methods for Seafood Authenticity Testing in Europe: is there a Need for Harmonisation? Food Control. 45, 95-100. Participation in conferences, congresses and meetings: well as all promotional Posters material produced in the Kappel, K., Boufana, B., Dopico, D., Griffiths, A., Jerome, M., Maguire, J., Mariani, S., Mendes, R., Perez-Bousada, J., Pérez-Martín, R., framework of the Project. Schroeder, U., Shorten M., Silva, H., Velasco, A., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Sotelo, C.G., 2014. LABELFISH, the Atlantic network on genetic control of fish and seafood labelling and traceability. 3rd Kiel Food Symposium, Kiel, Germany (20-21 May 2014). Velasco, A., Aldrey, A., Pérez-Martín, R.I., Sotelo, C.G., 2014. Mislabelling of tune in Spanish food products detected by DNA analysis. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Sáncez, A., Quinteiro, J., Pérez-Martín, R.I., Sotelo, C.G. European hake (M. merluccius) quantification by real time PCR in model mixtures. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Santaclara, J., Perez-Martín, R.I., Sotelo, C.G., 2014. Genetic identification of Epinephelus marginatus by duplex PCR-ELISA methodology. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Taboada, L., Sánchez, A., Sotelo, C.G., 2014. Rapid detection of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) and Ling (Molva molva) by Lateral Flow Dipstick assay. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Brünen-Nieweler, C., Schröder, U., 2014. Validated and legal anchored DNA-methods for authentication of fish and crustacean in Germany. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Oral communications

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Schröder, U., Kappel, K., 2014. Labelfish: Das EU-Projekt für die Harmonisierung der genetischen Authentizitätsprüfungen von Fischereierzeugnissen und die Schaffung des atlantischen Netzwerkes LABELFISHNET. Forschungsgemeinschaft Fischwirtschaft (FgF). Bremerhaven, Germany (20 March 2014) Sotelo, C.G., Boufana, B., Dopico, D., Griffiths, A., Jerome, M., Kappel, K., Maguire, J., Mariani, S., Mendes, R., Perez-Bousada, J., Pérez-Martín, R., Schroeder, U., Shorten M., Silva, H., Velasco, A., Verrez-Bagnis, V., 2014. Labelfish – a European project to combat fraud in the fish industry. The Rapid Methods Europe, Bastiaanse Communication, NH Conference Centre Leeuwenhorst in Noordwijk, Netherlands (31st March-2nd April 2014). Schröder, U., Kappel, K., 2014. Labelfish: Das EU-Projekt für die Harmonisierung der genetischen Authentizitätsprüfungen von Fischereierzeugnissen und die Schaffung des atlantischen Netzwerkes LABELFISHNET. GDCH AG: Biochemische und molekularbiologische Analytik Meeting. Frankfurt, Germany (7 April 2014) Griffiths, A., 2014. Labelfish. The Atlantic Network on Genetic Control of Fish and Seafood Labelling and Traceability. Defra – Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG). London, United Kingdom (30 April 2014) Dopico, D., Mendes, R., Silva, H., Mariani, S., Griffiths, A., Boufana, B., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Jerome, M., Schroeder, U., Kappe, K., Maguire, J., Shorten M., Velasco, A., Pérez-Martín, R. and Sotelo, C.G., 2014. Consumers´perception towards traceability of fishery products and its relationship with quality. A Cross-national comparison. 3rd Kiel Food Symposium, Kiel, Germany (20-21 May 2014). Sotelo, C.G., Boufana, B., Dopico, D., Griffiths, A., Jerome, M., Kappel, K., Maguire, J., Mariani, S., Mendes, R., Perez-Bousada, J., Pérez-Martín, R., Schroeder, U., Shorten M., Silva, H., Velasco, A., Verrez-Bagnis, V., 2014. Labelfish – towards a universal methodology to combat seafood fraud?. 44th West European Fish Technologists Association Meeting, Bilbao, Spain (9-11 June 2014). Mariani, S., Griffiths, A., Velasco, A., Kappel, K., Jerome, M., Pérez-Martín, R., Schröder, U., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Silva, H., Boufana, B., Mendes, R., Shorten and Sotelo, C., 2014. DNA-Barcoding Europe’s Seafood Markets: A new hope? International Marine Conservation Congress 3 - IMCC3. Glasgow, United Kingdom (14-18 August 2014) Mariani, S., 2014. DNA Barcoding isn’t dead: Implications for seafood traceability and biodiversity assessment. 2nd Meeting of UK eDNA Network. University of Hull, United Kingdom (18-19 September 2014) Mariani, S., Griffiths, A., Velasco, A., Kappel, K., Jerome, M., Pérez-Martín, R., Schröder, U., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Silva, H., Boufana, B., Vandamme, S.G., Mendes, R., Shorten and González-Sotelo, C., 2014. Seafood Authenticity in the European Retail Sector. Campden BRI Food Fraud Seminar. NEC, Birmingham United Kingdom (5 November2014). Griffiths, A., Vandamme, S., Velasco, A., Kappel, K., Sotelo, C., Pérez-Martín, R., Jerome, M., Schröder, U., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Boufana, B., Smith, C., Silva, H., Mendes, R. and Mariani, S., 2014. Harmonisation and standardisation of seafood authentication methodologies: Labelfish approach. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Mariani, S., Griffiths, A., Velasco, A., Kappel, K., Jerome, M., Schroeder, U., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Perez-Martin, I., Silva, H., Boufana, B., Mendes, R., Shorten, M., Vandamme, S., Hankard, E., Weymer, A. and Sotelo, C., 2014. Europe-wide DNA assessment of retail fish products: label accuracy on the rise. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain (25-26 November 2014). Calvo, D., 2014. Quality of fish products, traceability and labelling: Discovering new challenges and opportunities. International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS 2014), Vigo, Spain. (25-26 November 2014).

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Other studies, guides and dissemination documents: 3rd and 4th edition of LABELFISH Newsletter (January and June 2014) ISLAS 2014 Book of abstracts DNA sequences uploaded to public databases (GenBank and BOLD) Tools and promotional material: LABELFISH website ISLAS 2014 Facebook profile Project leaflet USB keys Pens Folders and branded writing paper Advertising poster at ISLAS 2014 Future documents (studies, Scientific documents (publications, studies, guides…): handbooks, guides…) to be Standard Operating Procedure for the Genetic Identification of Fish Species using DNA Barcoding (Mitochondrial Cytochrome I Sequencing) published on any format, as Mendes, R., Griffiths, A., Mariani, S., Sotelo, C., Velasco, A., Smith, C., Shorten, M., Verrez-Bagnis, V., Silva, H. 2015. Traceability and labelling of seafood in Atlantic area regions. Relatórios Cientificos e Técnicos do IPMA (http://ipma.pt), nº32, 47 pp. well as all promotional Oral communication at 2nd Food Integrity Conference (March 2015) material to be produced, Other pending scientific publications until the end of the Project. Other divulgative materials and tools: Regular update of LABELFISH website and creation of a private section aimed at ISLAS attendees and stakeholders LABELFISH Newsletters Press releases Promotional video Divulgative booklet for dissemination of results among general public Pending scientific publications

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MARMED | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/164 www.marmedproject.eu

Title MARMED - Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorisation

Slogan Marine by-products are not waste until we waste it

Project summary MARMED project aims the valorisation of marine residues and sub-products from several companies from the marine sector, with demonstration of real cases (collaboration with industries as proof-of-concept) and on the other side to demonstrate the added-value and high- potential of applicability of those materials (marine origin biopolymers and ceramics) in biomedical applications, also with close industrial collaboration, that will evaluate the market potential of the applications to be developed and/or studied under the scope of this project. Project Lead Partner 3B's Research Group - University of Minho (UMINHO)

Partnership Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar - University of Porto (ICBAS); Marine Research Institute - Spanish National Research Council (IIM- CSIC); Control and Management of the Marine Environment and Resources - Technological Centre of the Sea (CETMAR); Applied Physics Department - University of Vigo (UVIGO) ; Marine Resources Department - Portuguese Institute for the Sea and (IPMA); Laboratory of Marine Environment Sciences - University of Western Bretagne (UBO) ; School of Biological Sciences - Queen’s University Belfast (QUB); Irish Seaweed Research Group Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials - National University of Ireland (NUIG) ; Biomedical Sciences and Medicine - University of Algarve (UALG). Starting date 01-03-2012

Ending date 30-06-2014

Total eligible budget 2 066 765.96 €

Total ERDF budget 1 343 397.82 €

Global performance 100%

1) Implementation All the activities were successfully completed fulfilling its important defined objectives: Activity 1 where Identification of marine origin materials Progress- Activities and transformation industries producing them; Activity 2 - Technical developments on marine biomaterial’s valorisation and its biomedical

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application; Activity 3 - Evaluation of developed technologies and methodologies in industrial and commercial context; Activity 4 - Dissemination and communication; Activity 5 - Coordination and Project Management. The Activities’ implementation was, in brief: Activity 1 - An important amount of information has been collected allowing having a good picture of the present situation of marine origin by- products in the Atlantic Region. An integration of the information obtained in the different regions, aiming to obtain a more harmonized description, is being performed, and with all the collected data from these different regions, a final repport has been redacted. Besides, it is also important to keep the effort of contacting the several entities enrolled (authorities, fish processing plants and other companies), since the obtention of actualized information is traditionally difficult, and better reliable data is achieved when direct contacts are performed. Activity 2 - Technological developments have been achieved for the production of marine derived compounds and subsequent biomedical applications. This allowed the establishment of the most appropriate processing methodologies and conditions. The different isolated compounds have found important biomedical applications showing a good feed-back from companies, either from the by-products producing industries, as well from the biomedical companies side. Some examples of up-scaling possibilities were also shown. The results achived in this activity allowed the presentation of innovative solutions and biomaterials to biomedical companies, leading to Activity 3. Activity 3 – The different MARMED partners performed an important number of contacts with companies, aiming to assess the aplicability of the proposed valorization methodologies in an industrial context. The consortium worked on the extension of these contacts, reinforcing the actual ones. This represents a strong interaction with the work being developed in Activity 2, since from the mentioned contacts, suggestions from the companies lead to modifications in the methodologies being studied and evaluated in laboratory scale, now being adjusted. Very importantly, some of the contacts performed led to collaborations with companies that perdured after the end of the project financing. Activity 4 - Dissemination of project outputs was performed together with the development of the work carried out through Activities 1, 2 and 3, with a number of seminars organized by the project and an Interactive Workshop with Medical Doctors, Researchers and Biomedical Companies. Also the project webpage was well established, the MARMED video created and published and the project newsletter weekly released. Importantly an online by-product market was created. Activity 5 – This activity was well implemented, with the organization of progress meetings for the discussion and monitoring of project results and the subsequent elaboration of project reports. 2) Main project MARMED is being very successful in establishing a new attitude towards marine by-products. The involved stakeholders in the marine chain are achievements - Outputs now aware of the importance of new utilization techniques, resulting in a perceptible valorization of these new raw materials, and many of them showed to be ready to collaborate more directly with project participants and activities, even in the future after project end, to try to implement new attitudes and procedures aiming lower waste and better use. Due to MARMED actions, the industry now knows whom to contact and with whom to collaborate, and they will benefit from the interesting compounds and multiple uses MARMED identified as having potential in the future. The main project achievements and outputs can be divided in two main parts, regarding respectively the marine origin by-products and their valorization towards biomedical applications, as follows. -List of active companies that generate potentially relevant marine origin by-products (in areas that are traditionally difficult in statistics and quantifications). Direct (in some cases, personal) contact with companies/persons willing to collaborate. List of identified technical areas of

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collaboration. List of sources of by-products (including information about type, geographical location, seasonality, quantity and quality). List of entities that produce statistics and numbers about marine by-products. Data about stability, shelf-life, preservation, transport, uses and cost of by-products. Dissemination of main data collected, in order to find marine products and companies interested in their use, through the flyer produced by the project. -Range of methodologies for extraction of different compounds from marine origin by-products, namely algae extracts with multiple bioactivities, fish oils, proteins, protein hydrolisates, enzymes, polysaccharides, pigments and ceramics. Range of technical methodologies for valorization of extracted marine derived compounds into biomedical applications, namely development of polymeric structures as scaffolds for tissue engineering approaches, development of ceramic and composite structures for cell culture and tissue reconstruction and regeneration, identification of cytotoxic, proliferative, mineralogenic, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities in marine-derived extracts, ceramic, polymeric and composite structures for sustained release of bioactive compounds. Several of these methodologies are being developed in close interaction with companies and described below. 3) Project Results and IDENTIFICATION OF MARINE ORIGIN MATERIALS AND TRANSFORMATION INDUSTRIES PRODUCING THEM Impacts In the five different regions in the Atlantic area taking part in this Project (Spain, Portugal, France, The united Kingdom and Ireland), more than 500 entities/organizations were contacted (fishing sector companies, seaweed producers, fish markets, seafoods producers and Administration entities) in order to collect information about resources and marine by-products, as well as to be presented in the project “MARMED”. As a result, apart from the information obtained, 30 companies have shown great interest in knowing the results of this project and exploring new ways/procedures of collaboration and their implementation at an industrial level. The partner responsible for Activity 1 has developed a final report with the help of the rest of the partners involved in this activity. Each partner sent the information of the current situation of fish transformation industry, seaweed production and valorisation industry in the different regions of the Atlantic Area. Also, has been used the data collected in BIOTECMAR and FAROS project. ISOLATION OF BIOPOLYMERS Chitin/chitosan isolation The IIM-CSIC has worked in the chitin desacetilatyon and chitosan production from crustaceans discards and squid pen. Five species of squid pen were studied, namely, Loligo gahi, Illex argentinus, L. reinaudii, L. opalescens and Todarodes pacificus. One step of the extraction consisted in the hydrolysis of the pen with enzymes, several enzymes were tested in this step (Alacalase, Protamex, Flavourzyme, Pepsin and Papain), Alcalase yield the best results. After the hydrolysis another deproteinising step was employed, using NaOH, and after a demineralization step with HCl. The best results obtained were on the species: Illex argentinus and Loligo opalescens. For the crustaceans was studied the cephalothorax of shrimp Pennaeus sp. In order to choose the optimal conditions for the isolation of chitosan, it was carried out a batch of experimental designs, obtaining high purity chitosan with the optimum of [NaOH] >70% and time 16.36 hours. Collagen isolation The acid-collagen of the skin of 6 species highly discarded, including 5 chondrichtyes and 1 teleost, was isolated and characterized. The percentage of extracted collagen, type I in all cases, differ between species, being one chondrichthyan, Leucoraja naevus, the species with the highest content of acid soluble collagen, and the only one from which the extraction efficiency was 100%. Results on enzyme digestion confirmed differences in the primary and secondary structure of collagen between species, being two chondrichtyans (Scyliorhinus canicula and

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Chimaera monstrosa) more resistant to hydrolysis than the other species. Continuing with the collagen characterization of marine collagen, the pepsin-soluble collagen (PSC) was extracted and characterized from 2 species of elasmobranch; Scyliorhinus canicula which is highly discarded and Prionace glauca whose commercialization generates large amounts of by-products. Collagen was also obtained and characterized from 2 species of teleost (Thunnus albacares and Xiphias gladius) with abundant potentially derived by-products generated throughout the commercialization chain. Thunnus albacares showed the highest collagen content values. The elaboration of composites using the isolated and characterized shark collagen was developed by the partners UMINHO Chondroitin sulfate isolation: A complete optimization of the extraction conditions for the production of Chondroitin sulfate (CS) from cartilage byproducts of the highly discarded shark, Scyliorhinus canicula was developed and sent to UMINHO where structures were developed. Industrial context Pepsin soluble collagen obtained from different species was enzymatically hydrolysed and bioactivities of derived hydrolysates were assessed, showing highest antioxidant activities in small spotted catshark. Molecular weight size of peptides present in hydrolysates, affected the antioxidant activities. The effect of isolated collagen on mRNA level expression of human dermal fibroblast in stimulating the synthesis of collagen, was evaluated, in an industrial context. DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE-ORIGIN CERAMICS WITH RELEVANCE IN BONE AND DENTAL TISSUE REGENERATION AND RECONSTRUCTION Nowadays, the most widespread biomaterial for clinical applications as bone void filler and bone tissue regeneration is hydroxyapatite (HA). Current sources of this biomaterial are either synthetic and human or bovine origen, but these materials suffer from several drawbacks regarding performance and biosafety. The obtaining of biological apatites from marine sources is, then, of great interest due to the non reported diseases transmission from marine organisms to humans. Shark teeth and other sub-product s suppose an abundant and promising source of bioapatites for bone void fillers and dental applications. Innovations and main advantages The new biomaterial helps to solve previous disadvantages of both synthetic and human or bovine hydroxyapatite: It displays improved mechanical characteristics compared to synthetic HA It is a safer biomaterial, with better biocompatibility and lack of disease transmission It comes from a cheap, and abundant raw material Moreover, the new biomaterial also has new added features: It contains fluorine, which reduces the formation of caries and improves mechanical performance. Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to A previously contacted Galician fishing company has the ability to provide around 10-15 kg of boiled, clean shark teeth/year for every fishing boat contracted. As of now, this company has only one boat fishing shark but they are in contact with many other companies in Vigo that are currently fishing shark, and are interested in signing a commercial deal, hence that supply is guaranteed at a reasonable cost. In this regard, an estimate of 3000 Tons of sharks are discharged every year at Vigo’s port, of which 70% belong to the Prionace glauca species, and 20% are Isurus oxyrinchus. Both species provide teeth of good quality. Product developed

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New methodologies and by-products with the aim of creating new products: Obtaining of apatite granules from shark teeth Obtaining of collagen/apatite scaffolds from shark skin and teeth (UMINHO in collaboration with UVIGO and IIM-CSIC) HA coatings obtained from shark teeth and their influence on zebrafish osteogenesis (UVIGO in collaboration with UALG). Mineralogenic capacity of fish cell lines were tested on titanium discs coated with hydroxyapatite/diatomaceous earth and shark dentine. The gene expression profile is in agreement with available data for in vitro mineralization. Future work will aim at measuring gene expression after cell culture on new titanium discs coating procedure. Nanoparticles and nanofibers (from fish bones) The physicochemical characterization together with the in vitro and in vivo tests confirmed the great potentiality of these shark derived bioceramics for biomedical applications. EPO Patent: Isolated faceted fluorapatite nanocrystal and method of obtaining same. In revision process. DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE-ORIGIN BIOPOLYMERS STRUCTURES Scaffolds based on squid chitosan (collaboration between UMINHO and UVIGO): -Porous structures of squid chitosan by particle aggregation and composites with nanohydroxyapatite have been successfully prepared. -Developed structures have demonstrated to be bioactive. -hASC are proliferating in the developed structures after 7 days in culture. Membranes based on fish shark skin collagen (collaboration with UMINHO and IIM-CSIC): -Collagen membranes have been successfully prepared by solvent casting technology. -Crosslinking with HMDI has been effective on rendering stable membranes in water (Problems with crosslinking have been solved). -Mechanical properties and drug delivery profile of the produced membranes were assessed. Membranes and porous structures based on ulvan: -Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) based approach reduced effectively the amount of protein in ulvan samples -It was shown that the decrease in protein content may lead to a decrease in molecular weight. Thus, a compromise must be taken, depending on the further application. -Results were validated with a new batch of enzyme. -Membranes were prepared with purified ulvan. ISOLATION AND EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS Within the scope of the ongoing collaboration between UALG and LEMAR, 3 extracts of 5 seaweeds and marine plant species were tested for cytotoxic, proliferative and mineralogenic effects using seabream and mammalian bone and cartilage derived cell lines. None of the extracts affected cell survival and proliferation, but ethyl acetate fraction of 3 species revealed a pro-mineralogenic activity. For those 3 species ethyl acetate fraction was further extracted from new samples and purified. We have tested once more with seabream VSa13 cell line and both levels of higher concentration did not show an effect on cytotoxic neither on the proliferation. Pro-mineralogenic activity experiments revealed dose dependent response. Nature and context of the relevant result

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A relevant element is the identification of marine macrophytes extracts that exhibit proliferative and mineralogenic activities in a fish in vitro cell system, combined with anti-microbial and antioxidant capacity. Achieved results Among achieve results from MARMED project, UBO partner has identified - a promising halophyte extract (from Salicornia sp.) that exhibits very strong antioxidant activities, combined with strong anti-microbial capacity and phtoprotective effects. Structural elucidation of active molecules shows the presence of 10 phenolic compounds derived from hydrocaffeic acid, caffeic acid, and quinic acid. - in collaboration with UALG partner, a promising halophytes extract (from Spartina alterniflora) that exhibits proliferative and mineralogenic activities in a fish in vitro cell system, combined with anti-microbial and antioxidant capacity. Structural indentification of active extract show the presence of polyphenols. - in collaboration with UALG partner, promising macroalgae extracts (from Codium sp. and Cladophora rupestris) that exhibit proliferative and mineralogenic activities in a fish in vitro cell system. - in collaboration with UVIGO partner, a macroalga extract, from Halydris siliquosa, that exhibits a very strong cytotoxic capacity together with a strong antioxidant activity and a strong bactericidal effect. Structural elucidation of active molecules shows the presence of phlorotannins, polymers of phloroglucinol units. Expected results and impacts The expected results were the structural elucidation of active molecules present in the active extract of Spartina alterniflora. Beneficiaries/target groups of the results Until now, marine macrophytes were mainly exploited for food, feed, ingredients and cosmetic applications. Marmed results provide scientific support for diversification of commercial activities with a higher added-value to the companies exploiting marine macrophytes. Nature and context of the relevant result Recovery of proteins and oil from fish by-products collected by an enterprise group (ETSA) devoted to the collection, transport, storage and processing of animal by-products. It was intended to implement an alternative technology to the traditional fish meal production in order to obtain added-value proteins and oil under milder conditions. The implementation of this technology in the enterprise would permit the development of a new production line for the specific processing of fish by-products. Production of squalene and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) by microalgae under heterotrophic conditions. This work was developed in collaboration with a small enterprise (DEPSIEXTRACTA) skilled on the production of squalene and squalane for cosmetics. It was envisaged to develop a technology for the production of squalene as an alternative to traditional sources (deep-sea shark liver and olive oil wastes) of this high-valued product. The production of squalene by the microalgae would allow overcoming the current scarcity of squalene sources and thereby ensuring a regular supply of raw material. The contacts of IPMA, particularly with ETSA and the Brazilian enterprise BIOSSENA, contributed to increase their awareness for the upgrading of by-products for the extraction/production of compounds of higher added-value. Achieved results

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A high yield of protein recovery was achieved and the protein characterization is in progress. The oil recovered had a good quality in what concerns both colour and low oxidation. The microalgae species allowed producing medium levels of squalene but also PUFA, namely docosahexaenoic fatty acid (DHA), which represents an added-value of the oil produced by the microalgae. Expected results and impacts The samples of recovered proteins will be used by the enterprise staff to check the acceptance of this product by its customers and also to extend the current clients. The acceptance of this product will determine the further development of the protein and oil production at a pilot plant scale. The results achieved on the production of squalene by microalgae permitted to get the essential data for up-scaling the production process. Beneficiaries/target groups of the results The immediate beneficiaries are the two enterprises involved in these studies. However, the technology of protein recovery may be used by other enterprises to upgrade their by-products or by fishermen to process fish by-catch kept on board. Nature and context of the relevant result Better knowledge of antimicrobial activities of seaweeds; improvement is incremental globally but significant within Europe. Contribution to formulation of seaweed-based natural cosmetics, with potential for developing new commercial products Achieved results Bioactives from the brown seaweed Halidrys have been partially characterized and have been incorporated into biomaterials. Expected results and impacts Potential contribution to the search for naturally occurring bioactives to combat the rise of microbial resistance, currently a major global concern. Beneficiaries/target groups of the results Our study will in the future potentially benefit pharmaceutical companies but in the short-term future we have provided valuable knowledge for small natural cosmetics companies. COLLABORATION WITH COMPANIES In the case of Galicia, OPROMAR (which stands for Organización de Productores del Puerto de Marín - Marín Harbor Producers Organization), along with IEO, CESGA, the University of Santiago de Compostela, JOSMAR machinery builder and IIM-CSIC, have presented a project proposal for the LIFE+ 2013 call, coordinated by IIM-CSIC, entitled “Knowledge-Based Innovative Solutions to Enhance Adding-Value Mechanisms towards Healthy and Sustainable EU Fisheries” (iSEAS), which has been approved and started on 1st July 2014, when some of the developed productions in project MARMED will be tested at experimental level, such as: Chitosan production from discarded crustaceans. Collagen and gelatin production from skins of different fishing species which will have to be landed from 1st January 2015 onwards, according to the new CFP (Common Fishery Policy) in the UE, and that cannot be intended for human consumption. Chondroitin sulfate from shark cartilage, as mentioned previously. Enzymatic protein hydrolyzates from discarded species.

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In collaboration with LUMAR (company dedicated to fish processing), it was aimed the elaboration of a project about the uses of the skins from the different species they generate in their industrial plant to be presented to different funding agencies (Plan Nacional I+D+I, Xunta de Galicia RS3, CDTI or H2020 within the UE COSME Programme). The collaboration with DEPSIEXTRACTA involved several services concerning the control of raw materials and products for the cosmetic industry. Several publications resulted from the collaboration with the companies DEPSIEXTRACTA and GELPEIXE: DEPSIEXTRACTA – one scientific article, four posters, one communication, and one dissemination article on the production of squalene and n-3 fatty acids by microalgae under anaerobic conditions; GELPEIXE - four scientific articles and three posters on the preparation of protein hydrolysates and characterization of recovered proteins from fish by-products. A fish transformation industry Frigorificos da Ermida (Portugal), producing codfish pieces, asked the support of UMINHO to give a different use to their produced codfish skins. These identified raw materials were used for marine collagen isolaton. Impacts In general, it has been observed a new way of thinking in the stakeholders who have begun to recognize these residues and by-products as a potential raw material to obtain new products and the creation of new entrepreneur/business activities as well as the employment and wealth generation. Additionally, at a social level, it has been observed a new way of thinking about these materials (mainly fishery discards) and the nowadays- claims from citizens not to discard them but using them instead as valued products (as considered in the new CFP regulation). A relevant element is the identification and compilation of data related to by-products and under-exploited biomasses in the participating countries, which will facilitate an accurate analysis of available marine biomasses. By studying in more details the current situation of some of the discards and by-products, specificities of each participating regions were highlighted, and we have identified the current bottlenecks for development of innovative valorisations. This accurate analysis will also facilitate the presentation of some alternative ways of use and benefits from promising value chains such as fish collagen, active compounds from macroalgae and halophytes that constitute relevant biomasses for several regions of the Atlantic area. By means of the report developed about Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorisation we’ve not only identified a number of firms related to the project’s topic but also we’ve defined a remarkable part of the European industrial network - especially those from the Atlantic Area- whose activity is focused on the partial/total use of marine resources for biomedical application. Apart from this identification the real value was contacting with those companies and disseminate the MARMED Project and at the same time proposing to make pilot studies or R&D collaborations with companies and research groups from the consortium. This initiative means a radical change in the attitude of the scientific institutions regarding companies. Addressing directly to them we can recognize their implicit value as well as their potential as the tool to transform basic research developed by researchers into market products. It’s an active way to offer the industry the object of research and the skills from the research groups. We understand this as a radical change in the passive way of working that up to the moment had been performed with the aim to achieve specific industrial developments. Nature and context of the relevant result The change isn’t yet quantifiable. However, the research groups within MARMED have changed their minds and from now on they’ll behave more directly with companies.

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Achieved results We identified 164 European companies in the following activity fields: Nutraceuticals (nutraceutical compounds, functional foods), Pharmaceutics (biomolecules from marine origin) and Biomedicine (implantations, dressings and other medical devices). 15 of them answered with interest on the Project and on the possibility to keep contact and/or at medium term to start some joint collaboration. Although we obtained a positive answer it’ll be hard to establish any agreement along the project’s life because R&D developments require a longer time. Expected results and impacts Nevertheless some of these companies undoubtedly will establish in the near future some kind of agreement if the conditions for both parties are adequate. Probably it’ll take place after the end of the project. These will be very important for the sustainability of the project There was also a learning exercise regarding the way to act in the future. Future initiatives to become successful: To use the contacts we already have. To start negotiations in the first stage of the Project. To answer and discuss quickly with the interested companies. To prepare a standard document for the consortium containing the mutual agreement and the work conditions. Beneficiaries/target groups of the results Concerning the research groups from the consortium all of them may be potential beneficiaries although the most demanded have been those working in biomaterials and therapeutic molecules. MARMED fish by-products market This website is a meeting point for companies generating marine origin by-products and companies interested in using those products. We’ve tried to get a greater involvement of companies and institutions related to this field of activity as well as to promote the use of such by-products and marine organism. It represents a different philosophy regarding the utilization of fish by-products and resources by creating a commercial route which didn’t exist until now. One of the big problems to achieve a higher degree in the use of our resources is the lack of data about types of by-products and tons generated as well as the lack of knowledge and close relationships between producers and buyers. This tool means a sensitive change and a new way of working to benefit all the companies working in these activities. Nature and context of the relevant result The change lies on the big amount of data (offer/demand) which may be found integrated in an only website and its friendly use. Moreover it’s an attractive tool due precisely to its own features. In the HOME page there’s a simple User manual for this by-products Market which is published in four languages: English, Portuguese, French and Spanish. Confidentiality: if you register as a generator or as a demander your personal data will not be available to third parties. Inserting the by-products generated by your company doesn’t mean that you must have them in stock. Neither prices nor conditions are detailed.

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The system enables you to choose among a wide range of families of by-products and the original species. Achieved results We cannot yet talk about results in specific terms because the website is not yet working. In any case we have no doubt that at the end of the project we’ll count on around 8 by-products generating companies and about 4.000 Tm. of product. Expected results and impacts When the project ends we hope to be counting on 10 subscribed generating companies and an amount of 4.000 Tm. of by-products divided into seaweed, cephalopods and especially fishes. Beneficiaries/target groups of the results The main beneficiaries would be the by-products generating companies which could start trading them as raw material. On the other side processing companies would also benefit enlarging the quantity and variety of raw material (by-products)) and would guarantee the supply of their industrial process. Exchanges with the global economic competitiveness cluster “Pôle Mer Bretagne” (http://www.pole-mer-bretagne-atlantique.com) were engaged. The Pôle Mer Bretagne is a cluster that offers support to companies and research centres belonging to its network in finding partners and setting up projects, as well as in financial engineering and economic development. Exchanges with this cluster were dedicated to the presentation of innovative alternatives in valorization of marine by-products and discards for biomedical applications. In addition, new synergies were created at regional level with 4 French SMEs exploiting marine biomasses in order to emphasize the importance of a diversification of activities derived from marine biomass valorization. A focus was made on the production of active compounds for biomedical sector such as tissue engineering. NEW OR ENHANCED NETWORKS, PARTNERSHIPS, CLUSTERS ORGANISATIONS Marmed researchers collaborated with artists in the ‘Chimera’ exhibition, open to the public from June 3-6 2014 in conjunction with ‘Medical Devices Week’ at NUI Galway. This was an innovative event in collaboration with Boston Sientific, Vomia, Aerogen and Osteoanchor which explored artistic interpretations of biosciences: emphasizing creativity and interdisciplinarity. MARMED researchers led a networking event on June 5th 2014. The focus on this was setting agenda across researchers and industry, with the theme ‘Medical devices and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products – Challenges and Opportunities in the Post Recession Era’. Industry representatives from Coviden, DSM N. V. and Orbsen Therapeutics took part alongside researchers. Specific invited speakers targeted for network building and enhancing were Prof. Paul Quax (Leiden) Prof Stefan Przyborski (Durham), Prof Laura Cipolla (Milan) and Dr Penny Martens (New South Wales). Alongside the exchange of scientific ideas, the impact of these seminars includes the opportunity for discussing routes to translational research using natural products (Quax) and establishing and running innovative spin outs (Reinnervate, Przyborski). The MARMED project collected important data, namely on indutries involved in the value chain and amounts, distribution and seasonality of by products. These is being very useful on the creation of the portuguese Marine Bioresources net, the BLUEBIO Alliance. The partnership of the MARMED is so strong cooperated with each other, having such interesting innovative results and applications that the continuation to a MARMED II will be proposed to the Atlantic Area.

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DECISIONS TAKEN/CONTRIBUTED TO/IMPLEMENTED IN THE AUTHORITIES/ORGANISATIONS TARGETED BY THE PROJECT (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries) MARMED is being very successful in establishing a new attitude towards marine by-products. The involved stakeholders in the marine chain are now aware of the importance of new utilization techniques, resulting in a perceptible valorization of these new raw materials, and many of them showed to be ready to collaborate more directly with project participants and activities, even in the future after project end, to try to implement new attitudes and procedures aiming lower waste and better use. Due to MARMED actions, the industry now knows whom to contact and with whom to collaborate, and they will benefit from the interesting compounds and multiple uses MARMED identified as having potential in the future. As an example, QUB assisted natural cosmetics company to obtain innovation funding for future product development NEW SYNERGIES/RELATIONS/INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER FUNDING TOOLS/PROGRAMMES/PROJECTS The Cooperation between partners led to the innovative and consistent results achieved in the MARMED project. Together the partners were able to achieve important results, and this was only possible due to the good collaboration attained between them. The level of results would not be possible to achieve if each partner were working separately without the opportunity that MARMED allowed for the partening institutions to be involved. Even when the project is not financed the collborations persist, having still at this moment work being developed in collaboration between partners. As mentioned before the project had an impact in Universities, in each Region of the member states involved (Impact on the development of the region) and in Companies and Industries. As an examples with the QUB help, locally, natural cosmetics company was able to obtain innovation funding for future product development A good number of the MARMED project partners are participating in the NOVOMAR project from the Programa Operativo de Cooperación Transfronteriza España –Portugal (POCTEP), for the Consolidation of the Multipolar Center for Marine Resources and Byproducts Valorization (CVMar http://cvmar.cetmar.org) PRODUCT OR SERVICES DEVELOPED/ PUT ON THE MARKET OR USED BY ORGANISATIONS/ADMINISTRATIONS Innovative products for biomedical applications were developed during the project and are mentioned above in the present section. With the new products developed it is intended to creat value and innovation through higly specialized technologies used, creating added value products. With the collaboration with companies we envisage the knowledge transfer with subsequent application of project results in an industrial context SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED During the project period different documents were published (details can be seen in Sections “Communication Achievments” and “Publications”). Always with the objective of dissiminating results throught the different publics, from the general public, passing by the companies, researchers, Medical Doctors… AWARENESS RAISING OF SPECIFIC GROUPS ON SPECIFIC QUESTION, THEMES Public seminars, devoted to different publics, as the general public, passing by the companies, researchers, Medical Doctors were designed to creat a general awareness of these specific groups. UNEXPECTED MEASURABLE RESULTS

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Unexpectably a spil over effect occurred, when the BLUEBIO Alliance is being created with the support of the knowledge achieved in the MARMED. OTHER TYPES OF RESULTS AND IMPACTS Employment generation for requiring advanced training is envisaged. 4) Main contributions to the During the project the good collaboration between project partners, already started in the beginning of the project, continued and was Atlantic Area Programme strengthened, which is leading to the achievement of the expected contribution to the Atlantic Area Programme. Synergies between partners achieved will contribute to strengthen the relationship and cooperation between partners towards a network in the Atlantic Area for valorisation of marine resources for the development of biomedical applications. Such network have potential to have impact both on valorisation of marine by-products (resulting from a highly relevant industry in the Atlantic Area) and on biomedical applications, in which Atlantic Area has highly reputed research groups, but yet with low impact on the socioeconomic profile of the region. We are sure the project helped to establish a very positive relationship between countries and regions of the Atlantic area. The project activities were internally coordinated and co-participated always counting with the contribution of all participants, as mentioned above, helping to build a strong network between those involved in the project and between them and the industry and other external entities. Impulse for transforming expertise in research centres into real transnational synergies through exchange of knowledge and technological transfer to SMEs. 5) Implementation The project methodology was implemented as outlined. Partners developed their work on the project defined activities, evaluating marine by- methodology aspects products available in each member state of the Atlantic Area and developing for adequate valorisation strategies, aiming to focus in key attained examples, to serve as spark for further developments with the enrolment of other players, namely private companies. Such technical work includes collaborative efforts between partners, as planned, deemed fundamental for the success of the project, with close collaborations with companies. 6) Innovative aspects of the Collaborations with companies project achieved A large number of companies (164) have been identified and after examining the specific content we have listed all those useful biomolecules and biocompounds. Then we’ve designed a map for the geographic localisation and established the profile of the target companies. Finally after a second revision of the biomolecules and biocompounds they produce we’ve assessed the marine resources used in each case. The final part of the deliverable is a group of conclusions about this business. Pilot Experience: we contacted by e-mail with the 164 companies above mentioned and tell them about MARMED Project and website and also offered the possibility to establish some specific collaboration with any member of the consortium (pilot experience) These contacts were made in May and fifteen days later we received the answers form fourteen companies interested in the proposal. This is the list of the companies: HEMARINA SA http://www.hemarina.com; ALGAE BIOTECH http://www.algaebiotech.es ; IBERAGAR http://www.iberagar.com; CARGILL FRANCE SAS http://www.cargill.fr; BIOATLANTIS LTD; www.bioatlantis.com; BASF Pharma http://www.newtrition.basf.com; BRUDY TECHNOLOGY, S.L. http://www.brudy.net; MARINOMED BIOTECHNOLOGIE GmbH http://www.marinomed.com; ZYMETECH http://www.zymetech.is; ROUSSELOT http://www.rousselot.com; ALGOSOURCE TECHNOLOGIES www.algosource.com; PHOSPHOTECH http://www.phosphotech.eu; LGAE HEALTH http://www.algaehealth.ie; GLYCORES 2000 s.r.l. http://www.glycores.it; BIO-MAR http://www.bio-mar.de

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We established communication via e-mail and Skipe with some of them. Finally we didn’t set up any agreement although some of them have shown their interest in the project and the possibility to work together in research and innovation. Other collaborations were established: -Biossena, Brazilian enterprise working with biomaterials in the areas of medicine, cosmetics, nutraceuticals and veterinarian products. -DEPSIEXTRACTA, Portuguese SME focused on the production of squalane for the cosmetic industry. -GELPEIXE, Portuguese SME of the fish processing sector that provides by-products for the recovery of fish proteins and preparation of protein hydrolysates. -Collaboration with Universidade do Minho, P -inflammatory activity in fibroblasts culture cells. Collaboration with Galician fishing company (COPEMAR): COPEMAR S.A.: It is a fishing company with headquarter in Vigo and major activity in the Indian Ocean. As a result of the catches of other species such as swordfish which constitute their main market, different shark species appears in their nets. Despite not being their target species, in compliance with European Union regulations, they must bring them to port. For this reason it is of great interest for them finding ways to leverage the involved discards as the shark's head, and with it the shark´s teeth. Hence, their enormous interest in the MARMED PROJECT; interest expressed in an already signed Materials Transfer Agreement between the New Materials research group (UVigo) and the company, to valorize this discard into biomedical products as a potential bone filler material. Collaboration with Biomedical sector (traumatology) TRABECULAE S.A.: This company is at the end of the business value chain. Thus, it is a technology-based company promoted by medical staff within the field of Orthopedic Trauma. Its main activity is focused on the development of technology for bone quality evaluation. They are strongly involved in research and in contact with other biomedical companies. The New Materials research group (Uvigo) has already signed a Materials Transfer Agreement with them for collaboration in the evaluation and development of biomedical products, related with bone applications based on hydroxyapatite and other bioceramics, and obtained from marine origin, as it is stated in Marmed project objectives. Collaboration with Biomedical sector (Dentistry): INSTITUTO IMPLANTOLÓGICO DEL ATLÁNTICO S.A. Development of marine-origin ceramics The new biomaterial helps to solve previous disadvantages of both synthetic and human or bovine hydroxyapatite: -It displays improved mechanical characteristics compared to synthetic HA -It is a safer biomaterial, with better biocompatibility and lack of disease transmission -It comes from a cheap, and abundant raw material Moreover, the new biomaterial also has new added features: -It contains fluorine, which reduces the formation of caries and improves mechanical performance. In the Workshop “Formación en Acción-Desarrollo y Comercialización de Tecnologías Biomédicas”, Vigo 22nd Jan 2014. Our product was clasified as SALABLE PRODUCT The novel coatings for cells developed from shark skin by parner UVIGO and evaluated by UALG appear to be effective in promoting cell adhesion and this will be further explored and characterized in order to decide if this could have a biotechnological application. Isolation of Bioactive compounds

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A partnership between IPMA and ETSA was established. The main goal of this partnership is the technico-scientific support of IPMA to implement the building of a pilot plant for the production of fish protein concentrates and fish protein hydrolysates. In the frame of this partnership it is also foreseen the participation in joint applications for R&D projects. The work developed with DEPSIEXTRACTA allowed elaborating an application for a project on the production of squalene by microalgae in the frame of a European network. Engagement with BIOSSENA for the extraction of collagen from fish skin and a partnership between IPMA and this enterprise is in preparation. Preliminary contacts between IPMA and Spanish enterprises were established with the support of CETMAR. These contacts envisaged the cooperation of IPMA with these enterprises for the characterization of fish lipids. One of the innovative aspect of the project is the identification of active phenolic compounds from marine macrophytes exhibiting proliferative and mineralogenic activities together with anti-microbial and antioxidant capacity. These results should lead to the development of high added- value industrial activities derived from marine macrophytes which main applications were until now limited to cosmetic sector. Among significant results from MARMED project, in collaboration with UALG partner - team of Prof. Leonor Cancela, UBO partner has identified promising seaweeds and marine plants species, two halophytes Salicornia sp., Spartina alterniflora and two brown algae Halidrys siliquosa and Bifurcaria bifurcata that exhibit proliferative and mineralogenic activities in a fish in vitro cell system, combined with anti-microbial and antioxidant capacity. These innovative results should lead to the development of high added-value industrial activities derived from marine plants which main applications were until now limited to cosmetic sector, which could have a biotechnological application as bone anabolic drugs. Innovative findings were achieved by UALG in collaboration with the LEMAR group by identifying extracts derived from marine organisms with a significant mineralogenic activity. Innovative results were obtained concerning the anti-microbial properties of various algae in concert with tobramycin antibiotic, and published in Marine Drugs. A second paper is in review in Marine Drugs on the efficacy of extracts of the Brown seaweed Halidrys siliquosa against several pathogenic bactéria. QUB continued its collaboration with a small natural cosmetics company in Donegal (Algaran) and a new one, Mogjan's Organics (Belfast), both of whom are interested in seaweeds for organic cosmetics. Progress was made on the constituents and formulation of creams based on seaweed products, and Mogjan's Organics was successful in obtaining a small Innovation Grant from the local investment agency. Some other examples of innovative aspects of MARMED activities: sources, quantities and characterization of marine by-products have been identified, official numbers were analysed and compared with information directly obtained from the industry (some natural discrepancies were detected and their justifications were presumptively identified). Costs of collection, transport and utilization of by-products for extraction of interesting compounds were estimated. Destination of the remaining residues after extractions was proposed. Operation management

1) Management and Regular coordination and project management activities were completed such as: coordination activities -Organization of the 5th Progress Meeting, held at 3B’s Research Group-University of Minho in April 2014. organized in the period -The Final Progress Meetings, organized in June 2014 by ICBAS, with the support of UMINHO project coordinator. -Preparation of the 2013 project Execution Report based on the consolidation of partner’s first Execution Reports and its upload into the PCC.

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-Project general management activities 2) Monitoring and There were two Progress Meetings in 2014, the first was hosted by the lead partner UMINHO at 3B’s Research Group-University of Minho and evaluation activities the second was hosted hosted by ICBAS at Porto. In these meetings monitoring and evaluation of activities developed until that occasion was organized in the period performed, with general discussion among the partners and future work and collaboration between partners of the consortium were presented.

3) Main problems found No particular problems were found in this reporting period. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of Not applicable. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Website Project communication Along this period we’ve uploaded new documents to the website: achievements New scientific publication; New publications in dissemination media; Weekly newsletter; Project’s video Indicators concerning the number of visualizations (1.375 year-to-date) and number of unique visitors (961 year-to-date) have increased. It’s been improved including new documents. The number of visits has increased. The number of year-to-date views since the beginning of the task is 1.375, where 845 are just from the last six-month-period. 70% of those are recurring visitors and 30% are considered new visitors. MARMED Flyer We’ve printed 300 more units apart from the initial 2.000 units due to the high acceptance of the document. Marmed Newsletter It goes on with the weekly basis as expected. Number of editions 29 Number of subscribers 48 Number of visits 151 It keeps on being published weekly and the indicators have been increased since the last period. Thus, there have been 29 new issues and 48 more subscribers. The number of visits has reached 151. Seminar Organization Number of seminars organized 9 Final seminar

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Valorization of Marine Resources through Biomedical Developments Date: 18th June 2014. Place: Leça da Palmeira (Matosinhos). Portugal MARMED Project presentation: Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorization. Strategic Importance of Marine Resources and Sub-products in Portugal. Functional food enriched with marine origin Omega3 for the prevention of chronic diseases Development of Yondelis® as an anticancer drugs. Presentation of main results achieved in MARMED project. Evaluation The total number of participants in the seminar was 44 people. Most of them were from Portugal and the rest was divided in attendees from the countries participating in the Project as partners, such as Spain, Ireland and France. The total share per country of origin was the following: Portugal (32), Spain (5), France (6), Ireland (1): Total 44 Participants came from twenty-two different organisms classified as follows: OPIS (10), Asociation (3), Universitys (3), companys (4), administration (2): total 22. Other seminars Taller Temático Interactivo (TTI). Desarrollos específicos en Regeneración de Tejidos Óseos Basados en Organismos y Subproductos Marinos Date: 26. Mayo.2014 Place: CETMAR Seminar Series Inflammation and immune regulation in arteriogenesis Biosciences, Dangan, Galway. 5th February 2014 Seminar Series Development of new technologies and assays to investigate the growth, structure and function of cells in health and disease Biosciences, Dangan, Galway 6th March 2014 Seminar Series Ocular surface diseases: pathology and treatments explored Gene silencing for diseases of the cornea: models and methods used Biosciences, Dangan, Galway 23rd April 2014 Seminar Series Collagen-based biomaterials for regenerative medicine Biosciences, Dangan, Galway

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8th May 2014 Seminar Series Biosynthetic hydrogels based on poly(vinyl alcohol) Biosciences, Dangan, Galway 21st May 2014 Seminar Series Medical Devices and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products – Challenges and Opportunities in the Post Recession Era Biosciences, Dangan, Galway 5th June 2014 Seminar Series Medical Devices and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products – Challenges and Opportunities in the Post Recession Era Biosciences, Dangan, Galway 5th June 2014 Disemination of scientific result Interim study reports: 3 Final study reports: 9 Articles in press, specialized magazines, congresses and conferences: 53 Articles in press, specialized magazines, congresses and conferences in preparation: 7 Project newsletters: 54 Handbooks, guides and catologues: 1 Brochures, leaflets and other awareness-raising documents: 12 Total number of actions in this subject 139 Participation in Exhibitions: Number of exhibitions 2 Number of conferences 10 Number of visits 7 Total number of events 19 (One of the exhibition was the promotion of the MARMED project with a stand in “Forum do MAR” in May 2014) News published in media: Indicator number of news in media 5 Indicator number of Radio and TV 2 Total Number of news 7 Publications

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2014 - Documents (studies, SOME EXAMPLES OF THE PUBLISHED DOCUMENTS handbooks, guides…) MARMED Flyer: “Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorization” published on any format, as Edition on paper (2.300 issues) and e-book well as all promotional MARMED Promotional video material produced in the A promotional video was developed by the Applied Physics Department from UVigo. It’s been uploaded to the project’s website on framework of the Project. http://www.marmedproject.eu/#!/Media . It’s 3,5 minutes long and it covers the project’s philosophy and the partners’ skills. Book Chapters Phlorotannins from Sargassaceae species: interesting molecules for ecophysiological and valorisation purposes, Advances in Botanical Research - Sea Plants. Volume 71. Chapter 13 Editor: Nathalie Bourgougnon - Elsevier ISBN: 9780124080621 Date: 2014 Estado del arte de empresas europeas vinculadas a los sectores nutracéutico, farmacéutico y biomédico que aprovechan recursos de origen marino Editor: Centro Tecnológico del Mar-Fundación CETMAR ISBN 978-84-695-9556-5 Date: 2014 Publishing of books Valorización de Recursos Marinos: Nutracéuticos y Moléculas con Actividad Terapéutica ISBN 978-84-695-9556-5 Páginas: 236 Editor: CETMAR Date: 2014 Newspaper and radio: Bioceramics from shark teeth with potential applications in bone tissue engineering Radio program: Efervesciencia. 08/03/2014. Radio interview Galway Bay FM, FYI Galway 29-May-2014. Radio interview Medical Devices Irish Times Health Plus 03-Jun.2014. Written media Artist draws link with bioscience Clare Champion

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30-May.2014. Written media A bio-scientific approach to art Galway Advertiser 29-May-2014. Written media Excellence Squad visit Renmore school Galway Independent 21-May-2014. Written media Remembering Galway schooldays and those ties that bind Connaught Tribune 19-May-2014. Written media Publications in scientific Journals (papers) Effect of Microbial Transglutaminase, Dietary Fibre, and Low-Salt Levels Upon Heat-Induced Meagre (Argyrosomus regius) Gels Journal: Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology Publication date: 2014 Biomineralization of marine-patterned C-scaffolds Journal (volume): Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials Volume 3 Issue BBN2 Pages: 1 – 9 Publication date: 15/02/2014 Editor: ICE Publishing Key parameter in blood-surface interactions of 3D bioinspired ceramic scaffolds Journal (volume): Materials Science and Engineering C Pages: 1 – 9 Date: 2014 Laser surface modification of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) for biomedical applications Journal (volume): Applied Surface Science (302) Pages: 236–242 Date: 02 March 2014 Palladium nanoparticles produced by CW and pulsed laser ablation in water Journal (volume): Applied Surface Science (302) Pages: 19-23 Date: 25 January 2014 ANTIOXIDANT, BACTERICIDE AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITIES OF THE BROWN ALGAE HALIDRYS SILIQUOSA, Journal (volume): Food and Chemical Toxicology Publication date: 2014 Marine macrophytes: a source of natural compounds with proliferative, mineralogenic, antioxidant and antibacterial activities (provisional title) Journal: Plant physiology and biochemistry Publication date: 2014

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Antioxidant and sunscreen photoprotective capacities from glasswort extract and phytochemicals involved Journal: Plant physiology and biochemistry Publication date: 2014 Marine Origin Collagens and its potential applications Journal: Marine Drugs Publication date: December 2014 Phlorotannins in Sargassaceae Species from Brittany (France) Journal: Advances in Botanical Research, Elsevier Structural elucidation, in vitro antioxidant and photoprotective capacities of a purified polyphenolic-enriched fraction from a saltmarsh plant. Journal: J. Photochem. Photobiol. Diatoms: a biotemplating approach to fabricating drug delivery reservoirs. Journal: Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery Publication: 2014 Congress Communications (Poster) Spartina alterniflora: a source of bioactive compounds Place: Rennes (France) - 4th International Conference on Invasive Spartina Date: 7-10 July 2014 Collagen/apatite scaffolds obtained from shark skin and teeth for biomedical applications Conference: BIOCERAMICS Place: Barcelona, Spain Date: 6/8 de Noviembre 2014 Marine Bioapatites for Tissue Engineering Conference: BIOINTEGRASAUDE 2014 Place: Coruña, Spain Date: 3/06/ 2014 Recubrimentos de Se-CaP con propiedades inhibitorias sobre osteoblastos cancerosos Conference: BIOINTEGRASAUDE 2014 Place: Coruña, Spain Date: 3/06/ 2014 Production of silver nanoparticles by laser ablation under ambient conditions Place: Lille (France) Date: May 26 – 30, 2014 Sub-milimetric titanium parts generated by rapid prototyping based on laser cladding Place: San Diego (United States)

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Date: October 19-23, 2014 Methacrylated fucoidan as photocrosslinkable biopolymer for tissue engineering applications Conference: TERMSTEM 2014 Place: Porto, Portugal Date: 23-24 October 2014 The Oceans as a Source and as an Inspiration for Biomaterials Development: Some key examples Conference: 26th Annual Conference – European Society for Biomaterials Place: Liverpool, UK Date: 31 August – 3 September 2014 Chondrosia reniformis marine-sponge collagen membranes for skin re-epithelialization Conference: TERMIS-EU 2014 Place: GENOA, ITALY Date: 10-13 June 2014 Development of therapeutic and cosmetic formulations based on sardine-based products Place: 8th International Conference on Polymer and Fiber Biotechnology, Braga, Portugal Date: 25-27 May 2014 Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorization Place: WEFTA (Bilbao, Spain) Date: 2014 Development of innovating biomedical products from marine resources valorization Place: FORUM DO MAR (Porto, Portugal). Date: May 2014 Congress Communications (Oral) Antibacterial activity of Selenium-doped calcium phosphate coatings Conference: TERMIS-EU 2014 Place: GENOA, ITALY Date: 10-13 June 2014 Shark teeth derived micro and nano crystalline bioapatites Conference: TERMIS-EU 2014 Place: GENOA, ITALY Date: 10-13 June 2014 Marine inspired biomaterials: from sea up to tissue regeneration approaches Conference: TERMIS-EU 2014 Place: GENOA, ITALY

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Date: 10-13 June 2014 Marine origin collagen membranes for drug delivery Conference: TERMIS-EU 2014 Place: GENOA, ITALY Date: 10-13 June 2014 TEM study of the structural transformations of fluorapaite obtained from shark teeth Conference: 18 IMC Place: Vigo Spain Date: 2014 Selenium-doped calcium phosphate coatings on titanium implants with inhibition properties on cancerous osteoblasts Conference: ESB 2014 Place: Liverpool Date: 31 de Agosto/3 de Septiembre 2014 In vivo osteointegration and bone regeneration of shark teeth apatites Conference: BIOCERAMICS Place: Barcelona, Spain Date: 6-8 de Noviembre 2014 Laser Spinning: a new technique for nanofiber production Place: Fürth (Germany) Date: September 08 – 11, 2014 Estirpes proteolíticas de origem marinha: potencial para a produção de enzimas com interesse biotecnológico Place: VI Congresso Ciências Veterinárias. Oeiras, Portugal Date: 3rd – 5th April 2014 Development of therapeutic and cosmetic formulations based on sardine-based products Place: 8th International Conference on Polymer and Fiber Biotechnology. Braga, Portugal Date: 25 – 27 May 2014 An estimation of marine underutilized species and coproducts available in Portugal Place: 44th WEFTA Meeting, Bilbao, Spain Date: 9th – 11th June 2014 Estirpes proteolíticas de origem marinha: potencial para a produção de enzimas com interesse biotecnológico Place: VI Congresso Ciências Veterinárias, Oeiras, Portugal Date: 3rd – 5th April 2014 An estimation of marine underutilized species and coproducts available in Portugal Place: 44th WEFTA meeting, Bilbao, Spain

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Date: 9th -11th June 2014 Master theses Andrade I., 2014. Preparação de oligómeros de quitosano pela ação conjunta de peróxido de hidrogénio e radiação micro-ondas. Estudo das propriedades antioxidantes e antibacterianas. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 84 p. Future documents (studies, Book Chapters handbooks, guides…) to be Marine Collagen Isolation and Processing Envisaging Biomedical Applications published on any format, as Natural Biomaterials for Advanced Devices and Therapies well as all promotional Editor: Nuno M. Neves and Rui L. Reis – Wiley material to be produced, Date: 2015 until the end of the Project. Book Chapters in preparation Marine Plants and Algae as Promising 3D Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering. Marine Biomaterials: Isolation, characterization and applications. Biological activity of fish protein hydrolysates. Functional Properties of Fish Protein Hydrolysates. Some of the Scientific documents in preparation or published in 2015 Alternatives for using two highly discarded fishes in Northwest Atlantic fisheries, boarfish (Capros aper) and Small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) Publication: Preparation 2014 Optimisation of the extraction and purification of chondroitin sulphate from head by-products of Prionace glauca by environmental friendly processes Publication: Preparation 2014 Comparison of physicochemical properties of pepsin-soluble collagen and their resulting hydrolysates, from two teleost and two chondrichthyes. Bioactivities and potential uses Publication: Preparation 2014 Preparation of highly purified chondroitin sulphate from small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula). Process optimization and comparison between head, body and fin cartilage. Publication: Preparation 2014 Comparison of chondroitin sulphate obtained from several elasmobranch species.” Publication: Preparation 2014 Past, present and future perspectives of seafood by-product management in South European countries: a review Publication: Preparation 2014 Conditions for the production of carotenoids by Thraustochytrium sp. ATCC 26185 and Aurantiochytrium sp” Journal: Enhancement of astaxanthin biosynthesis. Marine Biotechnology Publication: Preparation 2014

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Preparaçao e actividades biológicas de oligómeros de quitosana Publication: Preparation 2014 Oligómeros de quitosana – preparação e propriedades biológicas: uma revisão bibliográfica Publication: Preparation 2014 ANTIOXIDANT, BACTERICIDE AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITIES OF THE BROWN ALGAE HALIDRYS SILIQUOSA, Journal (volume): Food and Chemical Toxicology Publication: Preparation 2014 Green algae: a source of natural compounds with proliferative, mineralogenic and antioxidant activities Publication: In preparation Halophytes: a source of natural compounds with proliferative, mineralogenic and antioxidant activities Publication: In preparation Marine-derived quorum-sensing inhibitors enhance the antibacterial efficacy of tobramycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Journal: Marine Drugs Publication: 2015 Antibiofilm Activity of the Brown Alga Halidrys siliquosa Against Clinically Relevant Human Pathogens Journal: Marine Drugs Publication: Submited Marine green algae: a source of natural compounds with proliferative, mineralogenic and antioxidant activities Publication: In preparation

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MARNET | Priority:1.2 |Nº 2011-1/165 www.marnetproject.eu

Title MARNET (Marine Atlantic Regions Network)

Slogan N/A

Project summary The MARNET project is a transnational marine socio-economic co-operation project which, over the past three years has brought together Marine researchers and Regional Authorities from Atlantic Regions to build a framework of comparable and re-producible marine socioeconomic indicators for the Atlantic Area for benchmarking purposes and also to analyse maritime economic development activities in the partner regions to help inform future investments. The project has created a framework of indicators made up of six core marine sectors and 16 sub sectors. These comparable indicators have also been represented in a specially created Marnet Atlas of marine socio economic indicators which can be accessed through the following link: http://marnet.locationcentre.co.uk Another important deliverable of the Marnet project has been the Marnet Network which is a network of marine socio economists and other marine stakeholders interested in pursuing further collaborative opportunities in EU initiatives and accessing Marnet produced data for analysis purposes. The project has also supported practical initiatives in each of the partner regions to demonstrate the practical application of the marine socio economic data. The Marnet project results have been widely disseminated throughout the EU at various fora in 2014 such as the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions’ General Assembly, The Forum Do Mar Annual Conference in Porto, the Annual Marine Socio Economic Beaufort Symposium at NUI Galway and at events organised by DG MARE of the EU Commission relating to the development of the Atlantic Maritime Action Plan and the monitoring of the Plan. Several meetings have taken place between the Marnet partners and DG MARE to look at potential uses of the Marnet data. Project Lead Partner Northern and Western Regional Assembly. (Formerly Border Midland and Western Regional Assembly up to 31/12/2014)

Partnership Northern and Western Regional Assembly (Lead Partner- IE), National University of Ireland Galway(IE), IFREMER (FR), Regional Council of Brittany (FR), AZTI Technalia (ES), University of Basque Country (ES), CIIMAR (PT) and University of Stirling (UK) Starting date 01/01/2012

Ending date 30/04/2015

Total eligible budget €1,309,946.11

Total ERDF budget €851,464.93

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Global performance In 2014, overall the project has met its’ overall global targets in terms of the completion of the Marnet Framework of Indicators, the construction of the Atlas of Indicators and the establishment and operation of the Marnet network. Each partner region has also implemented practical initiatives to demonstrate how the data generated by the Marnet project can be used to examine and analyse specific economic impacts across various sections of the marine economy. 1) Implementation Throughout 2014 many activities took place which included Steering Committee meetings, network meetings and presentations to DG MARE of Progress- Activities the EU Commission. A total of three Project Steering committee meetings were held in 2014. The Fourth Steering meeting was hosted by French partner IFREMER in ISSY Les Moulineaux, Paris on January 27th and 28th 2014. Steering Committee no. 5 was held in PORTO on May 27th 2014 and hosted by Portuguese partner, CIIMAR. The sixth Steering committee meeting was held in Dublin on November 25th and 26th 2014, hosted by NUI GALWAY. In addition to the steering committee meetings held in 2014, the project results were also presented to a number of for a including the FORUM DO MAR Conference in PORTO on May 28th 2014 and the Annual Beaufort Symposium held in NUI GALWAY on October 21st 2014. The Second meeting of the Marnet network was held in Porto on May 29th 2014 which was attended by marine socio economic researchers and regional public authortiies from throughout the Atlantic space. The Marnet project was also presented to DG MARE on December 9th 2014 following year long engagement with the Commission’s appointed agents, ERNST and YOUNG who compiled a report on the Monitoring of the Atlantic Action Plan with the help of indicator data generated by the Marnet project. The ERNST and YOUNG team attended the fourth steering committee meeting in Paris in January and set out specific data of interest to the monitoring of the Action Plan as well as presenting on their published reports at the FORUM do MAR conference in PORTO in June. The consultants engaged bi-laterally with the Lead partner throughout 2014 on common indicator data of interest to both Marnet and the monitoring of the Atlantic Action Plan. The Project was also represented at a funding seminar on the Atlantic Action Plan in Brussels in February 2014.

2) Main project The main project outputs in 2014 were the following: - (1) Completion of the Marnet Framework of Marine Socio Economic Indicators. The achievements - Outputs Marnet Framework of Indicators action was led by IFREMER who co-ordinated the collation of all partner regions’ data. The agreed marine economic sectors for the framework are: Marine Resources, Fisheries, Aquaculture, Aggregates, Energy, Manufacturing: Fish Processing, Ship Building, Construction: (Civil Engineering, sub marine cables and pipelines), Maritime Transport and related services: Inland Water Transportation, Commercial services such as commodity trade and processed product trade, Marine Insurance, Engineering and consulting, coastal tourism as well as Public services including the Navy, Marine science and education. Data gathered from the aforementioned 16 marine sub sectors was represented by 52 NACE codes. (2) The Marnet Atlas of Indicators was created by the UK partner, the University of Stirling. The comparable data is available from the following link: http://marnet.locationcentre.co.uk . (3) The other main achievement of the Marnet project during 2014 was gaining traction with the EU Atlantic Maritime Action Plan. Through the project’s engagement with the Atlantic Forum and the EY Action Plan Monitoring report, the Marnet project gained an EU wide profile and more importantly formal acknowledgement of its data resource which was used in finalising the DG MARE Action Plan baseline and Monitoring reports – see links below: - https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/sites/maritimeforum/files/08_Final%20evaluation_report.pdf https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/sites/maritimeforum/files/07_Indicators%20report.pdf The project also implemented a series of practical initiatives to demonstrate how the Marnet data can be used to examine specific marine economic scenarios. The chosen practical initiatives were as follows: - IRELAND : Construction of a Maritime Transport Index for all Atlantic Area

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Ports, PORTUGAL: The Assessment of the impact of Aquaculture regulation on investment decisions, FRANCE: Shipbuilding and Marine Renewable Energies, SPAIN: Innovation and Competitiveness and Sustainable Development index in the Basque region and SCOTLAND/IRELAND: Comparison of Marine Economies. The Project has also succeeded in having a paper published by the Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics. The paper is entitled "Developing a Comparative Marine Socio-Economic Framework for the European Atlantic Area”. 3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts – This section must be completed. Impacts Definition - Results and impacts do no refer to project outputs or actions already described above. They are the concrete change generated by the project in terms of new forms of work, new inter-linkages with organisations and programmes, measurable change in organisation, legislation, plans of various nature, behavior/knowledge and awareness raising of specific target groups or beneficiaries; and of new products, services and processes generated. They should normally refer to the original specific objectives of the project, but also included project spinoffs Take into account the following elements and answer the questions when describing the results and impacts. 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree; 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? The Marnet project, for the first time has created a comparable and re-producible set of marine socio economic data for the benefit of marine researchers, Local and Regional Authorities and state agencies with responsibility for maritime affairs in the Atlantic Area. The data will be used to measure the value of specific marine sectors such as those outlined in section 2 above. The marine socio economic data collected will also be used as a basis to construct new collaborative proposals to the EU Commission. The Atlantic Maritime Action Plan identifies four priorities for future strategic investment. These are (1) Entrepreneurship and Innovation, (2) The protection, securing and development of the potential of the marine and coastal environment, (3) the improvement of accessibility and connectivity in the Atlantic Area and (4) the creation of a socially inclusive and sustainable model of regional development. The long term strategy for the Atlantic Action Plan is to achieve strategic investment from cohesion funds in each of these four priority areas. The Marnet project and the resulting data generated will, along with Eurostat measurement tools and other Blue Economy monitoring instruments form the basis for monitoring future investments in the marine sector. Please complete each of the following categories of results as appropriate: 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organizations : The Marnet Network has been created which has brought together a new network of marine socio economists, researchers and Regional Authorities from throughout the Atlantic space. The network will promote tranantional and entrepreneurial innovation networks and will enhance competitiveness & innovation capacity in marine economy niches of excellence. The Network will examine the utility of the marine environment derived from the productivity of associated marine ecosystems & to build research capacity at an EU level through the collection and analysis of marine socio economic data. The longer term objective of the Marnet network is to garner an international reputation for excellence in the area of marine socio economic analysis in the Atlantic Area to enable the development of new partnerships and collaborative projects across the Atlantic space. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries);

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The project has brought together Regional Authorities and Marine Researchers over a three year period to co-operate on the development of a common framework of marine socio economic data which is comparable and re-producible throughout the Atlantic space. The project has consulted with a wider group of stakeholders over the period 2012-2015. These stakeholders have included Marine Policy makers, Regional Authorities, Local Authorities and Industry players. At a strategic level the project has contributed to the development of the Atlantic Maritime Action Plan and moreover has offered the EU Commission a monitoring mechanism to gauge the success of the Atlantic Action Plan going forward. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; The project has engaged with other marine stakeholders and EU projects throughout the Marnet project life. Over the period 2012-2015 the project has followed the progress of a number of Atlantic Area Marine projects including ACRUNET, NEA 2 and KIMERAA . The project has been presented to various Regional and National events with other EU Marine projects. The Marnet project Managers have also engaged with Co- Ordinating bodies of other EU projects across Europe during this time on the successes and positive outcomes of Marnet with a view to developing synergies with other marine led initiatives. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. The project has assisted the development of the EU Maritime Atlantic Maritime Strategy and follow on Action Plan. The development of the Marnet project has been timely in that the Marnet Framework of Indicators has corresponded with the development of the Atlantic Maritime Action Plan which was published by the EU Commission in May 2013. In the development of the Atlantic Action Plan the marnet project has updated key Commission officials on the development of the Indicator Framework. At a National level in Ireland the project’s results have fed into the development of the National Marine Framework entitled ‘ Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth’. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to – Not applicable 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations – No products/service put on the market but the Marnet Atlas of Indicators could be considered a final product. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) - 8-Social change generated – Not applicable 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes : through the Marnet network much awareness raising has taken place to increase the profile of marine socio economic data and its application to specific marine sector scenarios. 10-Unexpected measurable results – N/A 11-Other types of results and Impacts - One key development arising from the Marnet collaboration is a willingness to continue the partnership framework with a view to preparing an application to the 2014-2020 Programme period. Following the completion of Marnet in April 2015, discussions will then take place on the potential for a Marnet 2 project and the scope of such a proposal to INTERREG or other EU Programmes. 4) Main contributions to the The development of a reliable marine socio economic measurement model to map the value of selected marine economic activities. Atlantic Area Programme The availability of a comparable and re-producible set of marine data for the benefit of researchers, State agencies and Industry achieved Representatives in the Marine sector.

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5) Implementation Compilation of a comprehensive Framework of Indicators following review of various data sources including Public sources (EUROSTAT, methodology aspects National Statistical Institutes, State Agencies and Research & Development Institutes). Private sources through Industry Associations and attained through company information. Marnet Atlas of Indicators completed following GIS mapping by University of Stirling 6) Innovative aspects of the Development of Marine Socio Economic Network project achieved Development of comparable and re-producible set of Marine Indicators covering six marine sectors and 16 sub sectors of marine economic activity. Creation of Marnet Atlas of Indicators Implementation of five Practical Initiatives to demonstrate practical application of the data. Operation management

1) Management and Organisation of three Project Steering Committee meetings (January 27th & 28th in Paris, France) (May 27th 2014 in PORTO) (November 25th and coordination activities 26th in Dublin) organized in the period Submission of Execution Reports to Programme Authorities Presentation of the Marnet project at various events and Marine Fora (Forum Do Mar in May and Annual Marine Socio Economic Symposium in Galway in October) 2) Monitoring and Organisation of three Project Steering Committees during 2014 evaluation activities Engagement with DG MARE appointed agents (EY) on the data needs for monitoring of the Atlantic Maritime Action Plan organised in the period

3) Main problems found Availability of Data – This problem was addressed by accessing data at the next available LAU level. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of To allow partners spend buget according to actual needs. The revisions also allowed the project partners the scope to travel to Brussels to eventual project revisions engage more directly with DG MARE on the project. during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Presentation of Project to the FORUM DO MAR in PORTO on May 28th 2014. This event was attended by Regional and Local Authorities, communication Universities and Research Institutes and Industry Representatives. The Forum was used as the Launch event of the Marnet Atlas of Indicators by achievements the Portuguese Secretary of State for the Sea, Mr Manual Pinto de Abreu

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Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Marnet Fact sheets handbooks, guides…) Marnet presentations published on any format, as DG MARE Evaluation & Monitoring Reports on Atlantic Action Plan well as all promotional Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics "Developing a Comparative Marine Socio-Economic Framework for the European Atlantic Area”, material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Marnet Final Report handbooks, guides…) to be Marnet Indicators Report. published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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Objective 3: Stimulate economic conversion and diversification by promoting regional endogenous potential

CINEW | Priority:1.3 |Nº 2013-1/204 www.cinew.eu

Title Creative Industries New European Window

Slogan

Project summary The project promotes innovation in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the creative industries, fulfilling objectives 1.3 and 1.1 of the programme. 6 partner regions build on CISNET outcomes, providing a market place, stimulation of innovation & access to resources and expertise. 6 specific objectives are delivered through activities: 12 showcase events offer promotion and sales opportunities to internationalise SMEs 6 creative events bring enterprises together to innovate international matchmaking and business support to 150 enterprises; 30 gaining business benefits. innovation and knowledge transfer through advanced knowledge networking tools, resulting in a fully tested system. working network with at least six creative industry support networks across Europe. develop the 'Creative City' as a sustainable model for support to Creative enterprises. Project Lead Partner Mayo County Council (IE)

Partnership WESTBIC (IE) Swansea University (UK), Technopole Quimper (FR), Technopole Laval Mayenne (FR) ADIST (PT), CEEI Bahia de Cadiz (ES) Starting date 01/10/2013

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Ending date 31/03/2015

Total eligible budget € 993.428,00

Total ERDF budget € 645.726,00

Global performance

1) Implementation All activities are now in progress. Each matches the objectives specified above plus a management and coordination activity. Progress- Activities

2) Main project 6 showcase events have been attended and 6 creative events held. 155 enterprises have been involved in the project. 58 enterprises have achievements - Outputs been involved in knowledge networking. Relationships with other support networks have been established and a sustainable model is under development. 3) Project Results and Development of creative hubs in several of the regions. The partnership has worked up terms of reference for creative hubs in several of the Impacts regions. These are giving rise to feasibility studies, which will report before the end of the project. Thereafter the project will put together a mechanism for sustainable networking among the hubs. The hubs are being developed in Mayo, Swansea, Quimper, Laval and Cadiz. There have been initial links in the film industry between Mayo and Swansea. Extending this to Andalucia is being investigated. The target groups are small enterprises throughout the creative sectors (for the hubs) and in the film and video sector for the film network.

Please complete each of the following categories of results as appropriate: 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations The creative hubs are new and film networks enhanced. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); Initiatives to develop the creative hubs have resulted from decisions taken by organisations involved in the project and their local partners. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; Synergies with national funding sources and EU funding through regional structural funds have been found and form the basis for the hub development. An initiative to further develop networks is under consideration with regard to Creative Europe 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. Local and regional policies have been developed for the creative industries in most of the participating regions as witnesses by the creative hubs. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to

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Sector plans in the film industry have been contributed to in the development of a Mayo – Swansea link. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations Assistance in networking and participation in trade shows have been taken up by enterprises and continue to be so 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) difficult to validate 8-Social change generated; difficult to validate 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes difficult to validate 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts 4) Main contributions to The project has developed entrepreneurial activities in the Atlantic Area, this has involved knowledge transfer among enterprises and the Atlantic Area between research centres and enteprises. Enterprises have been assisted to reach markets outside their regions. Programme achieved

5) Implementation All project aspects have been implemented, moving well to meet the objectives of the project. methodology aspects attained

6) Innovative aspects of the The project has successfully implemented all the incremental innovations specified, with successful creative events and attendance at high project achieved profile showcase events. It has also implemented the business support model developed in CISNET. It is in progress with the radical innovations on knowledge networking and European networking. Operation management

1) Management and Management and coordination have proceeded as planned. There have been monthly Skype meetings and three physical partnership coordination activities meetings held. Progress is reported at each meeting. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and Monitoring of outputs has been undertaken with quantitative reporting for the October meeting and end of year report. evaluation activities Evaluation questions have been devised and distributed. organized in the period

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3) Main problems found Knowledge networking has demanded more explanation and training time than anticipated. This has been given and it is now proceding. and solutions adopted European networking experienced more difficulties in getting responses from other networks than anticipated. This was resolved by targeting during the period and persistence.

4) Majors impacts of No revisions eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project The project website has been developed linked to social media. communication Internal communication has been maintained through Skype meetings and reporting at three partnership meetings. Additionally, there have achievements been regular direct communications among the partners and with the coordinator on an individual basis.

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, The website www.cinew.eu handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, A compendium of good practice guides will be produced at the end of the project. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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CISNET | Priority:1.3 |Nº 2009-1/072 www.cisnetwork.eu

Title Creative Industries Support NETwork

Slogan

Project summary The project enhanced business activities within SMEs in the creative industries through the development of new products, access to markets, new technologies and techniques, i.e. networking, clustering, innovation and technology transfer. It set up a 'Creative City' to bring the scale and diversity advantages of metropolitan areas to the dispersed regions of the Atlantic Area. It provided a market place, marketing, technology and innovation stimulation and access to resources and expertise, which will be sustainable after the end of the project. The activities involved: Regional analyses for the creative industries in each region ; Involvement of firms in terms of innovation ; Enabling enterprises to link up with research centres, exhibit at trade fairs and make joint working arrangements with other firms; Knowledge transfer through the placement of advanced students in enterprises ; Development of products with Atlantic Area theme Project Lead Partner Mayo County Council (IE)

Partnership WESTBIC (IE); University of Wales Lampeter (UK); ADIST (PT); EUROCEI, Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovación SA (ES); Technopole Quimper (FR) Starting date 01-02-2010

Ending date 31-10-2013

Total eligible budget €1 515 670

Total ERDF budget € 985 176

Global performance

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1) Implementation By the end of the implementation period, the project had undertaken all its major activities. The Creative City Website and associated social Progress- Activities media were being used by the sector. The SWOT analyses of all the regions had been completed and compared. Enterprises had been involved in the project and innovation support given to significant numbers. Atlantic Area networking events had been held and several enterprises had travelled internationally to make contacts. Enterprises had been supported to visit trade fairs and students placed transnationally. 2) Main project The project overachieved on almost all its indicators. 298 enterprises were involved in the project, with more participating in some events. achievements - Outputs 36 enterprises have been supported at trade fairs and events, with four reporting commercial results. 46 enterprises were supported in innovation development, with two gaining external funding. Five students were placed assisting small enterprises in developments. Nine Atlantic themed events were held. Several other networking and outreach events were initiated by the project covering all the participating regions. Relations have been established with other networks within and without the Atlantic Area and a policy document produced. Two new networks in Art and Craft were established. 3) Project Results and Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations Impacts The project gave rise to a complete new orientation to delivering services to the target group. The enterprises are overwhelmingly micro- enterprises, and the standard approaches for small and medium sized enterprises are inappropriate. Hence assistance has been redeveloped to assist them in a more individual way. This involves several aspects: ensuring value is demonstrable for the enterprise ;minimizing project and out of project bureaucracy; timing delivery to the needs of the entrepreneur; using the languages of the entrepreneurs. Thus promotion, networking and innovation support had to be redesigned and new means tested. These have been incorportated in the ‘Lessons Learned’ booklet, which is the result of the final assessment of project activities. As result of adopting these practices, the project has reached over 200% of the target number of enterprises and involved them in the project. Two special services in this overall context have been developed and will continue. Creative events, whereby creative industry specialists and others get together to resolve the problems of the other industry and apply the expertise of creative entrepreneurs. As a result of this practice, two collaborations are known to be functioning. Support at trade shows and events. These were supported by CISNET, but the degree of support needed in identifying, planning and accompanying the enterprises was developed in detail. When this happened, sales and other business benefits followed. This is continuing. As a result of this approach, the project exceeded its targets of attendance at trade events and participants achieved measurable business benefits in terms of sales. Synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level The project found it most useful to combine assistance with other programmes, some funded from national sources, some regional and some using other EU funds (e.g. Culture Programme & Framework 7). A funding overview was developed and this has enabled the development of practices in all the regions. At least two enterprises have benefited from national funds to accomplish project ends. Policies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. The project contributed to the EU Green Paper on Creative Industries and maintained liaison with European Creative Industries Alliance. The five regional SWOT reports are being made available at the regional/national level in the participating countries. The ‘Lessons Learned’ is

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something the project partners will build on for the forseeable future in networking with regional and national authorities. It has been distributed throughout the EBN. Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to The project produced regional studies of the creative industries in their regions or localities. These have been an input into planning at a regional level. They will also form the basis of future contributions to plans on an Atlantic Area basis. Awareness of specific groups on specific question, themes As indicated above, a fuller understanding of the creative industries has enabled the development of project activities producing good results. The authorities involved have become more aware of the needs of the groups and the members of the groups have become more aware of the services on offer. There is a continuation project, CINEW, implementing the “Lessons Learned” and assisting the consolidation of the developed practices in the five regions. 4) Main contributions to CISNET contributes to the Atlantic Area Strategy through stimulating regional endogenous potential. the Atlantic Area It counteracts the hurdles of peripheral regions with regard to access to technology and market places. It promotes transnational Programme achieved entrepreneurial and innovation networks as it has developed knowledge transfer between companies and research centres, to enhance competitiveness and innovation capacities. 5) Implementation All implementation methodology aspects have been attained: management system, website for communication, regular meetings, regional methodology aspects SWOT analyses, holding of events, recruitment of enterprises attained

6) Innovative aspects of the The project has reached out and recruited and assisted meaningfully micro-enterprises, which predominate in the sector. It has devised new project achieved ways of support for this size of enterprise, which differ from those for medium sized enterprises. It has pioneered interaction through the social media to develop the project and contacts with the sector. It has supported innovative developments bringing creative and traditional industries together for cooperation Operation management

1) Management and The project completed its operations in 2013. Management activities in 2014 focussed entirely on the financial claim and reporting coordination activities procedure, which continued all year. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and All evaluation was completed in 2013 evaluation activities organized in the period

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3) Main problems found The project has had delays in completed its claim procedures. This has been exacerbated by two of the original partners ceasing to trade. and solutions adopted Persistence has been the response. during the period

4) Majors impacts of No impacts eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Documents on CISNET continued to be circulated in 2014 both directly and through CINEW activities. communication achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, All publications were produced in 2013 handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

2014 - Documents (studies, All publications were produced in 2013 handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced in the framework of the Project.

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IMAGINATLANTICA | Priority:1.3 |Nº 2009-1/019 www.imagina-atlantica.eu

Title IMAGINAATLANTICA . "Espace Atlantique, Territoires créatifs innovants"

Slogan INNOVATIVE CREATIVE TERRITORIES

Project summary Imagina Atlantica has brought together 14 economic, institutional and cultural partners from 5 countries, working in the digital image sector. Objective: promoting skills in each region and creating synergies for better development. Method: working together, learning from others' experience and initiating joint projects. Tools and concrete projects are a result of this networking, as well as a desire to continue working together. The Imagina Atlantica project was devised in 2010 on the initiative of the GrandAngoulême district, with support from the European Union ithin the framework of the Interreg IVB programme. As the project leader, the Angoulême district authorities firstly endeavoured to identify partners on a European level, particularly in the Atlantic Arc, in order to use their economic, training and creative strengths, among others, to devise a global strategy for collaboration. This work resulted in an "Atlantic Cluster Group for Image Technologies", bringing together over 700 organisations (companies, universities, etc.) in 5 partner countries (France, UK, Spain, Portugal and Ireland). From this foundation, the project developed from cooperation and joint projects, with two main focuses: - supporting creativity by highlighting young talent, offering young people opportunities for enhanced apprenticeships and professional experience abroad and - supporting company competitiveness by creating favourable conditions for sharing skills and devising collaborative projects, especially in the niche market of enhancing heritage sites using image technologies. Project Lead Partner Communauté d’Agglomération du GrandAngoulême (FR)

Partnership Eixo Atlântico (SP); Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (PT); Fundação da Juventude (PT); Deputacion de Ourense (SP); Xunta de Galicia (SP); Centre for Advanced Software Technology (CAST) Limited (UK); Syndicat Mixte Pôle Image MAGELIS (FR) ; Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities (FR); Bangor University (UK); INTELI - Inteligencia em Inovacao Centro de Inovação (PT); DONEGAL County Council (IE); Cluster Audiovisual de Astúrias (SP); Fundación Municipal de Cultura de Avilés (SP) Starting date 01/03/2010

Ending date 31/08/2014

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Total eligible budget € 1 776 626.42

Total ERDF budget € 1 154 807,10

Global performance

1) Implementation WP8 A1 & A2 : 9 exchanges programmes have been organized for businesses and young professionals in 2014 especially during the Progress- Activities European Conference for Creative territories in Angoulême in February 2014 in Angoulême WP9A1 : Finalization of an interactive website for the businesses – hosting on the English version of the partner 8’s own website (www.magelis.org) WP9A2 : Creation of 1 interactive book for the marketing promotion of Grand Angoulême Territory to be disseminated and capitalized for the other territories of the partnership WP9A3 : Organization of the European Conference for Creative territories in Angoulême in February 2014 in Angoulême – FR WP10 : Finalization of the Study dedicated to the living labs – realized by both partners 8 (Pole Image Magelis) and 11 (INTELI) 2) Main project WP8 A1 & A2 : 9 exchanges programmes for businesses and young professionals have gathered 79 participants in 2014 achievements - Outputs WP9A1 : 1 website / interactive mapping for the businesses – object : gathering of the activity information of the companies located on the partnership’s territory in order to permit the contacts and collaborations between them, the animation of the existing cluster. WP9A2 : Creation of 1 interactive book (territorial marketing) to be duplicated to the whole partner’s territories WP9A3 : perpetuation of the European Conference for Creative territories in Atlantic Arc (2nd Conference “for creative industries” organized during the project / 3rd European conference of the project) WP10 : 1 study – benchmarking realized by 2 partners pf the project. 3) Project Results and Exchange programmes and businesses (WP8) : Impacts for young professionals and artists : In the beginning of the project, it appeared that the implementation of the exchange programmes for young professionals in companies was difficult to develop regarding the respective rules / laws of each country concerning the hosting of trainees in companies. Therefore, the partnership decided to create its own process of hosting / meeting between young professional and companies. The option which has been chosen was to create the most flexible administrative context as possible. Long terms trainees in companies organized as usual were not possible also regarding other aspects: training programmes of the superior schools or universities in which Imagina Atlantica was not integrated, payment of the foreign trainees by the companies, insurances, implication of hosting companies. In that terms, several possibilities have been proposed to the local partners of the partnership with the objective of a short but effective integration on the market place with the “prospective programmes” for 56 young professionals” (visits of several companies in foreign countries with direct contacts with businesses) but also creative programmes between superior schools or artists : 4 masterclasses (26 participants) who create a summer programme in Santiago de Compostela for the animation of the historical city center and realized 26 short animation films.

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Meetings have also gathered 22 responsables of superior schools and universities in order to help them to elaborate contact for future collaborations. The various actions have taken place to facilitate exchanges between teaching establishments, making training in companies possible in partner countries and coordinating the sharing of experience. The objectives were: broadening students' skill set, greater professional integration of young graduates a better knowledge of the European market and its potential. Almost 100 students were able to benefit from this opportunity. In addition, IMAGINA ATLANTICA encouraged creativity : Several initiatives encouraged experimentation and the creation of links between talented creatives in the partner countries, especially: Reciprocal exchanges between experts in the framework of events such as Portugal Creativo in Portugal and Eurographics in the UK. A seminar linking 14 image-based festivals in partner countries. The hosting of 20 comic book authors from Spain, Ireland and Portugal in Angoulême, capital of the comic book. The organisation of a creative workshop on the enhancing of heritage sites in the town of Santiago de Compostela, over 15 days, bringing together young artists from 5 countries. The creation of a European digital arts competition for to enhance heritage sites (see box). Young professionals and artists mentioned the following impacts of their participation to the project : “A new sight on creation” “Imagina’s Digital Art Competition was an offer of visibility and credibility” “Imagina Atlantica gave me the opportunity to create my design company”. Exchange programmes and businesses (WP8) : For businesses / companies: most of the companies located in the partnership territories have evocated their willing to meet equivalent companies of foreign countries. The best option for each partner to make their local companies to meet other companies was to organize regularly BtoB meetings. Imagina Atlantica has focused its actions on the following issues: Facilitating access to and the development of new markets for small and medium-sized companies; Testing new outlets for image-based companies; Encouraging experimentation and European cooperation; This has translated, in a concrete way, to BtoB meet-ups in the 5 participating countries of the programme. Over 120 companies from the Atlantic Arc have been able to benefit from these meet-ups in order to reflect on collaborations and business exchanges. Various possibilities have opened up, especially between France and Ireland in the video game and transmedia sectors. To expand their address books of contacts, the professionals have access to a database that brings together by specialism 688 organisations from partner regions (it may be consulted on the website: www.magelis.org).

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4) Main contributions to the The solicitation and the involvement of local partners structures of European project partners for the development of activities, information Atlantic Area Programme and publicity made about the project helped to contribute to the further dissemination of program objectives on which is positioned achieved Imagina Atlantica, particularly innovation in the fields of image and new technologies. This field refocused on Creative Industries since 2012 through two conferences (in 2012 in Angoulême - UK and 2013 in Ourense - ES) was confirmed through the integration of seven partners in this area of activity in 2013 and perpetuation of the European Conference of Creative Industries held a second time in February 2014 in Angoulême. All partners and local stakeholders the project partners that refer to or that they imply for the implementation of activities or information on the project recipients are routinely made aware of the overall objectives of the program through advertising on aid received by the program for the project. 1 website / interactive mapping for the businesses : This tool is dedicated to the European businesse researching for partners in atlantic arc. The interactive mapping permits to obtain a description of the activity and contacts of the whole structures gathered in the This platform aims to create new partnerships – btob contacts but is also a data base which will be easily included in other networks / clusters in Europe or worldwide. 3rd European Conference of the project : Acting as milestones in the Imagina Atlantica project, the Conferences for the Creative Industries and Regions are venues for sharing good practice, skills and knowledge and comparing ideas, which are essential for the implementation of the project and the cohesion of all participants. During the project, three conferences took place: 2012 in Angoulême, 2013 in Ourense and the 3rd one in Angoulême. This last Conference took place on February 2014, explored, using concrete examples in Europe and Latin America, different cluster organizational systems (organisations and networks) in the creative and cultural industries. It was therefore the ideal opportunity to strengthen the links between different key players and to envisage follow-ups to the project. Imagina Atlantica, the adventure continues : Strong from four fruitful years, Imagina Atlantica, now nearing its end, is focusing on new outlooks with the desire to continue pursuing the work carried out thus far, as well as staying open to other opportunities. The partner network will remain active and will evolve to include new projects. Reinforcing the network in Europe and internationally via collaborative projects in Europe or Latin America with the metropolis Zapopan / Guadalajara (in Mexico) and its digital project for the city. Bringing together creative spaces with the project CREALAB in which creative spaces (for example: FabLab) in Spain, France and Portugal are involved. Creating a European Cluster for image-based technologies in collaboration with other centres at national and international level. Mobilising new methods to strengthen innovation, especially in image-based technologies, BtoB exchanges and collaborations between graduate schools.

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5) Implementation Existing resources continued to be mobilized to implement the latest activities and dissemination on the project after its administrative methodology aspects closing. Reached the end of the project, local partners are identified and the goal of the partners is to maintain existing contacts and to attained always extend to other networks, European or internationals clusters beyond the project end. The existing database, developed in 2011 been updated so that the network consists beyond the end of the project. The activities implemented during this reporting period, particularly for local actors mobilized (companies, young professionals) enabled enhanced dissemination, particularly through the many exchange programs that have taken place during the last semester project and through the international conference for professionals held in February 2014 in Angoulême. Concerning the valuation of the project and its results, several measures have been put in place for communication beyond the administrative closing of the project through in particular the update of the existing database and the development of a synthesis translated into 4 languages of the project. 6) Innovative aspects of the The innovation capacity of companies or persons (young professionals, artists, designers ...) is the possibility of networking these players project achieved through, on one hand the information made on the project for the establishment of the cluster, d the other through their participation in various project activities (exchange programs, tenders, competitions digital arts, professional seminars) and finally by the accessibility of information contained in different databases from within project: Project Web platform and The Robotics deployed to the employability of young graduates and creators: Imagina Job (Kisoque RH) and as part of the extension of the website interactive for businesses. Operation management

1) Management and The implementation of activities were predicted to end in April 2014 (especially WP8), nevertheless, the official end date of the project has coordination activities been planned in end August 2014 for administrative reason (completion of the invoices payments, elaboration of the last reports of organized in the period execution and expenditures declarations). Therefore, the last steering committee has been organized, in presence of the whole partnership in February 2014 in Angoulême. One revision of the budget has been realized in May 2014 for the last adjustments of the budget (in the framework of the closing of the project). Finally, after the transmission of the final report, the GrandAngoulême gave the authorization to the JTS and management Authority to proceed to a last adjustment of the budget line before the final payment. 2) Monitoring and Execution Report n°10 (March 2014), Extraordinary Report n°11 (extraordinary report for the partner 3, June 2014) as well as a request for evaluation activities Revision request n°4 including a change in the budget for the project closing (filed in April 2014- validated by the STC in May 2014) organized in the period

3) Main problems found Delays to establish the execution reports (especially delays concerning the providing by some partners of FLC reports and Certifications of and solutions adopted National Correspondents) Solutions: management of the partners to establish the reports, transmission of recalls of description of the during the period implementation activities and technical support for the full-fill in of the reports. This problem has not been so strong during the years 2013 / 2014 as sooner in the project because the majority of partners of the extension were aware of the programme’s rules. Nevertheless, 3 partners needed a strong support of the lead partner to complete and achieve the declaration process.

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4) Majors impacts of No negative impact, only necessary adjustments for the adequation between realization of the project and budget lines. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project 1 European Conference for Creative territories in Atlantic Arc communication Redaction and dissemination of a global synthesis of the project in 4 languages achievements 1 interactive BOOK meetings of businesses and young professionals restitution of the results of the study during the European conference (Feb 2014 Angoulême – FR) Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, 1 complete / global SYNTHESIS of the PROJECT RESULTS handbooks, guides…) EUROPEAN CONFERENCE : publication and dissemination of the official programme / creation of 2 KAKEMONOS presenting the activities of published on any format, as the project and the partners’ territories well as all promotional 1 INTERACTIVE MAPPING for BUSINESSES on partner’s website in English material produced in the 1 interactive DIGITAL BOOK for territorial promotion framework of the Project. 4 short films about the exchanges programmes for young professionals in the framework of IMAGINA 3.0

Future documents (studies, No new documents foreseen for the moment. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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INNOVATE | Priority:1.3 |Nº 2009-1/100 www.atlantic-innovate.eu

Title Territorial Innovation and Economic Change

Slogan

Project summary The INNOVATE project intends to increase the ability of local and regional authorities to promote economic change and the development of a knowledge-based and innovative economic structure. The project aims at boosting the relationship between talent, research, knowledge, creation and economic development, using clustering methodologies at regional and transnational level. The project involves 7 partners representing all countries of the Atlantic area sharing a common challenge: implementing new initiatives and ideas to stimulate economic conversion out of their regional endogenous potential. The main activities of INNOVATE are: Ex-post evaluation of regional and local initiatives to promote economic change and the emergence of a knowledge-based economy Development of a tool-kit of policy instruments and a resource base Planning and implementation of selected policies at local level through local action plans with territorial co-operation component The organisation of a Social innovation Conference and the preparation of a report on Social Innovation experiences in the Atlantic Area. The creation of a transnational network to exchange cultural entrepreneurs. Project Lead Partner Fundación Municipal de Cultura de Avilés - SPAIN

Partnership Mid-West Regional Authority (IE); PRIMUS MGV – Promoção e Desenvolvimento Regional, SA (PT); Communauté d’Agglomération Pau Pyrénées (FR) ; Glasgow Caledonian University (UK); Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Sevilla (ES); Fomento San Sebastián (ES) Starting date 01-04-2009

Ending date 28-05-2014

Total eligible budget 2.261.379,99 €

Total ERDF budget 1.469.896,98 €

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Global performance 100%

1) Implementation Activity 1: Coordination and Management Progress- Activities A final project coordination has been organized in San Sebastian on the 17 February 2014 to prepare the project closure. Activity 5- Implementation of the selected policies at local level Avilés Municipality has carried out the following activities at local level: Capacity Building for 11 Cultural Entrepreneur: COACHING AND TRAINING FOR ARTISTS BUSINESS CONSOLIDATION PROGRAMME Cámara de Comercio de Sevilla has carried out the following activities at local level: Capacity Building for the Internationalization of SMEs. This activity focused in delivering intensive training and personal mentoring on specific target markets. The main aim was to help participant SMEs to identify market opportunities for the local enterprise tissue of Seville. The final objective is to increase the capacity of local SMEs to initiate and develop a process on internationalization in markets of opportunity. The activity fostered the participation of the SMEs from Sevilla in EU research and innovation consortiums. These actions aim at involving SMEs into EU projects of technological innovation and social innovation within the framework of Horizon 2020 programme. In fact cooperation among the new programme for the EU innovation (Horizon 2020) and the territorial cooperation programmes has been defined as a priority for the new programming period (2014-2020). The particular actions implemented as part of this activity were the following: a. Workshops to train and foster innovation and cooperation among research centers and SMEs, Sevilla, 13th February 2014. b. The implementation of technological diagnosis for the SMEs to assess their opportunities to join EU innovation projects (ie. Horizon 2020). c. Promotion and dissemination of the SMEs to Atlantic Area and European consortia (Research Centers, Companies and Universities) to foster cooperation projects. The final aim of the actions proposed is totally aligned with the main objectives of INNOVATE as approved in the application form: to implement initiatives to promote economic change based on the endogenous assets of each territory. The actions proposed are envisaged to be sustainable, since they will have continuity in the medium term, without the financial support of the programme, by means of SMEs participation in EU innovation, research and demonstration projects. These actions will contribute to the capitalization of the main activities of the project offering new ways to improve innovation and competitiveness among the SMEs in Sevilla. Activity 7: Social Innovation Each of the partners was assigned the task of delivering 4 social innovation case studies that delivered social value. Key indicators of social value were given to each partner as a guide to the choice of social innovation along with a template for the design of the case studies. This was important to ensure that a level of consistency in the key areas of discussion was maintained.

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All social innovation case studies were compiled on a report. This report is a contribution to our understanding of social innovation as a catalyst for economic and social change that delivers social value in areas currently suffering some form and level of deprivation. Activity 8- Social Innovation Conference Social Innovation Conference was organised in San Sabastian on the 18th February 2014, with all partners attendance as well as 125 participants. The Conference was organised around three main areas: social innovation as a driver for local development, and two round tables on social innovation in the field of creativity and arts and business and entrepreneurs. Based on the Social Innovation report and the Social Innovation Conference a Policy Toolkit has been produced to provide useful insights into how economic, social, cultural and technological factors can provide the focus for designing specific types of interventions that can deliver social value Activity 9: transnational network to exchange cultural entrepreneurs MWRA (P2) and Glasgow Caledonian University (have carried out two transnational activities with the participation of cultural entrepreneurs from Lead partner: Celtic Connections, Glasgow, 29- 31 January,2014 Essence of Love, Limerick, 14th February 2014 2) Main project Activity 1: Coordination and Management achievements - Outputs Steering Committee meeting agenda, presentations, minutes of the meeting and sign in Activity 5: Implementation of the selected policies at local level 11 cultural entrepreneurs has received coaching and mentoring services Number of mentoring hours dedicated to support SMEs: 340 Number of diagnosis prepared: 18 Number of H2020 projects prepared: 3 Number of SMEs participating in the local actions (diagnosis plans): 25 Number of people participating in the events celebrated: 48 Activity 7: Social Innovation 28 case studies on social innovation 1 report on social innovation in the Atlantic Area Activity 8- Social Innovation Conference 125 people attended the Conference: - entrepreneurs; -public institutions; -economic development agencies; -entities working in social innovation (consultancy, companies.); - research centers; -University; -companies; -project partners; 1 Policy Tool kit on Social Innovation Activity 9: transnational network to exchange cultural entrepreneurs 20 transnational cultural entrepreneurs participating the exchange of experiences and activities carried out 3 activities to promote local and transnational cultural entrepreneurs organised

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3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts – Impacts Activity 5 Avilés Municipality: Target Group: Cultural Entrepreneurs Identifying business management and personal branding good practices. Providing participants with the necessary tools to get the most out of their personal branding and their business management skills. Encouraging the effective use of marketing and sales management techniques in order that their artistic and professional project succeed. Transfering knowledge in skills, techniques and tools that facilitate a better marketing positioning. Cámara de Comercio de Sevilla: Target group: SMEs The main aim was to help participant SMEs to identify market opportunities. The final objective is to increase the capacity of local SMEs to initiate and develop a process on internationalization. The activity fostered the participation of the SMEs from Sevilla in EU research and innovation consortiums. These actions aim at involving SMEs into EU projects of technological innovation and social innovation within the framework of Horizon 2020 programme. Activities 7 and 8 Target group: Parnters, stakeholdes, researchers and public in general The main results of the social innovation case studies were the valuable insights offered into sources of funding, collaboration with citizens, policy mechanisms for the support of the initiatives and the sustainability of the projects. The key result was the distinct added value of each of the cases to the citizens within the target area of the social innovation. The final social innovation report presented a critical review of social innovation support across the EU and national governments, policy applications, sources of funding and guides to accessing the array of support mechanisms that exist across the regions. Secondary research methods were used alongside selected interviews with key players in the sector supported by selected case studies. The final report provides a valuable resource for a wide range of stakeholders interested in accessing information and guidance on social innovation, the environment in which it develops and the supporting mechanisms for its successful deployment to address social problems. The Social Innovation Conference held in San Sebastian in 2014 has hosted representatives from the UK, the leading country in social innovation in Europe, to showcase initiatives from the UK as well a perspective of the social innovation development in the Atlantic area. The two round table organised in the conference allowed a rich cross-fertilization, networking and dissemination of social innovation initiatives. The implementation of activity 9 has strengthen community engagement and raise awareness activities to underline the importance of culture and cultural entrepreneurs to foster economic change ( Essence of Love, Limerick 14th February 2014 and Celtic Connections in Glasgow from the 29th January to 1st February 2014). These activities has been a key asset to promote local cultural entrepreneurs at transnational level. Additionally during the implementation of Activity 9 partners involved were building long term networks and relations to keep the exchange of best practices and cultural entrepreneurs beyond the end of the project.

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Cultural entrepreneurs involved have improved their competences in transnational networking and capacity building as a result of the exchanges and joint activities carried out during the reporting period. 4) Main contributions to The project extension has given partners an additional opportunity to improve their skills to manage economic change and to promote the Atlantic Area innovative, knowledge-based and creative and cultural industries. Programme achieved On one hand, the partnership is now envisaging a new phase leading to achieve a positive impact on the long-term future through the perpetuation of the cultural entrepreneur network. On the social innovation area, the partnership has gained experience by pooling and benchmarking other experiences in the Atlantic Areas. The social innovation literature review joint work provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of social innovation and its implementation across different regions. It provides useful insights into how economic, social, cultural and technological factors can provide the focus for designing specific types of interventions that can deliver social value 5) Implementation Activity 7 (Social Innovation in the Atlantic Area): the literature review on social innovation has achieved the objective of identifying methodology aspects innovative and successful policies and practices to promote economic change and innovation through social innovation and citizen attained engagement. To do so, each of the partners was assigned the task of delivering four social innovation case studies that delivered social value. Key indicators of social value were given to each partner as a guide to the choice of social innovation along with a template for the design of the case studies. Activity 8 (Social Innovation Conference): based on the case studies analysed partners have highlighted the cutting edge social innovation initiatives that have been presented at the social innovation conference held in San Sebastian on the 18th February 2014. The Policy document on social innovation provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of social innovation and its implementation across different regions. It provides useful insights into how economic, social, cultural and technological factors can provide the focus for designing specific types of interventions that can deliver social value. The cases also reveal the different types of organisational settings through which social innovation can be managed, developed and shaped to address different types of social problems. Activity 9, (The transnational network to exchange cultural entrepreneurs) has fostered activities to increase capacity building and International dissemination of the local entrepreneurs. The methodology used for the exchanged of cultural entrepreneurs was based on the implementation of joint actions (such us dance performances or print making workshops), so cultural entrepreneurs could improve their skills and competences by pooling resources together with their counterparts. Activity 6 (Communication)- the main channel to communicate and broadcast the project activities Is the project website and partners sites. 6) Innovative aspects of the INNOVATE partnership is organised around two working groups, which defines the main areas of cooperation launched during the special project achieved project extension: cultural entrepreneurs and social innovation. After the special project extension, the general area of innovation has been further refined to focus attention on social innovation as a means of transforming both economic and social environments across the regions. INNOVATE outputs in this area will contribute to our understanding of social innovation as a catalyst for economic and social change that delivers social value in areas currently suffering some form and level of deprivation. Actually the Social Innovation Conference held in San Sebastian in 2014 has hosted representatives from the UK, the leading country in social innovation in Europe, to showcase initiatives from the UK as well a perspective of the social innovation development in the Atlantic Area. The two round tables organised in the conference allowed a rich cross-fertilization, networking and dissemination of social innovation initiatives.

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Operation management

1) Management and A final project coordination has been organized in San Sebastian on the 17 February 2014 to prepare the project closure. coordination activities organized in the period

2) Monitoring and The project implementation is monitored and evaluated during all the coordination meetings, both at activities and budgetary level. evaluation activities organized in the period

3) Main problems found The main problems to be reported is lack of communication on the project performance with partner 5 and strong delays on partner 5 to and solutions adopted complete the final claim due to lack of internal human resources since the budget cuts at the Public Bodies. Partners are doing its best to during the period catch up with the deadlines.

4) Majors impacts of Some of the partners will not be able to implement 100% of their budget, so a adjustment will be necessary at the project closure to adapt eventual project revisions partners budget to the effective expenditure during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project The main project communication activities has been the Social Innovation Conference organized in San Sebastian the 18th February 2014. communication achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, 1 Policy Tool kit on Social Innovation handbooks, guides…) Essence of love: 1 poster published on any format, as Social Innovation Conference San Sebastian: well as all promotional - programme; -emailing; -outdoors poster in the Kursaal Center (conference venue); -poster Innovate (inside use); -totem; -banner in material produced in the Fomento´s website; -Facebook advertisements; -photos; -video framework of the Project.

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Future documents (studies, Nothing to report handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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NEA2 | Priority:1.3 |Nº 2008-1/046 http://www.nea2.eu/fr

Title NAUTISME ESPACE ATLANTIQUE 2

Slogan

Project summary The European project NEA2 aims to co-ordinate and sustainably develop the marine leisure sector in each of the regions along the Atlantic Area (including training organisations, boating marinas, manufacturing, retail and activity providers), through the strengthening of cooperation on three themed strands: economic development, environmental sustainability, and social cohesion. For each of these themes, the project forsees the realisation of a number of common actions each undertaken by a number of the participating international partners, and a number of local actions each managed by individual regional project partners. Made up of 23 European partners to run for a total of 5 years (Jan.2009 – Sept.2014), this project follows on from the first NEA project (Nov.2004 – Oct.2007), Interreg IIIB project which was very successful having brought together 11 partners to deliver a common objective: the co-ordinated development of the watersports tourism sector.

Project Lead Partner CONSEIL REGIONAL DE BRETAGNE (FR)

Partnership Conseil Général du Finistère (FR); Nautisme En Bretagne (FR) ; Nautisme en Finistère (FR) ; Association des Ports de Plaisance de Bretagne (FR); Xunta De Galicia - Direccion General de Desarrollo Pesquero (ES) ; Diputacion Provincial de Pontevedra (ES) ; Diputación Provincial de A Coruña (ES) ; Ayuntamiento de Cambados (ES) ; Ente Público Portos de Galicia (ES) ; Asociación Galega de Actividades Náuticas (ES) ; Diputacion Huelva (ES) ; Intercéltica (PT) ; Comunidade Intermunicipal do Minho-Lima (CIM Alto Minho) (PT); Associação de Desenvolvimiento Local da Bairrada e Mondego (PT) ; Cornwall Council (UK) ; North Devon + (UK); Région Basse Normandie (FR) ; Conseil Général de la Manche (FR) ; Mid-West Regional Authority (IE) ; Ards Borough Council (UK) ; Irish Canoe Union (IE) ; Région Pays de la Loire (FR) ; Cornwall Marine Network (UK); Associated Partner: Area Metropolitana do Porto (PT)

Starting date 01/01/2009

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Ending date 30/09/2014

Total eligible budget € 5 051 659,05

Total ERDF budget € 3 283 577,81

Global performance

1) Implementation - Conclusion of last actions to be implemented within the extension period Progress- Activities - Working on “NEA3” partnership (meetings, video-conference), and organisation of one “think tank” meeting in Rennes (May 2014) - Working on financial closure 2) Main project - Edition of the balance of the NEA2’s project achievements - Outputs - Realisation of the new website - Draft of the newsletter - Conclusion of last actions to be implemented within the extension period : As part of the extension of NEA2 project, the partners have achieved in 2014, the following actions: . Actions dedicated to people in situation of social exclusion, disabled people (for example : Interceltica, CG Manche, Nautisme en Finistère, Portos de Galicia, Pontevedra) . Actions following the aim to enhance marine leisure activities (AD ELO, Cornwall Marine Network) . Promotion of marine leisure activities (Nautisme en Finistère, Xunta de Galicia, Cambados) . Actions to promote boats of heritage (Xunta de Galicia) . Support the Altantics Games (Cim Alto Minho, North Devon+, Interceltica, Pays de La Loire, MWRA) . Participation to the “Think Tank” (strategic seminary) to support the development of an atlantic maritime strategy. All the partners of the NEA2 extension took part in the strategic seminary and proposed new actions for the next interreg project. - Working on “NEA3” partnership (meetings, video-conference), and organisation of one “think tank” meeting in Rennes (May 2014) - Elaboration of the strategy of the next project and for the preparation of this one: . Nomination of territorial pilots on each territory . Debate around the strategic theme of the next project . Elaboration of main actions for the next action plan - Working on financial closure 3) Project Results and - “NEA3” partnership working on a new project for next interreg call. Impacts - The partners decided to work on a project focus on the entire sector and organised a new governance based on a territorial pilot. The decision to create an European Cluster dedicated to the “Nautical”sector was acted by the partners.

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- Partners’actions have helped boost the practice of water sports and marine leisure activities. The implementation of the " Espace Mer" in Finistère enabled tourism professionals to offer visitors marine leisure activities and this has contributed to the economical development of the sector. -The actions led by the partners permitted a wider audience to participate. For example, social excluded children participated in a day of discovery activities. Lots of people from the hinterland and also disable people discovered and participated in marine leisure activities thanks to NEA2. - Teams from every countries took part in the Atlantic Games thanks to NEA2+ funds. 4) Main contributions to - Atlantic games 2014, Saint Gilles Croix de Vie ( Pays de la Loire) the Atlantic Area Programme achieved

5) Implementation - Conclusion of last actions to be implemented within the extension period methodology aspects - Working on “NEA3” partnership (meetings, video-conference), and organisation of one “think tank” meeting in Rennes (May 2014) attained - Working on financial closure

6) Innovative aspects of the n/a project achieved

Operation management

1) Management and - Conclusion of last actions to be implemented within the extension period coordination activities - Working on “NEA3” partnership (meetings, video-conference), and organisation of one “think tank” meeting in Rennes (May 2014) organized in the period - Financial management : RAP 12/2013: financial claim. Prepared in 2013, approved and paid in 2014 (8th payment, ERDF received 06august2014) RAP 13/2013: activity report (submitted beginning of 2015) REV10: Prepared in 2014 and sent in October 2014; project extension until September 30st 2014 and budget modifications. RAP 14/2014 : Last claim to be prepared (2014/2015) 2) Monitoring and Preparing the last claims evaluation activities Preparing the “NEA3” project and the “think tank” meeting organized in the period

3) Main problems found Problems faced by partners during the certification (delays in procedures + 1st level controls + use of ACCESS form). and solutions adopted during the period

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4) Majors impacts of Postponing the ending date to September 30th, 2014. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project NEA2 website update in 2014 (news, documents…) communication Partners website achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Final booklet with all actions, available in French and English. Finalised, translated and printed first semester 2014. handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, N/a handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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III. Priority 2 - Protect, secure and enhance the marine and coastal environment sustainability Objective 1 - Improve maritime safety

. ARCOPOLPLUS . ARCOPOLPLATFORM . AUXNAVALIAPLUS . NETMAR . SPRES

Objective 2 - Sustainable management and protection of the resources of marine spaces

. FAME . PRESPO . SEAFARE

Objective 3 - Exploit the renewable energy potential of the marine and coastal environment

. ATLANTICPOWER . ENERGYMARE . MAREN2 . TURNKEY

Objective 4 - Protect and promote natural spaces, water resources and coastal zones

. AARC

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Objective 1 - Improve maritime safety

ARCOPOLPLUS | Priority:2.1 |Nº 2011-1/150 www.arcopol.eu

Title Improving maritime safety and pollution response through technology transfer, training & innovation

Slogan -

Proje summary Built on the knowledge developed on ARCOPOL project, ARCOPOLplus aims to further reinforce maritime safety in the Atlantic area by improving the regional preparedness to oil and HNS (Hazardous and Noxious Substances). ARCOPOLplus’ activities have been conceived focussing on technology transfer, training and innovation. On the one hand, ARCOPOL outputs will be upgraded and implemented into the operational level through pilot actions and training activities. On the other, several gaps identified in the Hazardous and Noxious Substances’ knowledge will be addressed and further incorporated into local and regional contingency planning to contribute to build an efficient response. Innovative tracking, forecasting and decision support tools will be adapted to the needs of authorities that will be trained on their application. Moreover, ARCOPOLplus will reinforce the existing Atlantic network of expertise by promoting a higher involvement of the industry and key stakeholders, by developing innovative educational materials and by integrating relevant information. Project Lead Partner Centro Tecnológico del Mar – Fundación CETMAR

Partnership Instituto Tecnolóxico para o control do medio mariño de Galicia - INTECMAR (ES); Universidade de Vigo (ES); Consejería de Justicia e Interior - Junta de Andalucía (ES); Consejeria de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del Territorio – Junta de Andalucía (ES); Universidad de Cádiz – UCA (ES); Instituto Superior Técnico – IST (PT); Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental - CIIMAR (PT); National Maritime College of Ireland – NMCI (IE); Pembrokeshire County Council (UK); Public Health England - PHE (UK); Centre for Environmental, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science – CEFAS (UK) Starting date 01/01/2012

Ending date 28/02/2014

Total eligible budget €1.890.140,18

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Total ERDF budget €1.228.591,11

Global performance

1) Implementation After two years of work, ARCOPOLplus ended in February 2014. Consequently, in 2014 all the administrative and technical tasks planned were Progress- Activities fully implemented. Tasks carried out during these two months consisted of the finalization of project outputs and the preparation of execution reports. 2) Main project During the last two months of the project, the main outputs delivered were the following: achievements - Outputs Activity 2: Filling the gaps of knowledge on Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) behaviour at sea 1. Report: Determination of acute and chronic toxicity of priority HNS upon representatives of different marine plant and animal taxa. 2. Report: Guidance list of appropriate passive samplers for different monitoring situations for selected HNS compounds. 3. Report: Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of HNS compounds and consideration of factors modifying bioaccumulation and toxicity. 4. Report: Validation of ecological modelling to predict the population level impact of priority HNS 5. Response Tool Kit Manual. 6. Online version of the HNS prioritisation tool. http://www.arcopol-hns-db.eu/index.php/get-started Activity 3: Upgrading and transference of tools for hydrocarbons and HNS detection, forecasting and risk analysis. 7. Video on the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in chemical incidents response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjTSVNw52C8 8. Report “Low-Cost Unmanned Aircraft in the Offshore Environment: Effectiveness and Constraints” 9. Design and development of a cost-effective geo-camera. 10. Guide for training forecasting exercises. 11. The use of UAVs to follow up spills or collect aerial observations and checklists. 12. SCAT & POLREP apps and manual for installation. 13. UCA-OceansMap: an Operational Oceanography System for the Andalusian shoreline. 14. Oil spill simulator, manual and installer. 15. Dynamic Risk Tool: manual, implementation methodology, installation, user guide. 16. Technical & Scientific Manual - MOHID HNS (Chemical) Spill Module. 17. ARCOPOL web viewer – Galicia. http://arcopol.intecmar.org Activity 4: Educational material and E-learning products and services 18. E-learning - Limpieza de costas afectadas por vertidos de hidrocarburos. 19. E-learning - Curso de Reclamaciones (Planes de Autoprotección de Espacios Naturales). 20. E-learning sobre contención de hidrocarburos. 21. E-learning sobre reconocimiento terrestre de costas contaminadas por hidrocarburos. 22. E-learning - Formation des collectivités locales à la lutte contre les pollutions accidentelles de la zone littorale 23. E-learning - Preparação e resposta a acidentes de poluição marinha no litoral.

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24. E-learning - Formación para respuesta a vertidos marítimos. 25. E-learning - General course on maritime spills for local responders. 26. E-Learning: Management of maritime chemical incident response. 27. Video: 1-day exercise, long time training / Un día de ejercicio, mucho tiempo de entrenamiento. http://vimeo.com/channels/arcopolplus/83860116 28. Video: Plan CAMGAL, training exercises / ejercicios de entrenamiento. http://vimeo.com/100332577 29. Video: ARCOPOLplus, a very successful project. http://vimeo.com/90851039 30. Video: The health of our oceans: https://vimeo.com/107236290 Act. 5: Transfer of know-how and tools to local authorities. Pilot actions. 31. Report: State of the art of contingency Planning in Galicia. 32. Report: State of the art of contingency Planning in Andalusia. 33. Report: Contingency planning for a local authority in Galicia. 34. Equipment for the pollution response kit for local authorities. 35. Protocol for evaluation of local contingency plans in Galicia. 36. Protocol for evaluation of interior contingency plans in Galicia. 37. Community resilience toolkit. A guide for local communities. Act. 6: Networking through innovation. 38. ARCOPOL network: 170 members. 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts ARCOPOL network was set up in ARCOPOL project and has been kept operative in ARCOPOLplus reaching the number of 170 members. The aim of this network was to favour the interaction among the principal actors that deal with prevention, preparedness, response and mitigation againts maritime spills in the Atlantic area. Through this network members have access to relevant documentation and to all members’ profile allowing exchange of information and favouring collaboration. In the long term, members are expected to find partners in the Network to address future challenges in the field of maritime spills through innovative projects. Moreover, in the frame of ARCOPOLplatform project, this Network has been upgraded to a more interactive Platform hosting Working Groups addressing priority issues on maritime spills preparedness and response. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); ARCOPOLplus delivered several tools and guides that have been integrated into the end users’ operational protocols, mainly into the Contingency plans at regional and local levels. These tools are the result of the fruitful collaboration between competent authorities and research centres. Further information is provided below in “6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations”. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; ARCOPOLplus has interacted with the following projects:

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At Atlantic Area level: ARCOPOLplus collaborated with NETMAR project in the frame of an exercise organised by this project in Galicia (Pobra do Caramiñal, A Coruña). ARCOPOLplus participated in the preparatory meetings and presented ARCOPOLplus tools that were finally tested during the exercise (i.e. POLREP app, Arcopol Web Viewer, Arcopol Oil Spill Simulator, Drifters release protocols, and crisis report model). The preparatory meetings started in January and the exercise was finally hold in October, in collaboration with ARCOPOLplatform project. At EU level: ARCOPOLplus collaborated with PEGASEAS project (INTERREG IVa). The aim of this project was to promote the efficient governance of the Channel ecosystem. ARCOPOLplus filled out a matrix elaborated by PEGASEAS listing all ARCOPOLplus outputs that could contribute to the improvement of governance in the Channel ecosystem. Eventually, ARCOPOLplus contribution was included in the report titled “Towards Better Governance of the Channel Ecosystem” https://www.pegaseas.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/PEGASEAS- Compendium-ENGLISH.pdf 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. Nil 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to ARCOPOLplus delivered several tools and guides that have been integrated into the Contingency plans at regional and local levels. These tools are the result of the fruitful collaboration between competent authorities and research centres. Further information is provided below in “6- Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations”. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations ARCOPOLplus aimed at regional and local authorities, specifically to assist them in improving their preparedness to deal with maritime spills affecting their shoreline. In this regard, the following results and impacts are worth mentioning: Local contingency plans: In Andalusia and Galicia, partners worked to assist local authorities in preparing their Local Contingency Plans. Workshops were held in the two regions to initiate municipalities in the requirements of contingency plans, and, more specifically, two authorities (1 in each region: Laxe – Galicia- and Algeciras –Andalusia-) were selected to be closely guided on the elaboration and implementation of the plan under the umbrella of pilot actions. These two Local Contingency Plans were finally approved by the competent authorities. Protocols for the evaluation of local contingency plans and interior contingency plans in Galicia: The Regional Contingency Plan in Galicia (Plan CAMGAL) was elaborated to fill in with the requirements established by the National Contingency Plan for marine incidents. The Plan establishes for the first time the local authorities´ obligation of elaborating local contingency plans, as well as the structure and contents that those plans have to include. To facilite the task of checking the fulfilment of the requirements of the local contingency plans, in the frame of ARCOPOLplus checklist have been elaborated and are being used by the regional competent authority. Decision support tools for responders: In Galicia, the regional coastguards are implementing in their operational protocols the tools/materials developed in ARCOPOLplus. Among others: The ARCOPOL web viewer is a demo web viewer based on an open client built by INTECMAR under ARCOPOL y ARCOPOLplus project. This viewer is able to display on a map several kinds of data as static data (coastline, Environmental Sensitivity Index line, special protected areas, etc), model results (winds, currents, spills trajectory) and observations (drifter tracks, pictures, spill observations, etc.). This tool is used during

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emergency response an in exercises and allows decision-makers to visualize all the information required for managing the reponse operations.

SCAT & POLREP apps (Shoreline Clean up Assessment Technique & Pollution Report applications): New hardware as tablets PCs seems very useful to acquire new observations or information for SCAT surveys or POLREP, since GPS, camera, video and internet connection are built in. Software in order to turn tablet PCs in tools to acquire this kind of data were developed during the project and are being tested by Galician Coastguards. Oil spill simulator: it is a desktop client software that allows the user to run oil spill scenarios using metocean data available in a central server. First delivered in ARCOPOL project, this new version includes additional advanced features, such as alternative methods for computing oil weathering processes, 3D vertical movement, and turbulent diffusion configuration.The Direcção-Geral da Autoridade Marítima in Portugal is testing and implementing this tool in their premises. Furthermore, collaboration with EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) has been establish to allow the use of EMSA CleanSeaNet satellite images as input for the models. Dynamic Risk Analysis: this tool computes in real time the shoreline contamination risk based on different data sources: AIS ship information, historic data about past ship accidents, coastal vulnerability indexes, metocean forecasting data (waves, currents and atmosphere), and drift modelling results (simulation of hypothetical spills based on ship positions). In this new version the bugs detected have been corrected, the risk algorithm has been improved and its area of implementation has been enlarged adding Galicia. It also includes a new functionality allowing the calculation of the risk on delayed mode. This tool has been tested by the Direcção-Geral da Autoridade Marítima in Portugal. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) Several scientific papers have been published encompassing the work developed in ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus on Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS): Neuparth T, Capela R, Pereira SP, Moreira SM, Santos MM, Reis-Henriques MA. Toxicity effects of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) to marine organisms: acute and chronic toxicity of p-xylene to the amphipod Gammarus locusta. J. Toxicol Environ Health A. 2014; 77(20):1210- 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2014.921867 Cunha, I, Neuparth, T, Moreira, S, Santos, MM, Reis-Henriques, MA. 2014. Management of contaminated marine marketable resources after oil and HNS spills in Europe. Journal of Environmental Management 135: 36-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.12.032 Cunha I, Moreira S, Santos MM. Review on hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) involved in marine spill incidents-An online database. J Hazard Mater. 285C:509-516. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.11.005 Harold PD, de Souza AS, Louchart P, Russell D, Brunt H. Development of a risk-based prioritisation methodology to inform public health emergency planning and preparedness in case of accidental spill at sea of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS). 2014. Environ Int.72:157- 63. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2014.05.012 8-Social change generated; Not measured 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes ARCOPOLplus delivered different materials for raising awareness on maritime pollution of different groups:

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Local communities: Community Engagement Guidance for Oil and HNS incidents. The purpose of this guidance is to enable good practices that promote successful engagement between a spill response organisation and affected communities in the vicinity of an oil or hazardous and noxious substance (HNS) incident. The guide is written to facilitate a shared understanding among spill responders, local authorities, and communities about opportunities and limitations for engagement at the community level before and during oil and HNS spills that occur in or near UK waters. The guide was published in 2013 and presented to the local communities in different workshops along project lifetime. Interested general public: Videos: ARCOPOLplus has two channels in Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/channels/arcopolplus/) and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg5Y3I3CS1Tuxj-tyIKkxPdNITIGHZKz9) with all the videos produced in the frame of the project. These videos aim to present in layman’s terms the work developed in ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus. These videos are being used for raising awareness of both the general public and among stakeholders. For instance, the videos presenting the exercises carried out in Galicia have been used by IMO (International Maritime Organisation) for producing their own dissemination materials: ARCOPOLplus videos: A day of exercise, long training time: https://vimeo.com/87854581 CAMGAL plan (Galician regional contingency plan): Training exercises: https://vimeo.com/83860116 IMO video: Oil spill response. This film tells the story of how IMO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, and IPIECA, an oil industry body, work together to help create resources and expertise in areas least able to cope with the disastrous effects of a spill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDR0eRuSGo0 E-learning course on Chemical management: This course offers an overview of chemical incidents, the potential health and environmental consequences of shoreline incidents; how such risks can be reduced through co-ordinated planning and preparedness, and the impact mitigated through effective response. It is available in two versions. The one aiming at general public is the “Overview course”. This is a less detailed course providing key elements of maritime incident response for persons who may not be technical specialists but who have an interest in maritime and shoreline issues. The course is aimed at students, community groups and those with a general interest in maritime / industrial incident management, be that from living in proximity to a maritime facility, being part of a relevant action or volunteer group, or purely from a general interest to know more about the subject. Responders: ARCOPOLplus hold a Conference in Puerto Real (Cádiz, Spain) titled “Coastal pollution response: Technology Transfer, Training and Innovation” aiming at all Andalusian stakeholders (local and regional authorities, NGOs, ports, private companies working on the scope of marine pollution, etc. At this conference, partners presented the results delivered by the project to reinforce the preparedness of regional and local authorities in Andalusia. E-learning course on Chemical management: An Introductory Course: This course contains 6 modules in total. It is principally aimed at: Public health professionals, Emergency Responders, Policy makers, Emergency planners, Environmental health professionals, Environmental scientists.

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10-Unexpected measurable results Nil 11-Other types of results and Impacts Nil 4) Main contributions to As for the previous years, in 2014 ARCOPOLplus contributed to the Programme improving the preparedness of Atlantic Regions to deal with the Atlantic Area maritime spills, thus contributing to the protection of marine and coastal environments in the Atlantic Area Programme achieved For instance, in the frame of activity 2, partners were working to increase the knowledge on HNS (Hazardous and Noxious Substances) and to improve the preparedness and response capabilities of local and regional authorities when being affected by a spill of these chemicals. In this line, studies addressing the effects of selected HNS in the marine environment, presenting recommendations for the evaluation of the impact of maritime spills on the coastal environment, and a manual with reference documents to get ready to face this type of incidents have been delivered. Activity 3 is also contributing to the increase of preparation of the competent authorities, by improving their capacities on forecasting the drift and fate of HNS and oil spills. During this 2014 different tools to support the management of the response operations were delivered: the Dynamic Risk tool; the Oil spill simulator; 2 applicationss for elaborating reports on SCAT (Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique) and POLREP (Pollution Report) on the field directly on a tablet; the upgraded version of the ARCOPOL web viewer (to visualise on a map all the information to consider when managing a response to a maritime incident) and the Geo-camera, which allows to take geo-referenced pictures form helicopters that can be used as input data for models that predict the movement of the spills. Furthermore, studies on the use of UAV (uUnmanned Aerial Vehicles in maritime operations) were also finished, as well as the MOHID HNS spill Module, which includes all the equations to model the behaviour of different chemicals at sea. Works in activity 4 were fully dedicated to personnel training and general awareness raising. The ARCOPOL e-learning courses have been finished. The aim at the general public and at the responders, who are the workforce that may be involved in responding to maritime incidents. Regarding the general awareness raising, 4 last videos have been produced and made available on the ARCOPOLplus channel on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/channels/arcopolplus/). Two of them cover the interest and the contents of the drills to be carried out in the frame of a contingency plan, the third introduces the importance of further protecting the Marine Protected Areas with tailor made contingency plans, and the last one summarizes all the results produced in the frame of ARCOPOLplus project. Under the umbrella of Activity 5 partners have been supporting local authorities to improve their response capacities to fight coastal pollution. In this regard, during this two months work was focussed on assisting local authorities in the elaboration of their contingency plans. In this regard, apart from direct contact between ARCOPOLplus partners and the local authorities for constant assistance, two documents were produced for materialising this support. One recommends the equipment that local authorities should have in hand to face a potential incident, and a community resilience toolkit. Last but not least, the ARCOPOL Atlantic Network created in the frame of ARCOPOL has been improved in ARCOPOLplus and now it is being upgraded to a Technological Platform (http://www.arcopol.eu/?/=/section/platform/sub/p_arcopol_atp) in the frame of ARCOPOLplatorm

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project. In line with one of the objectives of this network, ARCOPOLplus have collaborated with NETMAR in two meeting for the organisation of an exercise in Galicia (drill on response to maritime incident) and with PEGASEAS project (INTERREG Channel Manche) 5) Implementation Activity 1: At this final stage of the project implementation all the mechanisms established for ensuring the correct coordination within the methodology aspects partnership continued active. Monitoring of progresses within every activity was carried out through frequent contact with partners by email. attained Deadlines, degree of completion and observations were recorded. Assistance to partners on preparing the final execution report was provided by email and phone. The web site of the project, and specially its private section for partners, facilitated the communication within the consortium in two main ways: 1.-A calendar on the private section of the project website was constantly updated with information on activities’ deadlines. 2.-Exchange of internal working documents within the consortium using the private section of the project website. Activity 2 focuses on increasing the knowledge on HNS. In this frame, PHE CRCE Wales with Cardiff Metropolitan University completed the conversion of the HNS risk prioritisation tool as a web-based version http://www.arcopol-hns-db.eu/. CRCE Wales completed its manual – “Tool Kit for Shoreline Response” which collates all of the materials developed by CRCE Wales in the form of a short guide with links to referenced documents and tools. CIIMAR and CEFAS finished all project reports in the scope of effects of HNS on marine environment, which required ecotoxicological experiments, bibliographic reviews and ecological modelling. Activity 3 dealt with the upgrading and transference of tools for oil and HNS detection, forecasting and risk analysis. In the frame of this activity, the NMCI through Sky Tec Ireland conducted trials on the utility of UAV’s in HNS detection (UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The trials were conducted both off Irish Naval Vessels at sea and in waters adjacent to the NMCI. Sky Tec was able to demonstrate the utility of UAV’s in taking water samples and using temperature probes in waters around a possible pollution source. The UAV was pre- programmed to take a number of dips around a pollution source and return to the base station. This exercise was conducted without any problem and real time information from the probe was given to the operator via the UAV. In their report Sky Tec also highlighted the current limitations in using UAV’s in this manner. Results were presented at the ARCOPOLplus workshop in Cork. In addition, the Dynamic Risk analysis tool was adapted to the Galician coast, using Galician coastal vulnerability indices. The technical manual was updated too. In addition, a final report with a technical and scientific manual of the chemical spill model implemented was finished. Similarly, the upgraded version of the Oils Spill Simulator (minor bugs corrected) was released, as well as a manual for the software. Finally, CETMAR and INTECMAR have finished the trials of the camera and the apps developed in 2013 and during these last two months the manuals were finished. In activity 4, the videos produced for disseminating ARCOPOLplus were finalised with the collaborative work of partners (Uvigo provided the expertise in production of videos and the rest of partners validated the contents). Specifically, PHE CRCE Wales (with Pembrokeshire CC and Cardiff Metropolitan University) finalised e-learning modules with a total of 6 modules and an overview course available on “Articulate” software platform at http://moodle.uwic.ac.uk/ Users can log in as a guest to review units or register via CMU. Details of access have been disseminated to all partners.

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CMAYOT has finalised the common course of ARCOPOLplus available online to partners in three languages (Spanish, French and English). E- learning material for other specific courses in Spanish have been finished too: pollution monitoring, claims, spill clean-up and spills containment and recovery of application in the case of emergency planes for natural protected areas in Andalusia have been also generated. In the frame of Activity 5, aimed to support local authorities in the response operations, partners have compiled information about the level of development of contingency plans in local authorities and based on this information, protocols have been developed to facilitate the integration in local contingency plans of the available materials: coastal monitoring, volunteer participation, waste management, etc. In addition, Pembrokeshire County Council completed the Community Engagement Toolkit and attended workshops with the community group TEN-P to showcase the toolkit. This will be used in future events ensuring the longevity of Arcopolplus Products. Activity 6 deals with the improvement of ARCOPOL Atlantic Network. ARCOPOL Atlantic Network has been operative allowing new members to join it and all members to access all the documentation gathered throughout ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus lifetime. New contents uploaded in 2014 were the presentations included in project conferences: Workshop in Cork titled “Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Combating HNS Spills in Port and at Sea” held on 12th February, and the conference in Andalusia under the title “Coastal pollution response: Technology Transfer, Training and Innovation”. Regarding the identification of needs of local and regional authorities in preparedness and response operation, all responses to the questionnaire (reflect card) have been received. Report summarising findings has been delivered in this reporting period. In terms of looking for synergies with other initiatives, ARCOPOLplus is in contact with NETMAR, as the objectives of both projects are compatible. ARCOPOLplus partners (INTECMAR and CETMAR) have participated in the organisation of a NETMAR drill (response to a simulated oil spill) with Portos de Galicia (NETMAR’s partner). Under this exercise, both ARCOPOLplus and NETMAR products were tested (1st Oct 2014). In addition, we have completed a matrix provided by PEGASEAS project (INTERREG Iva) identifying ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus outputs that may contribute to the sustainable marine governance of the Channel. Activity 7 centralised the communication actions of the project. ARCOPOLplus website is fully operational since the 1st semester 2012 including both ARCOPOLplus information and all results of ARCOPOL and EROCIPS projects. At present, the website has been adapted to ARCOPOLplatform project. Nevertheless, all ARCOPOL, ARCOPOLplus and EROCIPS deliverables are still available online through this website (www.arcopol.eu). The Communication Plan delivered in previous reporting period (describing procedures to enable the effective and consistent communication of the project outcomes to all local, regional, national and international stakeholders) was updated. It includes several tables recording all the communication activities carried out along the lifetime of the project, as well as the list of conference and workshop to be organised in the frame of ARCOPOLplus. Partners took advantage of these two extra months to present ARCOPOLplus project in the 16th Meeting of the MEPC OPRC-HNS Technical Group at the International Maritime Organisation in London, making project outputs visible to a global maritime audience. In addition, one conference and one workshop were organised in the frame of ARCOPOLplus during the reporting period: Conference in Puerto Real (Cádiz) and workshops in Cork.

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6) Innovative aspects of the In ARCOPOLplus several innovative approaches have been included in the working plan. project achieved In the frame of Activity 2, the following innovative approaches can be highlighted: The ARCOPOL HNS prioritisation tool developed in access version has been adapted for an online version by the development of a web interface for laptops, tablets and mobile phones. In addition, the toolkit for Shoreline Response to Maritime Chemical Incidents includes novel approaches to spill planning and preparedness via manual with links to e-learning modules developed in the frame of Activity 4. Framed in Activity 3, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is in vogue nowadays and UAV technology is progressing at a rapid pace. That’s why in ARCOPOLplus we wanted to make trials and study the degree of applicability of this new technology in response to maritime incidents’ operations. From project results, the use of small UAV’s to take water samples and use probes in areas of HNS spill was successfully demonstrated and reported on. Moreover, the trials that Sky Tec conducted both at sea and on shore demonstrated also the utility of UAV’s in detecting HNS /pollution at sea. In addition, ARCOPOLplus has also delivered innovative solutions to actual needs in response operations, such as the delivery of apps for SCAT (shoreline cleanup assessment technique) and POLREP (pollution report) and the Geo-camara, whose pictures include localization information to allow modellers to use them as input data for forecasting the drift of the spill. Last but not least, different innovative software tools were released and updated in these 2 final months: the Dynamic Risk Tool; the oil spill simulator; and the chemical spill fate and behavior model. Activity 4 has a strong innovative character. Whilst e-learning is not a new concept in itself, the content and interactive nature of the units developed for this project offer several innovative aspects. These include incorporating the novel tools and approaches to planning and response developed under Arcopol, and the application of key public health paradigms to maritime HNS incidents. Considering innovation within Activity 5, the interest of the “Community resilience toolkit” should be mentioned, as it is a first in Wales and will represent a significant step in community engagement and community resilience. Finally, in the frame of activity 6, ARCOPOLplus kept on working to consolidate a sustainable network of a wide range of organizations (local and regional authorities, research organizations, companies) with a common scope of activities: preparedness, response and mitigation of marine pollution coming from maritime transport. It serves as a forum for dialogue to foster collaboration and exchange of knowledge to reinforce the preparedness of Atlantic regions to face maritime accidents. Operation management

1) Management and Two execution reports were submitted and the corresponding ERDF was transferred to partners. Constant assistance was provided to all coordination activities partners to build reports. Permanent contact with JTS to inform on the state of the reports. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and The working plan was constantly updated and was used as basis for checking the progress on project implementation. The update was carried evaluation activities out by regular contacts with partners by email and phone. Information recorded focussed on the degree of finalisation of the tasks, and their organized in the period subsequent deliverables.

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3) Main problems found Following an activity breakdown, the main problems detected by activity managing partners were the following: and solutions adopted Coordination and financial execution: From the beginning of the project, partners 4 and 5, both from the Junta de Andalucía, experienced during the period difficulties on financial execution and financial claim submission. The reasons behind this issue are basically, a tedious internal bureaucracy and troubles in obtaining the certificate of regularity with Social Security. A solution for the latter was found in agreement with the Programme and the Spanish National Correspondent. However, the slowness of the 1st control procedure within this institution caused further delay in the submission of the final report, which will happen in 2015. Apart from Andalusian partners, the CIIMAR and IST have gone through several clarification requirements from their national correspondent, contributing to the delay in the submission of their final claims. The lead partner was monitoring all the process reminding these partners to work this situation out as soon as possible. Despite of this, some partners did not manage to get the validation on their financial claims on time and an extra interim claim was submitted instead. The submission of the final completed report has been delayed to 2015. Activity 2: The resources inventory (Task 2.3.2. Response protocols and list of equipment and tools to be used by reponse groups) could not be completed due to extreme weather events in the UK during January and February requiring staff resources, thus preventing issue of the questionnaire and hence completion of the report within the timeframe. However, a draft document has been produced and will served as a working document to be completed in the frame of ARCOPOLplatform Activity 4: As the e-learning courses were delivered at the end of the project, the dissemination of these deliverables and the testing with end users was limited. In addition, the e-learning platform (on responsible partner’s website) hosting the courses changed at the end of the project (April-2014) so the materials are only accessible via project website. 4) Majors impacts of It is foreseen that a new modification claim will be needed before the closing of the project to adjust the approved budget vs. executed eventual project revisions budget (accepted by National Correspondents). during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project In 2014, the main communication achievements were: communication ARCOPOLplus presentation in the 16th Meeting of the MEPC OPRC-HNS Technical Group at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in achievements London, making project outputs visible to a global maritime audience. In addition, one conference and one workshops were organised in the frame of ARCOPOLplus during the reporting period: Conference in Puerto Real (Cádiz) and workshops in Cork. Finally, channels in Youtube and Vimeo were kept operative and were fed with final videos. Publications

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2014 - Documents (studies, Activity 2: handbooks, guides…) Determination of acute and chronic toxicity of priority HNS upon representatives of different marine plant and animal taxa. published on any format, as Guidance list of appropriate passive samplers for different monitoring situations for selected HNS compounds. well as all promotional Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of HNS compounds and consideration of factors modifying bioaccumulation and toxicity. material produced in the Validation of ecological modelling to predict the population level-impact of priority HNS PART 1 (Development of test data for population framework of the Project. modelling). Validation of ecological modelling to predict the population level-impact of priority HNS PART 2 (Population models as a basis for Ecological Risk Assessments of HNS in marine organisms). Final catalogue of R&D expertise and competencies for conducting monitoring and environmental impact assessment in partner’s regions for local authorities. PHE Response Tool Kit Manual. HNS prioritisation tool. Online version. http://www.arcopol-hns-db.eu/ Neuparth T, Capela R, Pereira SP, Moreira SM, Santos MM, Reis-Henriques MA. Toxicity effects of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) to marine organisms: acute and chronic toxicity of p-xylene to the amphipod Gammarus locusta. J. Toxicol Environ Health A. 2014; 77(20):1210- 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2014.921867 Cunha, I, Neuparth, T, Moreira, S, Santos, MM, Reis-Henriques, MA. 2014. Management of contaminated marine marketable resources after oil and HNS spills in Europe. Journal of Environmental Management 135: 36-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.12.032 Cunha I, Moreira S, Santos MM. Review on hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) involved in marine spill incidents-An online database. J Hazard Mater. 285C:509-516. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.11.005 Harold PD, de Souza AS, Louchart P, Russell D, Brunt H. Development of a risk-based prioritisation methodology to inform public health emergency planning and preparedness in case of accidental spill at sea of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS). 2014. Environ Int.72:157- 63. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2014.05.012 Activity 3: Video on the use of Unmanned Aerial vehicles in chemical incidents response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjTSVNw52C8 Report “Low-Cost Unmanned Aircraft in the Offshore Environment: Effectiveness and Constraints” Design and development of a cost-effective geo-camera. Guide for training forecasting exercises. The use of UAVs to follow up spills or collect aerial observations and checklists. SCAT & POLREP apps and manual for installation. Carlos J. González, Emma Reyes, Carlos Dastis, Jesús Gómez-Enri, Begoña Tejedor, Miguel Bruno, Alfredo Izquierdo, Óscar Álvarez. UCA- OceansMap: an Operational Oceanography System for the Andalusian Coast developed in the framework of the ARCOPOLplus and ARCOPOLplatform projects. IV International Symposium of Marine Sciences, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), June-2014. (Abstract for oral presentation) Oil spill simulator, manual and installer.

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Dynamic Risk Tool: manual, implementation methodology, installation, user guide. Technical & Scientific Manual - MOHID HNS (Chemical) Spill Module. ARCOPOL web viewer – Galicia. http://arcopol.intecmar.org Activity 4: Curso e-learning - Limpieza de costas afectadas por vertidos de hidrocarburos. Curso e-learning - Curso de Reclamaciones (Planes de Autoprotección de Espacios Naturales) Curso e-learning sobre contención de hidrocarburos. Curso e-learning sobre reconocimiento terrestre de costas contaminadas por hidrocarburos. E-learning -Formation des collectivités locales à la lutte contre les pollutions accidentelles de la zone littorale. E-learning: Preparação e resposta a acidentes de poluição marinha no litoral. Curso e-learning formación para respuesta a vertidos marítimos. E-learning - General course on maritime spills for local responders. E-learning: Management of maritime chemical incident response. http://moodle.uwic.ac.uk/ Video: 1-day exercise, long time training / Un día de ejercicio, mucho tiempo de entrenamiento. http://vimeo.com/channels/arcopolplus/83860116 Video: Plan CAMGAL, training exercises / ejercicios de entrenamiento. http://vimeo.com/100332577 Video: The healt of our oceans: https://vimeo.com/107236290 Video: ARCOPOLplus, a very successful project. http://vimeo.com/90851039 Activity 5: Report: State of the art of contingency Planning in Galicia. Report: State of the art of contingency Planning in Andalusia. Report: Contingency planning for a local authority in Galicia. Equipment for the pollution response kit for local authorities. Protocol for evaluation of local contingency plans in Galicia. Protocol for evaluation of interior contingency plans in Galicia. Community resilience toolkit. A guide for local communities. Activity 6: Characterisation of the needs of Atlantic Regions regarding preparedness and response to maritime incidents. Selection of ARCOPOLplus outputs to be used in the frame of an exercise organised by NETMAR in Galicia. Matrix identifying ARCOPOL outputs that may relate or contribute to sustainable marine governance of the Channel. Future documents (studies, N/A handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format

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ARCOPOLPLATFORM | Priority:2.1 |Nº 2013-1/252 www.arcopol.eu

Title Platform for improving maritime coastal pollution preparedness and response in Atlantic regions

Slogan -

Project summary ARCOPOLplatform aims to further improve maritime safety in the Atlantic area and reinforce the protection of the coastal regions from maritime pollution through the capitalization and upgrading of ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus outcomes. Specifically, ARCOPOLplatform will organise pilot actions addressing local authorities to support the implementation of Local Contingency Plans. Moreover, these plans will be improved by the inclusion of ARCOPOL deliverables (tools, guides and key knowledge on Hazardous and Noxious Substances - HNS) that will be presented at workshops, training activities (blended learning), road-shows and on websites. The singularities of Natural Protected Areas and post-spill environmental monitoring issues will be also considered. Similarly, ARCOPOL spill modelling tools will be upgraded, shared among regions and transferred to competent authorities through tailored training. Furthermore, all activities will contribute to the development of the Atlantic Technological Platform. This platform will act as a meeting forum for public and private organizations dealing with oil and HNS spills. It will focus on the exchange of knowledge, the identification of technological offer and demand, and the development of public-private initiatives. The project will be developed by a consortium involving 15 partners from 5 countries of the Atlantic Area (Ireland, UK, France, Spain and Portugal), including research organisations as well as regional competent authorities. Project Lead Partner Centro Tecnológico del Mar-Fundación CETMAR (SP)

Partnership Instituto Tecnolóxico para o control do medio mariño de Galicia (INTECMAR) (SP); Universidade de Vigo (Uvigo) (SP); Consejería de Justicia e Interior – Junta de Andalucía (CJI) (SP); Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del Territorio – Junta de Andalucía (CMAOT) (SP); Universidad de Cádiz (UCA) (SP); Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) (PT); Centro interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR) (PT); National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) (IE); Public Health England (PHE) (UK); Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) (UK); Consellería do Medio Rural e do Mar – Xunta de Galicia (CMRM) (SP); École D’ingénieurs en Génie des Systèmes Industriels de La Rochelle (EIGSI) (FR); Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions- Atlantic Arc Commission. (CPMR-AAC) (FR); Marine Institute (MI) (UK); Associated partner: Pembrokeshire County Council Starting date 01/01/2014

Ending date 31/06/2015

Total eligible budget € 1.584.989,39

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Total ERDF budget € 1.030.243,10

Global performance

1) Implementation Act 1: Project coordination and management. The management structure was established as stated on the approved application. Lead partner Progress- Activities has supported activity managing partners to take the lead of their activities and foster the fluent collaboration among participating partners. Communication among partners is happening mainly by email and phone. The Kick-off meeting took place in Vigo (Spain) in March and the 2nd coordination meeting was held in Saint-Malo, (France), in October including the participation of the Advisory Board. Partners shared with the partnership and the Advisory Board the progresses made in the working plan and the way forward to achieve project objectives in time. Subsequent minutes were produced to keep record of the important issues and agreements, and circulated among partners. The working plan is frequently updated through frequent contact with activity’s leaders by email to be used as a tool for monitoring the progress on every activity. Deadlines, degree of completion and observations are recorded. A project ftp is available for project partners to facilitate the communication within the consortium exchanging internal working documents (subsidy contract, communication documents, internal meetings presentations, etc.). Act 2: This is a strategic activity focused on the development of the basis for a sustainable Atlantic Technological Platform for oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) spill preparedness, response and mitigation. In 2014 the implementation aspects of activity 2 attained consisted of designing the website hosting the ARCOPOL Platform and defining the first Working Group (WG) on Contingency Planning. The Platform section in project website was agreed with partners and presented at the 2nd coordination meeting in Saint-Malo. Coupled to this meeting, the WG on Contingency Planning met for the first time bringing together delegates from the 5 countries of the Atlantic Area. Minutes and action plan were circulated among participants and are available online to all ARCOPOL Platform members. The WG on Oil spill Modelling Technologies was drafted and possible venues for the 1st meeting were discussed among partners at the coordination meeting. In Galicia, INTECMAR & CMRM have had regional and national meetings with stakeholders with competencies on maritime contingencies that can be part of the Platform (Local stakeholders from municipalities, General directorate of merchant marine). Similar actions will follow in other ARCOPOL Platform regions. Act 3: This activity focuses on contingency planning, specifically in supporting their preparation and implementation by Local Authorities in Galicia and Andalusia. These are the methodologies implemented in 2014: In Galicia, INTECMAR and CMRM started the collaboration with the Parque Nacional Marítimo Terrestre Illas Atlánticas management team to develop the contingency plan for this Natural Protected Area. Among other tasks, the work carried out along 2014 consisted of: compiling and analysing information for the risk analysis, designing the protocol for stakeholders for data collection in the field; testing the protocol in Ons and Cortegada islands (belonging to the National Park); spill drift simulations for risk analysis; holding a field exercises in Ons Archipelago and Cortegada Islands to update and check information recovered during ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLPlus projects; and recovering of images of different coastal characteristics. In addition, meetings with the department in charge of coastal operations were held in order to identify areas that, by stablishing collaborative networks among local authorities, could benefit from a better implementation of local contingency plans in Galicia. In Andalusia, CMAOT has started the guidance for the collaborative elaboration of the Contingency Plan for Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park. A rough draft for the plan has been produced at 60%. Also along this year the CJI started the organisation of one exercise in Algeciras to test the

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implementation strengths and weaknesses of the Local Contingency Planning developed in ARCOPOLplus. The first meeting for the organization of the exercises in Algeciras was held on 28/11/2014. The initial proposal for scenario was presented to get ideas and the involvement of the stakeholders. In December, after a meeting, CEPSA accepted to participate in the exercise too. CEPSA is an oil company operating in the area and has means to fight oil spills. CMAOT participated in the meetings and will collaborate in the exercise. Also in Andalusia, 3 pilot actions for local contingency Planning elaboration have been initiated in Los Barrios (Cádiz), Gelves and La Puebla. Actions consisted in visits to the municipalities and field visits in two of them. The other 3 municipalities to pilot have been contacted by phone. Regarding awareness-raising activities, Uvigo, INTECMAR and CETMAR participated in the presentation of the video “The health of our oceans” developed in the frame of ARCOPOLplus (first version) and ARCOPOLplatform project (3D version) by Uvigo. Act 4: This activity focuses on capitalising the knowledge generated in ARCOPOLplus on Hazardous and Noxious Substances and finally transferred it to the end users. The actions implemented during 2014 consisted of selecting the most operational documentation on HNS from ARCOPOL projects and from other different sources (OMI HNS course, Cedre chemical pollution document, Cedre chemical response guides, ITOPF technical papers and others). The selected documents will be adapted to be eventually incorporated into the contingency plans. Moreover, regarding the environmental component of HNS, CIIMAR continued the elaboration of HNS databases (task 4.1.1) and also the preparation of the e-learning course on environmental toxicology of HNS (task 4.1.4). Considering the interest of wider awareness raising, Uvigo started the preparation of an introductory video on HNS gathering information and drafting the storyboard. Act 5: The first action within activity 5 aims at comparing the different modelling systems in use in the Atlantic Area. For this purpose, a questionnaire was sent to the entities managing different modelling systems in the participating countries. Answers have been gathered and will be analysed in a report to be finished in 2015. Concerning the improvement of ARCOPOLplus outputs, several upgrades were initiated on following tools: MOHID model, Dynamic Risk tool, ARCOPOL web viewer and the OCEANSMAP-UCA. Some of these tools (Polrep tool, Arcopol Web Viewer, Arcopol Oil Spill Simulator and Drifters release protocols) were tested by INTECMAR and CMRM during NETMAR project exercise, NETMAR-DEMOGALICIA 2014, on 1st October 2014. At the same time, crisis report model was also tested. In Portugal, IST had 2-day exercise with booms and modelling activities in Tagus estuary, involving Lisbon Port and Repsol. The exercise in Galicia was also used for testing the 3D booms behaviour model. INTECMAR sent data to EIGSI for contrasting model predictions to the boom real movement. Other exercises were carried out in France, in Poitou-Charente (Rochefort port) and data are being gathered in Andalusia for a future exercise. In terms of enlarging the area of application of the ARCOPOLplus tools, the operational hydrodynamic system was implemented in La Rochelle, and connected to ARCOPOL Spill Simulator, allowing now the operational simulation of spills in this area. Finally, regarding the establishment of the Working Group, the first proposal of the terms of references have been delivered and the key public and private organisation relevant in this area identified. Act 6 focuses on post spill environmental monitoring. In the frame of this activity Cefas continued working on the assessment of the preparedness on post-spill environmental monitoring in the Atlantic area. Now the survey used is more targeted and the network of contacted organizations have been enlarged in France and Spain. At the co-ordination meeting in St Malo in October Cefas conducted a matrix preparedness assessment exercise (MPAS) to assess if the 8 principles of preparedness of post-spill monitoring identified and discussed in Kirby et al. 2014* could be applicable to the rest of the Atlantic area. On the basis of these results Cefas will organize more targeted sessions and

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interviews with national and local representatives of each country. MI has been working with CEFAS on this, and attended PREMIAM workshop in London as part of an effort to build a knowledge base to develop a monitoring programme for application of post-spill monitoring in Ireland (task 6.1.1 and 6.1.2). In addition, some initial preparation work has been undertaken for the workshop in Ireland. In Portugal, CIIMAR continued upgrading the Environmental Sensitivity Index for the Portuguese coast (task 6.2.2) and started the preparation of the workshop in Portugal (task 6.1.3.2). Regarding dissemination activities, UVIGO (task 6.3) started the analysis of various materials on environmental monitoring suitable for being adapted into dissemination materials. * Mark F. Kirby, Rosalinda Gioia and Robin J. Law. The principles of effective environmental monitoring in marine environments and their application to preparedness assessment. 2014. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 82. 11-18 Act 7: PHE with assistance from Pembrokeshire County Council has successfully completed its UK road-show in Bristol on 25th November, comprising an interactive 1 day workshop aimed at disseminating Arcopol outputs for shoreline response and public health management. The Workshop was attended by approximately 30 delegates and feedback collected was generally very positive. In addition, PHE, using CMU as a specialist contractor (Cardiff Metropolitan University), has acquired a suitably managed and moderated server and has begun testing of the prototype web forum http://www.arcopol-hns-db.eu/. In Galicia, 2 field exercises were held with the participation of regional and local responders. One in Ons Archipelago (September 17th), and other in collaboration with Netmar project in A Pobra (October 1st). Images were recorded during those exercises in order to include them into an image library. For the moment, the images recorded have been used to produce a video on the exercises carried out in the frame of activity 3: “Working together to protect the sea” https://vimeo.com/107459320 In Ireland, NMCI are working on validating guidelines to be used for training courses. In this regard, in 2014 the scenarios for table top exercises were created. Regarding e-learning courses, CMAOT reviewed the contents of 2 ARCOPOLplus courses. Now they are available on the CMAOT e-learning platform to test performance. A proposal for reviewing the image of the common course on maritime spills for local responders was prepared. Finally, materials and equipment for the LCP exercise in Andalusia (Action 3.3) and the practical drills (Action 7.5) have been bought. Act 8: In 2014 the project dissemination plan was elaborated and agreed by all partners. It is contstantly updated recording project communication actions. Regarding the website, this was launched in November in English, along with the project account on Twitter and a group in LinkedIn. The project leaflet is finished and has been distributed in the Atlantic Area Programme Annual event in Seville (Dec 2015). Considering project public events, CPMR organised the 1st meeting of the Working Group on Contingency Planning (Act 2.3) and PHE organised the UK roadshow event in November 2014 (Act 7.1). CPMR drafted articles on project progresses that have been circulated by mail to the approx. 2000 recipients of the newsletter. These articles were also published online on the CPMR news website. Social media such as Twitter (@Atlantic_Arc and @CPMR_Europe) to disseminate information to followers on the coordination meetings and Working Group meeting (Saint-Malo October 2014). In order to capitalize the results of this project and the previous ARCOPOLplus, in the frame of action 8.5. IST, INTECMAR, CETMAR, PHE, and EIGSI have participated in a total of 10 external events. Finally, ARCOPOLplatform appeared in 10 articles on online and paper journals or newsletters.

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2) Main project Act. 2: achievements - Outputs 1. ARCOPOL online Platform: http://www.arcopol.eu/?/=/section/platform/sub/p_arcopol_atp Act. 3: 2. Video “The health of our oceans” https://vimeo.com/107236290 3. Contribution to conference: Integrating Plans of Contingency at the Local, Regional and National level of the European Atlantic Area. Luis Navarro, Garbiñe Ayensa, Iván Rodríguez-Aros, and Pedro Montero. Presented in AMOP 2014. 4th June 2014. Act. 5: 4. Report: Implementation of ARCOPOL modelling products in La Rochelle. 5. Contribution to Conference: Fernandes, R., Lourenço, F., Neves, R., Braunschweig, F. (2014). Combining operational models and data into a dynamic vessel risk assessment tool for coastal regions. Poster in 7th EuroGOOS Conference (short paper to be published in 2015), Lisbon, 28-30 October 2014. 6. Contribution to Conference: Fernandes, R. (2014). A new modelling tool for chemical spill modellers and responders. Oral communication in 7th EuroGOOS Conference (short paper to be published in 2015), Lisbon, 28-30 October 2014. Partner 7 Ord. 7. Contribution to Conference: Rodrigo Fernandes, Filipe Lourenço, Frank Braunschweig, and Ramiro Neves (2014) Dynamic Risk Assessment of Shoreline Contamination from Ships: Integrating an Oil Spill Model. International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings: May 2014, Vol. 2014, No. 1, pp. 299678. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2014-1-299678.1 8. González Mejías, C.J., (2014). Modelado numérico tridimensional de la dinámica de marea M2 en la Bahía de Algeciras, Universidad de Cádiz, Cádiz. Tesis Doctoral (PhD defended on July 2014 and published). 9. OCEANSMAP-UCA, mobile App (first version) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=es.uca.ocean.prediccion Act. 7: 10. Video “Working together to protect the sea” https://vimeo.com/107459320 11. Organisation of a Road-show “Enhancing public health awareness, preparedness and response to shoreline maritime incidents” materials: 4 x powerpoint presentations and 2 x desk top exercise scenarios in English. 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts ARCOPOL Platform, the “Atlantic Technological Platform for oil and HNS spill preparedness, response and mitigation” was lauched in November 2014. It is a meeting forum for the organizations that develop knowledge, research, and services and/or have competences in this field. Built on ARCOPOL network (active since February 2010 and with 170 members in November 2014), it aims to provide a framework for stakeholders to exchange knowledge, experience and good practices, to identify capabilities, gaps and needs, to define research priorities, and to promote a sustainable collaboration structure for public and private organizations dealing with oil and HNS spills. ARCOPOL Platform is organized in 5 Thematic Working Groups addressing different areas of oil and HNS preparedness, response and mitigation. During 2014 the Working Group on Contingency Planning met for the first time and the Action Plan was agreed among participants. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries);

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Along this first year of ARCOPOLplatform, partners started upgrading ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus deliverables and collaborating with local authorities with the aim of producing operational materials that can be implemented into their Contingency Plans. See below “6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations” and “5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to” 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; PREMIAM. Pollution response in emergencies: marine impact assessment and monitoring. The PREMIAM programme started life as a Defra-funded project aimed at improved post spill monitoring guidance and co-ordination. It is now established as a cross-government collaborative programme aiming to establish and maintain a long-term legacy of improvement in this field. It is co-ordinated by emergency response and impact assessment experts from Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), has wide support from all key government stakeholders and fully engages the scientific and emergency response community in delivering its aims. The collaboration with PREMIAM started in ARCOPOLplus and continues in ARCOPOLplatform project through the involvement of CEFAS as a partner. The works that are being carried out in ARCOPOLplatform in terms of post-spill environmental monitoring are benefiting from the knowledge acquired in this UK programme. ISDAMP. Improving Shorelines Defenses Against Marine Pollution. The main strategy of the ISDAMP project is to adapt sophisticated numerical tools to the needs of local operators. Specifically, our partner EIGSI is participating in this project developing 3D models that predict the behavior of booms used to contain pollution. This knowledge is being applied in ARCOPOLplatform in exercises in Galicia to eventually assist responders on how/where effectively display booms to contain oil spills in the coastal zone. NETMAR. Networked systems for situational awareness and intervention in maritime incidents. The NETMAR project concerns the demonstration, evaluation and dissemination of new robotic systems, sensors and networking technologies in maritime incidents endangering human life, the environment and economic activities. The collaboration with this project started in ARCOPOLplus, and was finally made tangible by the participation of ARCOPOLplatform partners in the emergency exercise organized by NETMAR in Galicia (1st October 2014), in which ARCOPOLplus tools were tested. EMSA: The European Maritime Safety Agency ARCOPOLplatform was invited to present project outputs related to HNS preparedness and reponse at the Workshop organized by EMSA in Lisbon (1st October) titled “Addressing key challenges of chemical marine pollution response”. This workshop was well attended by approximately 40 participants from 20 EU Member States, 4 Regional Agreements Secretariats and 8 industry representatives. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. ARCOPOLplus is coherent with a number of key international, EU, national and regional policies. Firstly, the International Maritime Organization has issued a regulatory framework covering preparedness and response against marine pollution including HNS. In this context, the ORPC HNS protocol that entered into force in 2007 provides the global framework for international cooperation in responding to major incidents or threats of HNS marine pollution. Following this protocol, HNS contingency arrangements and response mechanisms have to be developed and implemented by the signatory countries. At European level, the European Maritime Safety

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Agency (EMSA), created in 1999 after the Erika tanker accident, has extended its Action Plan for Spill Response Preparedness (2004) to include HNS and adopted the HNS Action Plan in June 2007. Through this action, EMSA aims to assist Member States in their efforts to obtain up to date information on HNS transported in bulk within their waters. However, it is acknowledged by EMSA that the response requires detailed procedures to be in place to safeguard responders and the general public and that it is up to the affected Member States to decide how to implement the appropriate actions. Consequently, the proposed activities carried out by or through EMSA should strictly be non operational and are only designed to provide additional support, in accordance with the top-up philosophy of EMSA. To complement EMSA actions and improve Member States response capabilities at regional and local scope, ARCOPOLplatform is moving forward to develop capitalization actions at the operational level, providing support to regional and local authorities in charge of coastal response to implement OPRC 1990 Convention and OPRC-NHS Protocol 2000. Considering national and regional legislation, ARCOPOLplatform is aligned with the obligations stated on the National legislations that require the different coastal administrative territorial levels to have a contingency plan ready to face a potential marine pollution event affecting their shores. For instance, the Spanish National Response System (Real Decreto 1695/2012, de 21 de diciembre por el que se aprueba el Sistema Nacional de Respuesta ante la contaminación marina) requires that all coastal regions and local authorities have a contingency plan ready to face a potential marine pollution event affecting their shores. In the frame of ARCOPOLplatform, partners are working on the implementation of contingency plans in Spanish regions and municipalities by the organisation of workshops, courses and pilot actions aimed at local authorities’ and Natural Protected Areas’ staff. These actions continue the work initiated in ARCOPOLplus. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Along this first year of ARCOPOLplatform, partners started upgrading ARCOPOL and ARCOPOLplus deliverables and collaborating with local authorities with the aim of producing operational materials that can be implemented into their Contingency Plans. See below “6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations” Besides, INTECMAR and CMRM in Galicia and CJI and CMAOT in Andalusia are piloting local authorities in their regions to develop Local Contingency Plans that will be delivered in 2015. In Galicia, partners are working on the elaboration of the Plan for the Natural Protected Area (Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia) and in Andalusia CJI is working with the municipalities of Los Barrios, Gelves and La Puebla, and the Natural Protected Area of Bahía de Cádiz. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations As a follow-up of the work developed in ARCOPOLplus, in the frame of ARCOPOLplatform the tools, e-learning materials and guides delivered in previous projects are being further upgraded, adapted in order to be effectively implemented into the emergency protocols. On the top of that, dissemination activities are being organized to train the end users. During 2014, the materials that have been further upgraded and implemented in the competent authorities’ emergency protocols (or tested by them) were: ARCOPOL web viewer: This is a demo web viewer based on an open client built by INTECMAR under ARCOPOL y ARCOPOLplus project. This viewer is able to display several kinds of data as static data (coastline, ESI line, special protected areas, etc), model results (winds, currents, spills) and observations (drifter tracks, pictures, spill observations, etc.). This year the viewer has been upgraded by including the booms location, improving the report generated through the viewer, and making it WMS full compliant. This tool is used by the Galician coastguards during emergencies and in exercises.

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Oil Spill Simulator & Dynamic Risk Analysis tool. The Oil Spill Simulator is a desktop client software that allows the user to run oil spill scenarios using metocean data available in a central server. First delivered in ARCOPOL, it has been upgraded in the frame of ARCOPOLplus and is being improved in ARCOPOLplatform at present. The Dynamic Risk Analysis tool computes in real time the shoreline contamination risk based on different data sources. In 2014 different training sessions took place in the Direcçao-Geral da Autoridade Marítima (Portugal competent authority in responding to maritime spills) to install, configure and use ARCOPOL tools developed by IST. Besides, this partner presented these tools to Lisbon Port in the frame of an exercise with booms, showing how these tools can help in real situations. Moreover, IST had also a meeting with EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) to show them the facilities and modelling capacities developed in ARCOPOL projects. OCEANSMAP-UCA is a web-based met-ocean data and emergency response simulation system for the Andalusian coast. It consists of a GIS- based graphical user interface, a spatial database and web services from OceansMAP Server. The web-interface allows users and groups to manage, visualize and analyze a variety of met-ocean data including operational models and in-situ observation data. In 2014 UCA provided model outputs to the Spanish Navy Hydrographic Institute (NHI) and to TideTech, which is supplying ocean current for the Volvo Ocean Race teams and management, enhancing visibility of the project. In addition, UCA is developing a freely available App that will reinforce the result transfer to final-users. During the reporting period, Users from different national institutions (ICMAR-CSIC; CEANI/ULPGC; SASEMAR; IHM; AGAPA) have submitted OCEANSMAP-UCA access request. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) PhD thesis (PhD defended on July 2014 and published). González Mejías, C.J., (2014). Modelado numérico tridimensional de la dinámica de marea M2 en la Bahía de Algeciras, Universidad de Cádiz, Cádiz. The work included in this thesis was used to validate against experimental data the atmospheric and hydrodynamic models included in OCEANSMAP-UCA. 8-Social change generated; Not measured 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes UK Road show “Enhancing Public Health Awareness, Preparedness and Response to Shoreline Maritime Incidents”. The aim of this event was to disseminate the outcomes of the ARCOPOLplus project and raise awareness of Public Health response to Maritime Pollution Incidents. More specifically, it aimed to enhance working knowledge of all phases of maritime shoreline incident response with a focus on public health implications from oil and Hazardous & Noxious Substances, via interactive presentations, e-learning and exercise scenarios. The event was designed for a cross spectrum of specialist officers and public health professionals likely to attend the various command and control cells set up such as the Tactical Co-ordinating group, Scientific Technical Advisory Cell, Environment Group, Recovery Co-ordinating Group or officers who are part of the planning and response arrangements to shoreline pollution incidents. The all day event was held on 25th November 2014 in Bristol. Video: Health of our oceans https://vimeo.com/107236290 The premiere of video “The health of our oceans” took place in the visitors’ centre of the Parque Nacional Marítimo Terrestre Illas Atlánticas (Vigo, December 4th). During the presentation CETMAR explained the main objectives of the project and INTECMAR focused its presentation on the contingency plan for the National Park. The video aims to raise awareness on the need of elaborating contingency plans for marine protected areas to minimize the risks posed by shipping to these sensitive areas.

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10-Unexpected measurable results Nil 11-Other types of results and Impacts Nil 4) Main contributions to Under the frame of the Programme priority 2 (protect, secure and enhance the marine and coastal environment sustainability) and its objective the Atlantic Area 2.1. “Improve maritime safety” ARCOPOLplatform is working to reinforce the preparedness of the Atlantic regions to deal with maritime spills Programme achieved affecting their shorelines. Focussing on 2014, one of the main project results contributing to this Programme objective is the ARCOPOL Technological Platform (“Atlantic Technological Platform for oil and HNS spill preparedness, response and mitigation”) was launched in November. It is a meeting forum for the organizations that develop knowledge, research, and services and/or have competences in this field. Built on ARCOPOL network, it aims to provide a framework for stakeholders to exchange knowledge, experience and good practices, to identify capabilities, gaps and needs, to define research priorities, and to promote a sustainable collaboration structure for public and private organizations dealing with oil and HNS spills. In order to favour the interactions among members, the ARCOPOL Platform is organized in 5 Thematic Working Groups addressing different areas of oil and HNS preparedness, response and mitigation, which are: Contingency planning, HNS (Hazardous and Noxious Substances), Environmental monitoring, Oil spill technologies, and Training and awareness. In 2014 the WG on Contingency planning was launched and the WG on Oil spill technologies drafted. Furthermore, the project carried out different capitalisation activities to further transfer the results delivered in previous ARCOPOL projects (which are also being upgraded now in ARCOPOLplatform). Specifically, in Bristol, PHE organised a Road show under the title “Enhancing public health awareness, preparedness and response to shoreline maritime incidents”. The event aimed to enhance working knowledge of all phases of maritime shoreline incident response with a focus on public health implications from oil and Hazardous & Noxious Substances, via interactive presentations, e-learning and exercise scenarios. It was designed for a cross spectrum of specialist officers and public health professionals likely to attend the various command and control cells set up such as the Tactical Co-ordinating group, Scientific Technical Advisory Cell, Environment Group, Recovery Co-ordinating Group or officers who are part of the planning and response arrangements to shoreline pollution incidents. Considering general awareness raising, Uvigo delivered two new videos: “The health of our oceans”, which presents the importance of preserving the Marine Protected Areas and how tailor-made contingency plans will contribute to this aim, and “Working together to protect the sea” explaining the organisation of an exercise in Galicia with the participation of local, regional, national (Sasemar) and European entities (EMSA). These two videos are available online on Vimeo and are also being presented at different forums. Similarly, partners have participated in 10 external conferences to disseminate ARCOPOLplatform results and contribute to their further use. One example of the transfer o ARCOPOL/ARCOPOLplus results is the Implementation of ARCOPOL modelling products in La Rochelle. This means that the operational hydrodynamic system was implemented and connected to ARCOPOL Spill Simulator, which eventually allows the operational simulation of spills in this area

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5) Implementation The methodology was fully implemented along 2014. methodology aspects Each activity is being developed by a transnational team made up of two different groups of partners. On the one hand, there are organisations attained with high technical expertise and suitable resources to deliver the technological developments and scientific research planned in the working plan (i.e. INTECMAR, Uvigo, IST, EIGSI, CIIMAR, UCA, NMCI, CEFAS, MI). And, on the other hand, this technical team is supported by the experience and practical knowledge of the end users, such as national, regional and local authorities/organisms (CMAOT, CMRM, CJI, PCC, PHE). Through this synergy, project outputs will be fully operative and focussed to the actual needs of responders. In addition, CPMR is the point of contact for reaching all the coastal Atlantic regions that are not members of the partnership, for further disseminating project results and for reaching, in the long run, a real improvement in the capacity for responding to maritime accidents in the whole Atlantic Area. Finally, CETMAR contributes to the fulfilment of project objectives with its long experience in INTERREG projects’ management and dissemination, as well as its expertise in fighting marine pollution and contingency plans and in setting up and managing collaborative platforms. Furthermore, ARCOPOLplatform counts on the advice from the Advisory Board of the project, which is made up of experts from national competent organisations (Coastguards from Ireland, UK, Spain and Portugal). This panel further guarantees the adequacy of project outputs (support tools, guidelines, training materials, etc) to the national interest. The transnational nature of the teams participating in each activity guarantees the best practice exchange between the regions, both on the scientific/technological arena and on the operative dimension of the project activities, as there are representatives of both categories from the 5 Atlantic countries. They maintain frequent communication by email, videoconferences, etc. and, apart from the general project coordination meetings, specific working groups and Activity Task meetings were held when needed. 6) Innovative aspects of the The ARCOPOL Platform is a meeting forum for public and private organizations working on oil and HNS spill preparedness, response and project achieved mitigation. Built on the basis of the ARCOPOL network, it was launched in November and it will be the arena for innovation within the project acting as a driver for future public-private initiatives in this area. During the following months this will be presented at relevant events and publicised through social networks to gather more members. In parallel, energising actions will be launched from the partnership to favour innovative ideas for future challenges on the project scope (setting up new Working Groups, sending Newsletters, etc). Considering works on Contingency Planning, the innovative component stems from the fact that the one in development for the Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas (Galicia) will constitute the first contingency plan for a Natural Protected Area in a marine national park in Spain. In terms of activity 5 (Detection, monitoring and prediction systems and technologies), innovation is also favoured by taking advantage of the participation of partners from different regions of the Atlantic Area. The exercises for comparing the different modelling systems implemented within each region have been an interesting and efficient way for increasing the confidence of stakeholders on the use of these tools. Consequently, besides improving the models, which each partner can achieve on their own, they have taken advantage of this collaboration to adjust and further improve their regional models. Considering the barrier model and the MOHID, works on how to couple the two systems have been initiated and the main innovative solution approached was to use a simplified 2D barrier models together the MOHID model. Regarding the OCEANSMAP-UCA, apart from all the upgrades being carried out, the mobile App has been developed and its first version is available online (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=es.uca.ocean.prediccion), with weather forecast at different resolutions over

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three domains: Andalusian, Strait of Gibraltar and Algeciras Bay and surface current maps within the Strait and in Algeciras Bay (currently downloads: Between 100-500). Finally, the IST is developing a website for visualization of oil spill shoreline contamination risk due to vessel traffic, as part of the upgrades planned for the Dynamic Risk Tool. In the frame of activity 6 on post-spill environmental monitoring, Cefas has used the approach in Kirby et al., 2014* to investigate and assess preparedness for post-spill environmental monitoring in the Atlantic region. Up to now, this strategy has proved to be invaluable for identifying weakness in preparedness in Ireland and in Spain (Andalusia). * Mark F. Kirby, Rosalinda Gioia and Robin J. Law. The principles of effective environmental monitoring in marine environments and their application to preparedness assessment. 2014. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 82. 11-18 Operation management

1) Management and The Advance payment claim, 1st execution report and the first modification claim were submitted in 2014. Partners were assisted on the coordination activities preparation of their individual reports and claims. The ERDF was transferred to the corresponding partners. The lead partner kept constant organized in the period contact with JTS to inform on the progress on the activities and to check the procedures undertaken for implementing the working plan comply with the Programme requirements (i.e. submission of claims for travelling outside the Atlantic Area). Finally, two coordination meetings took place in 2014, on 13th March in Vigo (Spain) and on 23rd October in Saint-Malo (France), the latter included the Advisory Board’s participation. 2) Monitoring and The working plan was constantly updated and was used as basis for checking the progress on project implementation. The update was carried evaluation activities out by regular contacts with partners by email and phone. Information recorded focussed on the degree of progress of the tasks, compliance organized in the period with deadlines and the delivery of subsequent deliverables. Coordination meetings are used to present the implementation state of the project activities to all partners and the Advisory Board and to facilitate the collaboration among partners. 3) Main problems found Main problems consisted on the late starting of the operation. This was due to partners’ internal administrative procedures that held back the and solutions adopted availability of project budget for hiring personnel or subcontracting some specific tasks. during the period

4) Majors impacts of In 2014 the project submitted a budget modification claim which was approved. Another modification claim is foreseen in 2015, which will eventual project revisions probably request an extension of the project duration. during the period

Communication achievements

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1)Main project - Launching of the new website: www.arcopol.eu and ARCOPOLplatform accounts in twitter https://twitter.com/ARCOPOLplatform and group communication in LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups/ARCOPOL-Platform-8202409 achievements - Organisation of the first meeting of the Working Group on Contingency Planning with the participation of project partners and Advisory Board (with representatives of national competent authorities from Ireland, UK, Spain and Portugal). - Adaptation of ARCOPOL Atlantic Network to ARCOPOL Atlantic Platform. http://www.arcopol.eu/?/=/section/platform/sub/p_arcopol_atp - Premiere of video “The health of our oceans” in the the Parque Nacional Marítimo Terrestre Illas Atlánticas (Vigo, December 4th). During the presentation CETMAR explained the main objectives of the project and INTECMAR focus its presentation on the contingency plan for the National Park. The video is available online: https://vimeo.com/107236290 - Presentation of main project outputs related to HNS on the workshop organized by EMSA in Lisbon (1st October) titled “Addressing key challenges of chemical marine pollution response” - INTECMAR participated in the Technical Workshop about UAVS held in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), were results from ARCOPOL Plus results were shown: http://mapas.xunta.es/actualidade?content=/Portal-IDEG/Actualidade/actualidade0025.html - IST participated in EUROGOOS conference showing tangible results of ARCOPOL platform (dynamic risk tool and HNS modelling system): o Fernandes, R., Lourenço, F., Neves, R., Braunschweig, F. (2014). Combining operational models and data into a dynamic vessel risk assessment tool for coastal regions. Poster in 7th EuroGOOS Conference (short paper to be published in 2015), Lisbon, 28-30 October 2014. o Fernandes, R. (2014). A new modelling tool for chemical spill modellers and responders. Oral communication in 7th EuroGOOS Conference (short paper to be published in 2015), Lisbon, 28-30 October 2014. - UK road-show “Enhancing public health awareness, preparedness and response to shoreline maritime incidents” in Bristol 25th November. - Prototype web forum “Shoreline response Forum” http://www.arcopol-hns-db.eu/ - Video summarizing emergency training exercise held in Galicia “Working together to protect the sea” https://vimeo.com/107459320 - Presentation at the AMOP conference: Integrating Plans of Contingency at the Local, Regional and National level of the European Atlantic Area. Luis Navarro, Garbiñe Ayensa, Iván Rodríguez-Aros, and Pedro Montero. Presented in AMOP 2014. 4th June 2014. - Presentation at the International Oil Spill Conference: Rodrigo Fernandes, Filipe Lourenço, Frank Braunschweig, and Ramiro Neves (2014) Dynamic Risk Assessment of Shoreline Contamination from Ships: Integrating an Oil Spill Model. International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings: May 2014, Vol. 2014, No. 1, pp. 299678. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2014-1-299678.1

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, - ARCOPOLplatform leaflet handbooks, guides…) - Report: Implementation of ARCOPOL modelling products in La Rochelle. published on any format, as - González Mejías, C.J., (2014). Modelado numérico tridimensional de la dinámica de marea M2 en la Bahía de Algeciras, Universidad de Cádiz, well as all promotional Cádiz. PhD thesis (PhD defended on July 2014 and published). The work included in this thesis was used to validate against experimental data the atmospheric and hydrodynamic models included in OCEANSMAP-UCA.

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material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, - ARCOPOLplatform poster handbooks, guides…) to be - Technical report containing goals of the ARCOPOL Atlantic Platform, governance, participation and funding mechanisms, definition of published on any format, as Technical Working Groups and associated terms of reference, communication tools and roadmap. well as all promotional - Audiovisual guide to promote tailored contingency plans for NPA as a recommended management tool within international networks of material to be produced, marine protected areas and conventions. until the end of the Project. - Local contingency plans of selected local authorities and Natural Protected Areas y Galicia and Andalusia (Spain) - Video to raise awareness on Hazardous and Noxious Substances in maritime transport. - E-learning course on environmental toxicology - Video on environmental monitoring - Databases on Hazardous and Noxious Substances relevant available documentation - Report on Intercomparison of different implemented modelling systems in ARCOPOL regions - Report compiling the upgrades carried out on MOHID and Dynamic Risk Tool - Report on turbulence parameterization - Report presenting the works carried out to test 3D barrier behaviour model in ARCOPOLplatform regions - Assessment of the preparedness on post-spill environmental monitoring in the Atlantic Area. - Post-spill environmental monitoring protocol - Audiovisual guide to raise awareness on environmental monitoring - Report on the use of road shows to disseminate project outputs. - Training programme for responders in Andalusia including adapted and certified e-learing courses.

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AUXNAVALIAPLUS | Priority:2.1 |Nº 2011- 1/152 www.auxnavaliaplus.org

Title Improving the Atlantic Area Maritime Safety by increasing the Ancillary Industry Innovation Capacities

Slogan AUXNAVALIAPLUS

Project summary AUXNAVALIA PLUS stresses the necessity to improve maritime security and safety through resources and activities to enhance the innovation capacity of the naval industry and to produce new and safer boats structures, materials, etc., which enhance boats resistance and operability in case of accidents, etc. New techniques are being designed to develop new response equipment. The project also fosters structured management and planning; enhances the sector homogeneity in the areas of the region by developing transnational business plan models and by mobilizing companies; stimulates and supports knowledge transfer between research bodies and SMEs; secures the sustainability, designs and promotes new R+D+I projects, helping SMEs to adapt their business plans to the market new demands on safety, and contributes to overcome the environmental challenges of the region. Structured around 10 activities, the project counts on 6 partners, from 5 countries, directly involved in supporting, representing and promoting the shipbuilding ancillary industry. Project Lead Partner Axencia Galega de Innovación (España)

Partnership Axencia Galega de Innovación (España), Asociación Cluster del Naval Gallego - ACLUNAGA (España), NEOPOLIA - Marine Solutions (France), Associaçao das Indústrias Navais –AIN (Portugal), Shipbuilders & Shiprepairers Association (SSA) (United Kingdom), National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI-Halpin) (Irlanda) Starting date 01/11/2011

Ending date 31/12/2014

Total eligible budget 1.977.792,00 €

Total ERDF budget 1.285.564,80 €

Global performance

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1) Implementation AUXNAVALIA PLUS has concluded at the end of 2014 and during this year the whole partnership has implemented and progress in the following Progress- Activities tasks: Activity 1. Once the survey about “Financial analysis of the Atlantic Area Shipbuilding Ancillary Industry” was concluded, partners in Galicia (21st May), France (3rd July) and Ireland (20th January) organised regional Workshops in order to present and discuss the results achieved in the survey to their naval sector. These workshops were a continuation of 2 previous on the same topic organised in Portugal and Galicia in 2013. Activity 2. The “Survey on new business opportunities for the Atlantic Area Ancillary Shipbuilding” was finalized with the elaboration the joint report of the activity, after every partner had elaborated reports about business opportunities for the naval sector in different countries around the world (USA, Canada, Brazil, Artic, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, etc.). AUXNAVALIA PLUS also implemented an advice service about this topic via e-mail or telephone and via the above mentioned workshops in Ireland and France, together with the former workshop of Portugal in 2013. Activities 3 & 4. These two activities are strongly linked as they formed a sequence of new business plans models, case studies and pilot implementations. For practical reasons, the steps in the sequence were shift in some cases where this considered more suitable to secure good results. During 2014 the AUXNAVALIA PLUS partnership elaborated specific business plan guidelines and formats adapted to the shipbuilding sector. Based on it, 10 new business plan models adapted to different naval subsectors and types of companies (micro, small and medium size) were subsequently elaborated. And these 10 business plan models resulted also in case studies and pilot implementations in a set of companies, such as Innovations Limited, Kort Propulsion (United Kingdom), G-Energy (Ireland), Tecnoveritas (Portugal), and Gabadi, Insenaval and Industrias Ferri (Galicia). Activity 5. The partnership organised 2 seminars in 2014, to be added to the previous 2 in Spain and France in 2013. They took place in Ireland (31st March) and Portugal (26th June), with a total 84 attendees. The aggregate total number of seminar attendees in AUXNAVALIA PLUS is 324. In addition, a workshop about R&D projects was organized in United Kingdom As a result of the aforementioned seminars and workshop, 5 new R+D+I projects and ideas were initiated and later elaborated (to be added to the project proposal submitted for funding in 2013): LIFETAG, NORMVESS, Scalboats kits, 3D CLAIMS and ACROBOT. As a complement to above outcomes, a guide was elaborated and published about funding opportunities in the maritime sector in the framework of the newly launched H2020 Programme, and a training workshop was organised for R&D managers of naval companies on 27th and 28th November. Activity 6. A new report about “Liquefied Natural Gas powered vessels: Exploring the current state of the market” was elaborated by the Irish partner, which must be added to the rest of the surveillance reports elaborated by the French and Galician partners in 2013. Following the study visits of 2013 (Spain and France) AUXNAVALIA PLUS organized 3 more in 2014 visiting the following facilities: Ireland: Cork (NMCI-Halpin and Irish Army headquarters) Portugal: Setubal (Lisnave) and Lisbon (Maritime traffic control centre) United Kingdom: Southampton and Portsmouth (Shipbuilder) Finally, a specific surveillance web application for the naval sector was designed and implemented.

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Activity 7. AUXNAVALIA PLUS has elaborated a methodology and a study about knowledge and know-how retention, the “Long Life Strategic Plan for the Atlantic Area Naval Sector”, which describes different occupations in the naval sector and the necessary training needs and packages. This is very useful in order to help the industry to become more competitive by effectively retaining and transferring the already existing knowledge and know-how in every company to the coming generations. Furthermore, a virtual pool of knowledge (http://www.auxnavaliapool.org) was established. In it, workers in the sector can find information about occupations and training possibilities, together with other services, such as a surveillance tool (vigilancia.auxnavaliapool.org) to find information about training and naval issues. In addition, aimed to attract potential skilled workers to the sector, a promotional video was elaborated to present the possibilities the naval companies in the Atlantic Area can offer to develop professional careers. Activity 8. An “Innovation agenda” was elaborated for the Atlantic Area ancillary naval sector, in which the ancillary companies can find trends and priorities for the sector to promote safety, and also the main funding sources. Activity 9. Once the project website (www.auxnavaliaplus.org), the corporative image and the launching conference had been previously implemented, AUXNAVALIA PLUS developed a communication campaign in Navalia (May 2014) and SeaWork (June 2014) – both very important and recognisable exhibitions for the sector – organising in these events some workshops, presentations, etc in a spaces sponsored by the project. Finally, on December 3rd, Nantes hosted the project closing event with the project results presentation and a networking event. 2) Main project The main project achievements and outputs in 2014 were as follows: achievements - Outputs Strategic reports to help the shipbuilding ancillary companies in the Atlantic Area better plan their innovation strategies. The “Financial analysis of the Atlantic Area Shipbuilding Ancillary Industry” provides very useful information about the current situation of the sector in each region and the financial tools and products they can make use of. The “Survey of new business opportunities for the Atlantic Area Ancillary Shipbuilding” provides a detailed description of the demands, trends and new niches in the “best” markets for the sector. Business plans and case studies, as tools aimed to provided companies with guidance on how to re-orientate their strategies to better optimize their possibilities to benefit from opportunities arising from the demand of new products and services emerging from new safety requirements and necessities. 4 R&D seminars as a meeting point for stakeholders to share ideas and projects as a way to enhance and facilitate the promotion of new projects and alliances for innovation. 5 R&D transnational projects to be submitted under FP7/H2020 programmes with participation of the AUXNAVALIA PLUS project members and related organisations. These new projects will also help continue with the collaboration after the end of this current project. Other R&D transnational projects arising from the seminar activities, but promoted by other organisations and companies non directly participating in the project. 11 surveillance reports about different topics relevant to the naval industry, providing the sector with up to date information about the latest developments. The different surveyed topics were suggested by companies in the regions represented in the project. Study visits to promote synergies among Atlantic Area companies and to improve knowledge about innovative facilities, methods and developments in different regions in Europe. A surveillance web application for the naval sector, providing stakeholders with permanent up-to-date information relevant for the naval sector.

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Long Life Strategic Plan for the Atlantic Area Naval Sector, virtual pool of knowledge and promotional aimed to facilitate knowledge retention in the ancillary naval sector, to improve capacity and professionalization of naval workers and to promote this sector as a reliable source of jobs with good prospects. An Innovation agenda providing added value in the modernization process of this sector companies 3) Project Results and Regarding the results and impacts, the following can already be presented: Impacts Competitiveness and innovation on safety and security based on structured management and planning has been enhanced. As a concrete example, new business plans following those guidelines have been implemented in 7 companies throughout the 5 regions represented in the project, and new companies are expected to follow the example in the near future. As another input, the French shipbuilders association, GICAN, and the administration have designed a support programme to help companies benefit from the findings of the report elaborated in the Activity 2 of this project; as this was presented in the closing meeting, other administrations could also follow the model after the project period was over. Thus, the awareness of the sector has been increased and the French administration has taken the decision to implement a new support programme. The homogeneity of the sector in the region has also been enhanced. In addition to the common business models implemented, a joint R+D agenda was launched and new tools for knowledge retention were put at the disposal of SMEs throughout the partner regions. On the other hand, Neopolia and Aclunaga (regional clusters in Pays de la Loire and Galicia) are working on a joint plan to increase their international competitiveness, and a COSME project is about to be submitted to help initiate this initiative. Finally, a shipbuilding cluster is about to be constituted in Ireland, as the basis to increase their collaboration possibilities in the Area, thus improving their innovation capacity and subsequent competitiveness. Knowledge transfer between research centres / teams and SMEs has been stimulated and supported. Out of the different project seminars, one of them, the Maritime and Innovation Brokerage Event (MIBE), has been kept alive by the regional administrations (in 2013 it was totally financed by the Galician government) and has become a yearly Europe-wide event, even travelling outside the Atlantic Area (the 2015 edition will take place in the Netherlands). It has been largely attended by organisations form the Atlantic Area (i.e. the 2013 edition was attended by a total 218 stakeholders from all over Europe, being 139 from the Atlantic Area). As a result, a good number of organisations have joined transnational partnerships, thus continuing with the exchange of knowledge. In addition, a guide on H2020 was produced and widely disseminated to hundreds of stakeholders in hard and soft copies, stimulating the interactions and relations with European funding programmes. The social-economic potential of the Atlantic Area shipbuilding sector has been jointly promoted by intensely participating in four events in the Atlantic Area: Navalia (2 times, in Galicia), Oceano XXI (in Portugal), SeaWork (in the UK) and L´Economie de la Mer (in Pays de la Loire). All these events were attended by thousands of stakeholders from all over the world. The impact of this is expected to be seen in the mid-term. The work started in AUXNAVALIA Project has been secured by designing and promoting new R+D+I projects or helping SMEs to adapt their business plans to the market new demands, with special focus on safety and security. All the aforementioned results will contribute to it It is difficult to measure other results and impacts, as they will be achieved after the project period: -If the project has contributed to securing the sustainability of the sector or if it has contributed to make the Atlantic Area become a quality player in the global market is difficult to measure at the moment. Time will say

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-The same can be said about the contribution to overcome the environmental challenges of the region. First signs indicate that the interest on offshore renewables has been increased in the region (see the aforementioned partnership by Aclunaga and Neopolia) or new R+D projects related to the maritime safety and security implemented following the project seminars. 4) Main contributions to the In response to the need to reverse the critical situation of the Shipbuilding in the Atlantic Area - losing ground over the past decades due to Atlantic Area Programme much cheaper labour force and other conditions in the Far East countries, and the further development in ability to adapt to modern challenges achieved of other EU regions (e.g. Baltics) – and together with the separate and specific strategies of the different countries of the west coast of Europe - trying to help change this trend, AUXNAVALIA project and now AUXNAVALIA PLUS have made the first crucial steps towards the establishment of a critical mass of knowledge and improvement of the competitiveness of the sector in the global market by fostering / enhancing the innovation process and the collaboration between administrations, research centres, and the shipbuilding community. Building on the success and findings of AuxNavalia, AuxNavalia Plus has achieved the following contributions to the Atlantic Area programme: Better conditions for the companies to be able to provide with solutions to improve safety and security in marine environments Further the knowledge transfer from the research community to the auxiliary shipbuilding industry in a tangible manner Modernise its business and capacity to explore and exploit successfully new markets and market opportunities, with special focus on safety Develop, introduce and disseminate a new set of business plans 5) Implementation AUXNAVALIA PLUS project decisions were taken through a Steering Committee, whose decisions were through common agreement. The methodology aspects general coordinator of this Committee was GAIN, as lead partner, which also was the interlocutor before the Joint Technical Secretariat or any attained other bodies in charge of the Atlantic Area Programme. Every partner supported the general coordinator by coordinating the meetings, seminars and study visits organised in each country. The coordination of the rest of the actions were totally shared, being every partner the leader of one activity, at least. For this, a coordination team will be set with a representative from every project partner. This team will in charge of following up all economical and technical actions. The steering committee was attended by one representative from each participating partner. It meet, at least, twice a year, thus guaranteeing the participation of all partners in decision making and ensured that the project was carried out properly. The Board will be headed by the Lead Partner representative. It looked after daily project management, the economic-financial circuit and the legal justification of the project. It was in charge of Communication, Dissemination & Transfer Operations, and the Follow-up & Evaluation Units. The project has chosen to decentralise management and go for polycentric development of activity. This means that all partners participated in the follow-up and coordination activities, although the Lead Partner will be principally responsible for the same. From the very beginning, a system for the efficient and transparent justification of costs will be agreed and implemented, always in agreement with the rules and deadlines established by the Atlantic Area Programme. Project activities were modularised into chronological actions and milestones. It helped to check if the different indicators are being fulfiled, and to introduce modifications in the development of actions without altering the project objectives. The follow-up system was established within a project follow-up and evaluation program, which contained details of the systematic process for collecting and indentifying valid information on design, planning, implementation, results and project impact. It facilitated control of the evolution of follow-up indicators, thus

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Guaranteeing proper administration of financial flows and obtaining quantitative and qualitative information on contents, development and results. Facilitating decision taking with respect to development and execution of actions. Contributing to adequate channelling of information to national data bases. Boosting visibility, dissemination and transference of results. Information collection have done using the following methodology: Independent scorecards were created to record values of the selected indicators. Scorecards for each “Activity” were grouped into one file. The set of files filled in shall constitute the basic contents of the quarterly follow-up report. Project files and scorecards were developed in electronic format and were made available to every partner. 6) Innovative aspects of the AUXNAVALIA PLUS is the first project ever implemented in the Atlantic Area involving the sector (or any other sector) at such a wide extent in project achieved order to solve common problems and increase maritime safety and security. For the first time, Atlantic Area transnational delegations of SMEs attended study visits together and business plan models for the sector were designed. Also for the first time, a joint initiative was put in common in order to retain know-how in the sector. So, all in all, the project conception and some of its services are totally innovative. The experience arising from AUXNAVALIA is making this possible, as the problems to be solved were identified by all together, and the solutions decided for aspects requiring transnational collaboration to solve them have been designed together, which guarantees the commitment and possibilities to be implanted. Operation management

1) Management and During this year 2014 two coordination meetings were organized with the presence of the whole partnership. These committees have produced coordination activities an agenda, list of attendees and minutes:Cork, Nantes organized in the period Moreover, other “minor” meetings were organized in Vigo and Lisbon as a consequence of the organization of study visits. Furthermore, the lead partner, on behalf of the whole partnership, has submitted two modification requests (changing of budget items, project tasks and eligibility period) and two execution reports. Also the lead partner worked on the coordination and management of the project through permanent contacts with the rest of partners (telephone, email, etc.), update of the project scorecard, etc. 2) Monitoring and Together with the project follow-up executed by the lead partner through a continuous contact with the different partners of AUXNAVALIA evaluation activities PLUS, the project has also contracted an external evaluation to assess the activities implementation in general through a general and objective organized in the period way. This external evaluation has produced the following deliverables: Terms of reference. It is a guide to planning the evaluation service in which are described its objectives, focus, phases, techniques and calendar Indicators reports. Two documents were elaborated with a procedure to collect data, information tolos, analysis techniques, etc. Progress reports about Project products and results. Final evaluation report, from the beginning until the end of the eligibility period. These reports have interview in depth to partners representatives, design of questionnaire to be disseminated among the seminars public, data compilation tool, etc.

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3) Main problems found At the very beginning of the project the JTS suggested to change the Priority and Objective in which AUXNAVALIA PLUS had initially been and solutions adopted located into. To do this, we counted in the JTS support and advice, and some adjustments were introduced in the initially submitted proposal. during the period Then, after the project had started, one of the partners reported that they would not be able to use the whole budget they had been allocated due to internal changes. As the spare amount was important, a new partner was identified and invited to join the partnership. Moreover other small problems regarding administrative management in public administrations had affected the project in its normal execution, although the request and approval of the extension had mitigated these kind of inconvenient and allowed AUXNAVALIA PLUS to finish the activities intended on time. 4) Majors impacts of The above mentioned modifications have not meant a substantial change in the project content. Nevertheless, the necessity to elaborate and eventual project revisions present these modifications had an impact in the development of the activities, allowing the partnership their implementation within the during the period eligibility period. The introduction of new tasks – created to take advantage of the remaining budget as a results of the contract savings – has produced a very positive impact because the partnership could implement more activities, with tangible benefits for the ancillary naval sector, than the intended ones in the application form with the same total budget. Communication achievements

1)Main project AUXNAVALIA PLUS has implemented several communication tasks with the following results: communication Project webpage to disseminate the whole project in this year 2014 (aim, activities, tasks, news, etc.): www.auxnavaliaplus.org achievements Closing conference on the 3rd December in Nantes, in which the project presented the main achievements. 2 transnational R&D seminars in which the project was presented, together with the original aim of these events. These events counted on the participation of hundreds of people from all over the world, representing organisations such as SMEs, research centres, representatives of the sector at European level, as well as local, regional, national and European organisations. Project dissemination in Navalia &SeaWork exhibitions in 2014 through different events and spaces in the fairs. All the same, the project has been disseminated within activities of the Refresh and Faros projects (both co-funded by FP7 and a result of the previous Auxnavalia Project). Project workshops in which AUXNAVALIA PLUS was also disseminated. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Joint document of Survey of new business opportunities for the Atlantic Area Ancillary Shipbuilding handbooks, guides…) 6 business plan models adapted to different naval subsectors and types of companies published on any format, as 5 case studies well as all promotional 5 new R+D+I projects: LIFETAG, NORMVESS, Scalboats kits, 3D CLAIMS and ACROBOT. material produced in the 1 Guide about funding opportunities in the maritime sector in the framework of H2020 framework of the Project. 1 report about “Liquefied Natural Gas powered vessels: Exploring the cur-rent state of the market” 1 specific surveillance web application for the naval sector 1 methodology document about knowledge retention

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1 study about the “Long Life Strategic Plan for the Atlantic Area Naval Sector” 1 virtual pool of knowledge (http://www.auxnavaliapool.org) 1 surveillance tool (vigilancia.auxnavaliapool.org) to find information about training and naval issues. 1 promotional video about the naval facilities in the Atlantic Area and the ancillary sector as a field in which develop a professional career. 1 “Innovation agenda” for the Atlantic Area ancillary naval sector Future documents (studies, N/A handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced until the end of the Project.

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NETMAR | Priority:2.1 |Nº 2011-1/176 www.netmar-project-eu

Title Networked vehicle systems for situational awareness and intervention in maritime incidents.

Slogan

Project summary The project concerns the demonstration, evaluation and dissemination of new robotic systems, sensors and networking technologies in maritime incidents endangering human life, the environment and economic activities. Air and sea going robotic vehicles provide new capabilities to operate in dull, dirty and dangerous environments. Networking technologies enable the orchestration of systems for enhanced situational awareness and intervention. New command, control and visualization tools provide new capabilities for the coordination of existing robotic systems, sensors and human operators over inter-operated networks. The project is organized around demonstrations, to be aligned with major anti-pollution exercises, representative of 3 types of maritime incidents: harbor in the proximity of a metropolitan area, estuary and open sea. Universities and R&D institutions will demonstrate new tools and technologies and evaluation methodologies. Planning and return on experience workshops will contribute to transition tools and technologies to operational practice and to companies, local, regional, national and EU authorities. Project Lead Partner FEUP – Universidade do Porto - Faculdade de Engenharia

Partnership FUAC - Fundación Universidade da Coruña ; Portos de Galicia ; ENSTA Britain, École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées ; UL - University of Limerick; APDL - Administração dos Portos do Douro e Leixões, SA; NMCI - National Maritime College of Ireland; UK SPILL Association; TECNALIA - Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation Starting date 30-03-2012

Ending date 01-04-2015

Total eligible budget €2 809 707.16

Total ERDF budget €1.826.309,52

Global performance 65%

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1) Implementation Activity 1 Progress- Activities The programmed objectives were totally achieved in 2012. Activity 2 The webpage continues to be improved and populated with information, as well as the collaborative tool - Redmine. The setup of the Stakeholders group continues underway. The main focus during 2014 concerned the final preparation for the Spanish demo in terms of scenarios, range, vehicles, and interaction with multiple entities and agents. The demo took place in Galicia and involved high levels of collaboration and work not only between the project partners, but also from local entities and other means in A Pobra de Caraminal, Coruna (October). The re-schedule of some activities based on the 6 months extension has been agreed amongst the partners, as well as the preparation for the budget adjustment, and the project’s first amendment request was submitted and approved. Other important tasks, such as coordinating partners’ activities, are also underway without major problems. Activity 3 The work has proceeded as planned. FEUP and other consortium members participated in an informal meeting in Spain, La Corunã, on the 26th June. FEUP also visited A Pobra de Caraminal, in order to evaluate the area where the demo would take place. A consortium meeting took place in La Coruna, Spain, October 2014. Activity 4 The work has progressed according to the initial program and several targets were achieved. Plans and preparation for the project demosntrations in Spain and Portugal have started, involving a summary report detailing the necessary material for use during the demos, a tendering process for the acquisition of a system of detection and recognition of pollutants on marine area, the preparation of the ENSTA Ku- band radar and concrete assessment through various simulations carried out according to the type of mixture, depending on the sea state and the geometrical configuration chosen. A workshop on the return of experience of the NETMAR demos was held on 16th October 2014 at the 5th Brest Sea Tech Week, in Brest (France), in order to maximize synergistic interactions and to discuss the impact of these demonstrations on the current practice, especially when dealing with all phases of maritime incidents, on legal frameworks, on the exploitation of the achievements in terms of image and improving the awareness of the public at large, local, regional and national authorities, political decision makers. Activity 5 APDL and FEUP have proceeded with the preparation for the final demonstration, identifying the specificities of the demonstration in Portugal, organizing the consortium involvement and starting the logistic planning. Several interactions from APDL with stakeholders and local authorities took place, to align the demonstration with a large scale incident response exercise. Activity 6 The programmed objectives were totally achieved in 2013. Activity 7 The second demo took place in Galicia to test the incident response to a spill scenario, in which a large ship was leaking fuel as a result of a serious damage to the hull during a storm. The coordinated action involved the deployment of an Underwater Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) to

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assess the contaminated area and drifters to accurately estimate the way the fuel was spreading. During this operation, containment measure was put in place and a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) made a hull inspection to evaluate the damage. The Spanish demonstration constituted, once again, a major success for the NETMAR purposes and objectives. All partners worked hard and together towards the achievement of this success, with excellent comments and feedback provided from stakeholders and local media who were present at the event. Activity 8 General assessment was given on the technologies and techniques to be trialed during the second demonstration. UK Spill has also demonstrated the opportunity for partners to achieve project promotion to the wider marine science industry through exhibitions by organising and implementing Project participation at Spillex (Oceanology International) in London over 11-13 March 2014. UKSpill negotiated space and promotion of the project with the organisers of Oceanology Internatioanal, a biennial marine science exhibition based every 2 years in London. As a result, Netmar shared a large stand organised by UK Spill Association, within the Spillex zone of Oceanology International Excel in London. The principal objective was to raise the awareness of the project within the international Marine Science Community. Oceanology International drew 8,400 visitors, a record level, and was supported by over 700 industrial and other exhibitors, over the 3 days. The Netmar space was supported by representatives from FUAC, the engineering faculty at Porto University who demonstrated UAV’s and AUV’s as part of the project promotion. Activity 9 Fuac has been coordinating the communication activities developed by the Consortium, notably regarding: - Communication Manual; 3 DEMOS, workshops and social networks - Elaboration and dissemination:3 newsletters - Updating professional social networks for Netmar project in facebook and twitter. - Updating Communication Material models - Demos Plan (dates, places and technologies developed) - Consortium Workshops Planning (Calendar) - Organization & Dissemination of the second DEMO (Media,social netwoks&website) - Updating, recompilation & dissemination of the project in Media, social netwoks and websits FUAC has also organized an international seminar on the 2nd October 2014, which, sought feedback from legal experts and economists on the impact of maritime disasters in the legal, social and economic context of the concerned territories. The experience of Erika and Prestige and, particularly, the recent judicial rulings in France and Spain have set the framework in which the analysis of some of the major issues of maritime safety was held. 2) Main project The results achieved during 2014 concern: achievements - Outputs 1. State of the art on tools and technologies for comparative analysis, benchmarking and to identify gaps in existing practice: Analysis of experiments with deliberative planners were conducted to identify the merits and flaws of these systems for incident response. Testing and evaluation of systems and technologies developed by the partners are one of the major sources of tangibility. This explains the importance of

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the exercise REP124 organized by the Portuguese Navy and FEUP. The results achieved in this exercise provide a good showcase for dissemination and for credibility. 2. Draft plans for the utilization of news tools and technologies in operational practice or, to be more precise, in maritime incidents: The achieved results during the Cathach exercise served as inputs for the operational plans to the Spanish demonstration. Besides, other plans were made, concerning: • Conformance to environmental legislation (sonars operating in a marine protected area); • flight permissions (to fly in non-segregated air space); • Communications management; • organizational structure and command and control; • Communication and coordination between all entities involved • Deployment of new/updated tools and technologies, namely ROVs, UAVs, AUVs and drifter buoys. 3. Transition draft plans for the utilization of new tools and technologies to operational plans for maritime incidents: The plans for the demonstration concerning scenario, human resources, equipment, operations, and schedule were defined between Portos de Galicia, FUAC, FEUP, U. Limerick and TECNALIA, and final validation was given by the local authorities in Spain. 4. Test and evaluate new tools and technologies in a real environment, thus upgrading the corresponding technology readiness levels (TRL): The vehicles and systems used in the Spanish demonstration were duly upgraded in technology terms, increasing TRL high levels, which allow to sucessfuly overcome the harsh weather and the challendging sea conditions. 5. Strengthen the Research and Innovation Network for Maritime Incidents in the Atlantic Area that started with the Marine project: NETMAR participation in the events “Oceanology International 2014” (March) and “Fórum do Mar 2014” (May), the organization of the International seminars "New scenarios of maritime safety in the European Union. Reflections after the Erika and Prestige disasters" (2nd and 3rd October 2014) in La Coruna, Spain, and “Benefits resulting from the incorporation of innovative tools and technologies in the response to accidental marine pollution” (16th October) in Brest, France, the organization of a Regional workshop “Galician contingency plan for accidental pollution”, (26th October) held in La Coruña, Spain, and the Spanish Demonstration (1st October 2014), A Pobra de Caraminal, La Coruna, Spain, all proved essential to attract the attention of key stakeholders. NETMAR project was also profiled at the Halpin Research Centre Stand, during the National Maritime College of Ireland Open Day (October 2014). Severeal Industry representatives, Maritime Organisations and potential students of the College were present at the event and great interest was shown on the NETMAR project, particularly from Port organisations, with a lot of positive feedback on what the project is achieving. Moreover, the work completed through NETMAR has been showcased by the partners over the last year. This included public outreach events, conferences, industry open days, invited sessions etc: - Invited session at the International Workshop “Environmental Monitoring & Surveillance Workshop” (4th and 5th December 2014), Porto, Portugal; - Invited session at the International Seminar “The New Challenges of the Atlantic” (3-7 November 2014), Cascais, Portugal;

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- I nvited session at theWorkshop “Marine Science - Ocean observation with coordinated air, surface and underwater unmanned vehicles.” (23-24 October 2014), Lisbon, Portugal; - Invited session at Systems Dynamics and Control Processes, International Conference dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of Academician N.N.Krasovski (15-20 de September 2014), Ekaterinburg, Russia; - Invited session at the international workshop “New Horizons on Optimal Control 2014” (8-10 September 2014), Cascais, Portugal; Papers: - Sérgio Ferreira, Guilherme Carvalho, Filipe Ferreira, Joao Sousa, “Assessing the capacity of man-portable UAVs for network access point localization using RSSI link data”, Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Orlando, June 2014. - Margarida Faria, José Pinto, Frederic Py, J. Fortuna, H. Dias, R. Martins, Frederik Leira, Tor Arne Johansen, João Borges de Sousa and Kanna Rajan, “Coordinating UAVs and AUVs for Oceanographic Field Experiments: Challenges and Lessons Learned”, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Hong Kong, May 31 - June 7, 2014. - Dr. Dan Toal, “Long Endurance Observation Mini ROV System”, Smartbay annual conference, 26th November 2014, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. - G. Dooly, M. Rossi, S. Sivcev (2014) Remote Presence: Technology Demonstration, Celebrate Science, MaREI, Hunt Museum, Limerick, 15th Nov 2014, Ireland. - E. Omerdic & G. Dooly (2014) Remote Presence: Technology Demonstration, Celebrate Science Family Open Day, UCC, Cork, 9th Nov 2014, Ireland. - Omerdic, E. (2014) Internet-enabled Smart ROVs: Future of ROV Piloting. Invited Lecture & Live Technology Demonstration (via Internet), European Young Engineer (EYE) Conference, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, 31st May 2014. - Omerdic, E. (2014) OceanRINGS: Smart Technologies for Subsea Operations. Invited Lecture & Live Technology Demonstration (via Internet), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, 10th Jan 2014. - H. Ghanmi, A. Khenchaf and F. Comblet, “Numerical Simulation of Electromagnetic Scattering by Contaminated Sea Surface”, IEEE RADAR, Lille, October 2014, France. - H. Ghanmi, A. Khenchaf and F. Comblet, “Bistatic Scattering From an Contaminated Sea Surface Observed In C, X And Ku Bands”, SPIE Remote Sensing, Amsterdam, September 2014, Netherlands. 6. Web-based tools to support the network and a model of utilization – possibly in coordination with associate partners: The project web page has been accordingly updated, providing useful information to the users for coordination and preparation of future work. 7. Multi-media educational material for public awareness and education: 3 multimedia presentations were made during this period -video providing a concise explanation of the project at “Oceanology International 2014”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvrd9378Evc - 2 videos reporting the second demo, held in Galicia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8N1fLFL7i0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVdd4hRkSpU

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10. Presentation of the results of the project in the key international forums and also in key conferences: During 2014, presentations on the NETMAR project were made at Fórum do Mar 2014 - “3rd Workshop on European Unmanned Maritime Systems” (May), and at the International seminars "New scenarios of maritime safety in the European Union. Reflections after the Erika and Prestige disasters" (2nd and 3rd October 2014) in La Coruna, Spain, and “Benefits resulting from the incorporation of innovative tools and technologies in the response to accidental marine pollution” (16th October) in Brest, France. 12. Technical reports and papers in specialized journals and also in journals address to the general public. International magazines: - S. Kaarthik, P. B. Sujit, S. Rathinam, D. Lucani, and J. Borges de Sousa, “Algorithms for Collecting Data from Cooperating Sensor Motes using Unmanned Vehicles”, International Journal of Systems Science, 2014. - H. Ghanmi, A. Khenchaf and F. Comblet, Numerical Modeling of Electromagnetic Scattering from Sea Surface Covered by Oil, Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 15-24, 2014. Books: Collective book about Maritime incidents awareness in the European Union after the Erika and Prestige disasters, ISBN digital: 978- 84-686-6048-6. Printed in Spain. Edited by Bubok Publishing, S.L Books chapters: 1. J. Borges de Sousa and F. Lobo Pereira, “On the future of ocean observation”, O mar no futuro de Portugal: Ciência e visão estratégica, Edição do Centro de Estudos do Atlântico, Coordenação: Pedro Borges Graça e Tiago Martins, 2014. 2. J. Borges de Sousa, P. McGillivary, J. Vicente, M. Nunes Bento, J. Passos Morgado, M. Madruga Matos, R. Bencatel, and P. Mónica de Oliveira, “Umanned Aircraft Systems for maritime operations”, Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Eds. Valavanis, K.P., & Vachtsevanos, G.J.). Springer Verlag, New York, 2014. 3. M. Madruga Matos, J. Caetano, J. Passos Morgado, and J. Borges de Sousa, “UAS Training - the Pitvant experience”, Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Eds. Valavanis, K.P., & Vachtsevanos, G.J.). Springer Verlag, New York, 2014. 4. J. George, P. B. Sujit, D. Ghose, and J. Borges de Sousa, “Decentralized coalition formation algorithms”, Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Eds. Valavanis, K.P., & Vachtsevanos, G.J.). Springer Verlag, New York, 2014. 5. J. Borges de Sousa and F. Lobo Pereira, “Coordination challenges in networked vehicle systems: are we missing something?”, Coordination Control of Distributed Systems, Springer Verlag, 2014. 6. F. Lobo Pereira, J. Borges de Sousa, R. Gomes, and P. Calado, “A model predictive control approach to AUV’s motion coordination”, Coordination Control of Distributed Systems, Springer Verlag, 2014. 7. J. Estrela da Silva, F. Lobo Pereira, and J. Borges de Sousa, “Dynamic optimization techniques for the motion coordination of autonomous vehicles”, Coordination Control of Distributed Systems, Springer Verlag, 2014. Electronic publications: 8. J. Gilabert, T. Arne Johansen, K. Rajan, and J. Borges de Sousa, “PERSISTS: A coordinated multi-vehicle control experiment for ocean observation”, Cruser, Naval Postgraduate School, June 2014.

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13. Enlarge and strengthen the group of stakeholders: A list of the entities present at the project events organized by the consortium exercise follows: University of Valencia; University of Basque Country; Blas de Lezo Lawyers- Barcelona; University of Cantabria; University of Malaga; Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre; Marine Renewables Ireland (MaREI – www.Marei.ie); Shannon Foynes Port Company; Teledyne Reson; Commissioners of Irish Lights; Teledyne Blueview; Galicia Cost Guard; INTECMAR; ARCOPOL Project; Port Authority of Vilagarcía de Arousa; SASEMAR; Spanish Army; Fishermen Community of A Pobra do Caraminãl; Spanish Civil Defense Service 3) Project Results and Relying on the results from the Irish demo as the major pillar in regard to preparation and planning, the consortium has worked together in Impacts order to put in place a demonstration intended to fulfill the NETMAR requirements and objectives. The consortium has engaged national and international public organizations and private enterprises working in the maritime incident response area (technology providers and end users) to address the sustainability of the project by disseminating identified gaps in current maritime incident response services to all interested parties. The significant outcomes achieved by the incident response exercise held in Galicia led to a Collaboration Protocol between Ports of Galicia and the Foundation University of Coruña, signed in December 2014, aimed at promoting an enhanced collaboration for joint research between these entities. In terms of dissemination and promotion of the project, there were two events that contributed greatly to this matter – “Oceanology International 2014” and “Forum do Mar 2014”. From the interest shown by visitors who we interacted with in OI2014, to the contacts established in both events referred before, we consider that the dissemination and promotion of the project has been a success. 4) Main contributions to Based on the excellent results achieved during the Shannon Demonstration in April 2013, the consortium proceeded with the preparation to the Atlantic Area the Spanish Demonstration, which took place on the 1st October 2014, at A Pobra de Caraminal, La Corunã, and proved to be a great success. Programme achieved Other the relevant contributions to the Atlantic Area during the reported period can be classified in terms of: • Addressing common challenges in an integrated manner. The project is drawing more and more attention as time goes by to the outstanding problems that result from maritime incidents and chemical pollution at sea, leading to an even greater disclosure of combat strategies to apply the required emergent systems and technologies promoted by NETMAR. This this fact was even more evident during the participation in the event “Oceanology International 2014”, where the NETMAR project, in collaboration with UK Spill, was represented with a shared stand through elements of FEUP, the project leaders. • Implementing key lessons from previous projects. NETMAR project continues to follow the guidelines provided by other projects, as ARCOPOL and MARINE, in terms of key achievements and lessons learned. • Promoting Transnational Entrepreneurial and Innovation Networks. Leveraging disclosure resulting from the last demonstration, several entities with an interest in this area had been contacted in order to participate in the Spanish demonstration. 5) Implementation The project continues to follow the methodology from the 1220TM IEEE Standard for Application and Management of the Systems methodology aspects Engineering Process (SEP). In terms of contributions of the four pillars that support the project, the following activities were undertaken in attained 2014: • State-of-the-art: The problem of situational awareness in incident response exercises involving networked vehicle systems has been discussed with experts in the field and a few experiments were identified for incident response exercises. The problem of situational awareness is coupled to the problem of on-board deliberative planning which is targeted at facilitating the role of human operators. A few prototypes involving deliberative off-board and on-board planners were developed to test some of the hypotheses.

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• Returns of experience from actual incidents of interest: The return of experience from actual incidents of interest is tightly related to the problems addressed in the state of the art. A few conclusions were already reached. First, experimentation with advanced vehicle systems is needed to identify their merits and flaws. Second, end-users need to be heavily involved in the design/operation of these vehicle systems to take the most out of them. Third, situational awareness tools targeted at facilitating the operator’s involvement and understanting need further developments when the number of concurrent operating vehicles is higher than let’s say 3. Fourth, additional communication channels provided by multi-vehicle systems provide extra sources of information that should be handled in real-time. This requires preparation. • 3 scenarios of incidents representing an extended range of possible situations: Portos de Galicia, with the collaboration of FEUP, FUAC, Tecnalia, U. Limerick worked together in the definition of the scenario and operation issues in regard to the preparation and implementation of the Spanish demonstration. • Implementation of actual exercises with mobilization of heavy means. Portos de Galicia has established cooperation with several entities in what regards the Spanish demonstration, namely Galicia Cost Guard, Project ARCOPOL Platform (with contributions from INTECMAR, University of Vigo and EIGSI), Maritime Authority of Arousa, SASEMAR, Guardia Civil, Brotherhood of fishermen of Pobra do Caramiñal and Civil Protection Service of Pobra do Caramiñal. This joint work resulted in a incident response that fulfilled the requirements and objectives proposed for this demonstration, with the support of several resources such as the vessel “NET GALICIA”, a Trail-Boom, skimmers, UAVs, AUVs, and ROVs. FEUP organized the REP´14 exercise, sponsored in part by the Portuguese Navy, which focused mainly in complex networked engineering systems. This year the REP (Rapid Environmental Picture) exercise has brought together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Rome (Italy), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), the Royal Institute of Technology (UK), the German Defence Research and Testing Agency (Germany) and the companies Evologics (Germany) and Oceanscan (Portugal). During the exercise, and in order to assess new developments for autonomous vehicles in real-world scenarios with similar requirements of the Spanish demonstration, FEUP deployed some autonomous underwater and aerial vehicles to test deliberative planning capabilities on- board for unprecedented levels of autonomy. Deliberative planning techniques were also used to support coordinated planning and the control of multiple vehicles, which might be useful in the NETMAR demonstration. In conclusion, project stakeholders truly believe that the participation in this exercise was, once again, a highly crucial and enriching experience to meet the requirements and learn important lessons to the project demonstrations. 6) Innovative aspects of the Concerning the implementation of the Spanish demonstration, there are some innovative aspects that should be highlighted, namely: project achieved • FEUP contributions: FEUP provided AUVs (for underwater inspection, in particular to inspect mussels production areas and a submerged object inside A Pobra de Caraminal Harbour) and UAVs (to inspect the affected area with live feed video camera, at the end of the exercise, in order to ensure that the problem is totally solved). Both types of vehicles were “controlled” through the NEPTUS-IMC-DUNE command and control framework, which ensured off-board command, control and communications. FEUP also provided drifter buoys for sea current measurement.

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• U.Limerick contributions: University of Limerick provided a small ROV offshore piloted remotely, with real time transmission video, used for long endurance robotic systems for routine remote presence inspection of infrastructure offshore. For the Spanish demonstration, the ROV was used to inspect the hull of a vessel. • Tecnalia contributions: Tecnalia provided an UVA equipped with gas sensors, which has inspected the affected area for unfriendly vapors. Other relevant innovative aspects regarding the demonstration are: - Ad-hoc communications network for communications in incident response. Implementation of a communications network to support the exercise in a reliable, easy-deployment, and effective way; - Deployment of new technologies for the detection and control of pollutions, and coordination with conventional tools normally used in the standard response of these types of incidents / accidents; - Web based tools to support the network, with live information provided to a set of stakeholders through the INTECMAR platform; - Real-time situation awareness based on data sent in real-time from all available incident monitoring & detection systems. Operation management

1) Management and WP1.1. Setup of project Management and coordination structures: coordination activities • The stakeholder group (SG) participating in the network continues under development, as well as the advisory board, which is not organized in the period totally closed yet. • Communications team (CT) has also been defined. WP1.2. Setup of management tools • Project website has being updated accordingly. • Redmine has been updated accordingly. WP1.3. Project Management and coordination • Informalconsortium meeting took place in La Corunha, June 2014. •A consortium meeting took place in La Coruna, Spain, October 2014. • Some adjustments to the work plan were proposed to the management authority, regarding a 6 months delay of the project, and a first amendment request was submitted and approved WP1.4. Financial management and liaison with the INTERREG Area management authorities: Work proceeds in close cooperation with the management authorities. 2) Monitoring and The focus has been addressing the identified delays in the workplan, which led to an extension of 6 months. evaluation activities Monitoring execution indicators continues to be a major concern to partners. organized in the period

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3) Main problems found The following issue have been addressed: and solutions adopted • Level financial controllers – almost all partners have already an official first level financial controller. during the period Regarding the Spanish demonstration, there were some legal issues that was necessary to solve, namely: • Legal authorization to flight with UAVs. FEUP and Tecnalia had been on contact with AESA (Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea) to get flight authorizations to use the UAVs in the demonstration; • Operate outside A Pobra de Caraminal harbour. The second demonstration should be “at sea”, but due to some constraints (the harbor outside area is a protected area of mussels, ship traffic all day), some operations would have to stick to the inside harbor area. There are some still pending issues already reported previously, namely: 1. Missing some names for the advisory board; 2. Address the certification of Financial reports; 3. Submission of pending financial/technical reports; 4. Definition of the stakeholders group. All partners have made several efforts in order to solve these issues. 4) Majors impacts of The consortium has submitted to the Managing Authority a non-cost extension of 6 months, with a budget amendment in order to eventual project revisions accommodate and distribute the foreseen expenses related to this slippage. The request was formally approved during 2014, 2nd half. during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Fuac has been working to update and improve communication activities by all Consortia: communication manual, image of the Project, communication Project presence on the internet (partner websites), Netmar social networks &website and communication media relationships. achievements Actv2 Internal meetings with partners to coordinate project planning; seminars, DEMO& 4ºSC meeting in Galicia Actv3 Elaboration of date bases; Scientific Production Elaboration of a study entitled “Science and Technology on Maritime Incidents” Actv4+5 Updated activities for examination of legal frameworks. Updated activities for comparative studies of legal frameworks;data base and international seminar& on-line publication collective book Actv7 Regional workshop-Contingency plan for accidental pollution in Galicia Organization of the 2nd DEMO in Galicia Actv9

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Summary of main activities developed Third newsletter digital edition Report on FUAC Institucional website, blog and social networks Report on Social Networks of NETMAR project Press release for the 2nd demo and interaction with the local media Report on the media coverage of the 2nd demo Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Summary report entitled "“Different actions performed, over the period January to June 2014, by MGConcepts (Mr. Girin)”". handbooks, guides…) Collective book about Maritime incidents awareness in the European Union after the Erika and Prestige disasters, ISBN digital: 978-84-686- published on any format, as 6048-6. Printed in Spain. Edited by Bubok Publishing, S.L well as all promotional Elaboration of date bases on Scientific Production material produced in the Science and Technology on Maritime Incidents study framework of the Project. Third newsletter (digital edition) Report on FUAC Institutional website, blog and social networks Report on Social Networks of NETMAR project Elaboration of the press release for the 2nd demo Report on the media coverage of the 2nd demo Video providing a concise explanation of the projects at “Oceanology International 2014”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvrd9378Evc 2 videos production, reporting the second demo, held in Galicia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8N1fLFL7i0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVdd4hRkSpU Future documents (studies, 4th project newsletter (digital edition) handbooks, guides…) to be Video on the 3rd demo published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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SPRES | Priority:2.1 |Nº 2011-1/168 www.spresproject.eu

Title OIL SPILL PREVENTION AND RESPONSE AT LOCAL SCALES

Slogan SPRES

Project summary The main aims of this project are to: (i) develop a set of high resolution operational oceanographic systems in several estuaries or ports located in the Atlantic Area, and (ii) establish local oil spill response plans for these local areas based on risk assessment. This work will apply to estuaries all along the European Atlantic coast region. The project partners have been chosen to represent the full range of coastal and hydrological conditions. The methodologies and techniques developed will be applied to sites with physical, biological and socio-economical characteristics that make them highly vulnerable to oil spill. This project creates a transnational multi-disciplinary co-operation across 8 main project partners of four countries of the Atlantic Area (Spain, Portugal, France and United Kingdom), with the aim of addressing common problems and solutions regarding the enhancing the marine and coastal environment sustainability. A combined effort between the partner countries will allow achieving a much greater progress than separate country actions, thus establishing common standard that will contribute to the improvement of interconnections between territories. Although the core partners are research institutes, the match funders and sponsors include regional, government and environmental authorities. The stakeholders will contribute in ensuring that the results and findings are taken up by end users. Project Lead Partner FUNDACIÓN INSTITUTO DE HIDRÁULICA AMBIENTAL DE CANTABRIA. FIHAC.

Partnership Fundación Instituto de Hidráulica Ambiental de Cantabria (España), LABORATÓRIO NACIONAL DE ENGENHARIA CIVIL (LNEC), I.P. (Portugal), Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal), AZTI-Tecnalia (España), Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d’expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des eau (France), SERVICIOS DE EMERGENCIAS DE CANTABRIA, S.A. (España), Falmouth Harbour Commission (United Kingdom), Agri-Food & Bioscience Institute (United Kingdom). Associated partners: DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PROTECCIÓN CIVIL (España), APA - ADMINISTRAÇÃO DO PORTO DE AVEIRO, S.A. (Portugal), Administração da Região Hidrográfica do Centro, IP (Portugal), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (United Kingdom), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (United Kingdom), Belfast Harbour (United Kingdom), Consejería de Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Cantabria (España), African Maritime Safety and Security Agency (The Netherlands). Starting date 09-01-2012

Ending date 09-12-2014

Total eligible budget 1.789.813,00

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Total ERDF budget 1.163.377,00 €

Global performance

1) Implementation During the last reporting period Progress- Activities Activity 2:

1 TM + Final conference were held during this period- Santander-October 2014. These served as effective platforms for the project dissemination sharing and exchanging knowledge and information, relevant stakeholders participated and it was an encouraging event. Activity 3: The primary objective of this Activity was to develop and operate local high-resolution operational oceanographic systems (HR-OOS) for Aveiro Lagoon, Belfast Lough, Falmouth Harbour and Santander Bay. The HR-OOS (nowcast and forecast hydrodynamic modelling) consists of the automated integration of observing system data streams, hydrodynamic model predictions, product dissemination and continuous quality- control monitoring. State-of-the-art numerical hydrodynamic models driven by real-time data and meteorological, oceanographic, and/or river flow rate forecasts form the core of these end-to-end systems. This work is concerned with the development of HR-OOS for estuaries and ports all along the European Atlantic coast region, through the development of methodologies and techniques to be applied to sites with physical, biological and socio-economical characteristics that make them highly vulnerable to oil spill. These systems provide daily forecast of water elevation, currents, water temperature and salinity, and constitutes the base of the oil spill forecasting platforms developed in SPRES. Consequently, the methodologies and tools developed in this Activity will contribute to enhance the ports capabilities regarding contingency planning and emergency response. In this last semester each involved partner have contributed to carry out the final actions to accomplish the systems in the four selected sites, sharing and disseminating experience, findings and tools. Activity 4: The objective of this activity was to develop a set of high resolution operational oil spill forecast systems for Aveiro Lagoon, Belfast Lough, Falmouth Harbour and Santander Bay. This have been achieved through the development of oil spill modelling systems coupled with the operational forecast hydrodynamic systems developed on Activity 3, ready to be used at local scales in case of pollution threat. During this period, the finals actions to conclude the Oil Spill operational systems in the four sites have been carried out. Moreover, the calibration and validation of the TESEO’s transport module have been accomplished using drifter buoys deployed at Belfast Lough. Activity 5: During this reporting period the partners have been working on finishing the actions to implement a Risk Assessment Tool in the four selected sites, sharing and disseminating experience, findings and tools. Specifically, the Risk systems allows users, given a hypothetic oil spill in a given location, to make a risk assessment using pre-run cases (previously defined as oil spill scenarios) and the assessed vulnerability carried out for the site. Activity 6: In the last semester, Cedre as the leader of this activity, has delivered a booming plan and clean-up strategies for the four sites. To carry out this work each partner has collaborated with Cedre in assessing the vulnerability of each site. Moreover, to delineate the booming plan each site has

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provided the following information: (a) Selection of Spill points (SP)/critical points (CP) where oil spills are more likely to occur; (b) Selection of the most probable oil spill scenarios (scenarios from the activity 5 whose probabilities are between the two highest) and (c) Selection of the worst scenarios. For each SP / CP and from the group constituted by the most probable scenarios, the scenarios which affect the highest number of receptor points (RP) in a given time horizon (3 h & 6 h) were selected. Activity 7: During this period, the website has been concluded although it will still be available for the following years and the information concerning the SPRES DVD and the final reports will be also uploaded. The SPRES video is now completed and edited. During this period, the 7th TM and the final conference took place in Santander in October 2014. Several media articles and references/interviews were done as a result of the final conference in Santander. These will be included in section 7 of the final report in the PCC and also in section 10 Communication. 2) Main project During this period, the final conference was celebrated in Santander where potential end users/stakerholders showed their interest in the achievements - Outputs project outcomes and provided their input on future challenges. This paved the way for further research and tools development in the framework of further Interreg collaborations. This exchange of information was encouraging for the partnership which congratulated itself for the productive and effective work done. Currently, there are entities which have shown their particular interest in the operational and risk web applications. More specifically, these are: Port of Aveiro in Portugal Port of Belfast in UK Port of Santander in Spain. The objectives of the project have been accomplished and is reflected in the creation of the following products which are now concluded: - the high resolution operational oceanographic systems (for all sites) - the risk assessment systems (for all sites) -booming plans and clean-up strategies (for all sites) -the web applications which hosts the three outcomes -the dissemination of all the material generated throughout the project was compiled in a DVD which has already been distributed amongst the relevant institutions, stakeholders….. 3) Project Results and 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to Impacts what degree; 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? IT IS EXPECTED THAT VARIOUS PORT AUTHORITIES ASSIMILATE THE SYSTEMS AS THEIR WORKING TOOL. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? PARTICULARLY PORT AUTHORITIES 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organizations Synergies were created between the partners and between the partners and the stakeholders belonging to other networks too. This form of collaboration has provided an important exchange of focus, not only at scientific and technical level but also at bonding and liasing level forging further collaborations.

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2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) 8-Social change generated; 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts 4) Main contributions to the Currently, the operational oceanographic and oil spill systems are running at Santander Bay, Aveiro Lagoon, Belfast Lough and Falmouth Atlantic Area Programme Harbour. In this reporting period, the risk assessment system has been completed for the four study sites. In the final conference, the web achieved platforms carried out in the four sites were presented to key stakeholders. The SPRES DVD is now available compiling the developments undertaken in the four study sites. 5) Implementation During the last reporting period, methodology aspects Activity 3: attained This work is concerned with the development of HR-OOS for estuaries and ports all along the European Atlantic coast region, through the development of methodologies and techniques to be applied to sites with physical, biological and socio-economical characteristics that make them highly vulnerable to oil spill. These systems provide daily forecast of water elevation, currents, water temperature and salinity, and constitutes the base of the oil spill forecasting platforms developed in SPRES. Consequently, the methodologies and tools developed in this Activity will contribute to enhance the ports capabilities regarding contingency planning and emergency response. In this last semester each involved partner have contributed to carry out the final actions to accomplish the systems in the four selected sites, sharing and disseminating experience, findings and tools. Activity 4: Development of oil spill modelling systems coupled with the operational forecast hydrodynamic systems developed on Activity 3, ready to be used at local scales in case of pollution threat. During this period, the finals actions to conclude the Oil Spill operational systems in the four sites have been carried out. Moreover, the calibration and validation of the TESEO’s transport module have been accomplished using drifter buoys deployed at Belfast Lough. Activity 5: During this reporting period the partners have been working on finishing the actions to implement a Risk Assessment Tool in the four selected sites, sharing and disseminating experience, findings and tools. Specifically, the Risk systems allows users, given a hypothetic oil spill in a given location, to make a risk assessment using pre-run cases (previously defined as oil spill scenarios) and the assessed vulnerability carried out for the site. Activity 6:

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In the last semester, Cedre as the leader of this activity, has delivered a booming plan and clean-up strategies for the four sites. To carry out this work each partner has collaborated with Cedre in assessing the vulnerability of each site. Moreover, to delineate the booming plan each site has provided the following information: (a) Selection of Spill points (SP)/critical points (CP) where oil spills are more likely to occur; (b) Selection of the most probable oil spill scenarios (scenarios from the activity 5 whose probabilities are between the two highest) and (c) Selection of the worst scenarios. For each SP / CP and from the group constituted by the most probable scenarios, the scenarios which affect the highest number of receptor points (RP) in a given time horizon (3 h & 6 h) were selected. Activity 7: During this period, the website has been concluded although it will still be available for the following years and the information concerning the SPRES DVD and the final reports will be also uploaded. The SPRES video is now completed and edited. During this period, the 7th TM and the final conference took place in Santander in October 2014. Several media articles and references/interviews were done as a result of the final conference in Santander. These will be included in section 7 of the final report in the PCC and also in section 10 Communication. 6) Innovative aspects of the OOS are being deployed in Santander Bay, Belfast Lough, Aveiro lagoon and Falmouth port. These systems will provide daily forecast of sea level project achieved and currents. Coupled to these systems Operational oil spill systems have been developed. Risk assessment systems at the 4 sites are now completed as another module of the web response platforms. Finally, the third module: booming plans and clean-up strategies, has also been included in the web platforms. Operation management

1) Management and 7th TM and Final conference was organized by FIHAC and was celebrated in October in Santander. coordination activities organized in the period

2) Monitoring and Monitoring has been mainly undertaken via email and telephone. Leaders have been in contact with their partners of activity regularly and evaluation activities particularly for contributions towards their individual subreports and the global report with the coordinator. organized in the period

3) Main problems found There weren't any relevant problems during this period. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of A project revision in terms of extension and budget has been undertaken during this period. eventual project revisions during the period

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Communication achievements

1)Main project - Web page update in terms of upcoming events, newsletters, minutes of meetings, results of transnational events organised. communication - FIHAC's stakeholders received links to the SPRES website for consulting. achievements All communication actions were developed during the previous period.

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, PPTs during TMs and site seminars. handbooks, guides…) 1 annual report published on any format, as 1 newsletter well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, DVD spres handbooks, guides…) to be Reports with methodologies and tools description. published on any format, as Guidelines and recommendations for clean-up of impacted oil spill areas. well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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Objective 2 - Sustainable management and protection of the resources of marine spaces

FAME | Priority:2.2 |Nº 2009-1/089 www.FAMEproject.eu

Title The Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment

Slogan FAME

Project summary FAME is an ambitious strategic transnational co-operation project which will enable the protection of the Atlantic marine environment. It will protect, secure and enhance the sustainability of the marine and coastal environment, one of the Programme’s key challenges. It will lead to tangible results, by gathering data to provide a better picture of the Atlantic marine environment than has ever been available before. The FAME partnership builds on an existing network of contacts and adds new partners. Existing contacts communicate with each other but are unable to carry out major projects because of shortage of funds. Working as an Interreg partnership promotes open perpetuation and allows the dissemination of results, especially to decision-makers, to be moved to much more influential level. FAME addresses threats to the Atlantic Area, such as the degradation of the marine environment and loss of biodiversity. Understanding seabirds movements and the causes of regional differences will deliver powerful insights into the fundamental drivers of change in the Atlantic marine environment ecosystems. These insights will be critical in supporting an informed assessment of options for conservation management in the marine environment, whether through the designation of marine protected areas or through management of economic activity - eg fisheries, renewable energy. Research will result in a greatly increased understanding of relationships underpinning the foraging locations and population trends of marine biodiversity. Collectively, this information will be used to develop and validate predictive models to identify foraging areas of seabirds from other colonies that may then be used to inform decisions regarding spatial marine planning such as the location of Marine Protected Areas and marine renewables Project Lead Partner Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK)

Partnership BirdWatch Ireland - BWI (IE) ; Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux - LPO (FR) ; Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo des Aves - SPEA (PT); Sociedad Española de Ornitología - SEO (ES); Universidade do Minho - UMinho (PT); Centro de Energia das Ondas – WavEC (PT) Starting date 04/01/2010

Ending date 31/05/2014

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Total eligible budget 3 523 166,90 €

Total ERDF budget 2 290 058,48 €

Global performance 100%

1) Implementation SPEA: In 2014 focus was on Activity 4 Communications. Several communication materials were produced in order to maximize dissemination Progress- Activities of results (calendars, postcards, clothes, brochures, web campaign), and emphasize SPEA’s priorities ok key policies like EMFF, MSFD, and Seabird Plan of Action. A paper was published with FAME project results, posters and communications were presented in SPEA’s congress about other key project results. In 2014, the Portuguese Seabird Atlas, a landmark in Portuguese Marine Science, was also launched under FAME. SEO: SEO has focused on evaluating threats and developing management tools for these sites (already identified in Spain by means of a previous project). Still some monitoring work has also been conducted. The following is a list of relevant actions during FAME, from monitoring to management: Studying the distribution patterns of the Critically Endangered Balearic shearwater outside the breeding period, thanks to the deployment of GLS and PTT loggers, in collaboration with the LPO and associated FAME partners. This allowed refine the identification of hotspots in the Atlantic, and to assess the phenology of the species FAME helped to keep monitoring work at sea, by supporting oceanographic cruises (NW Spain in 2013) and tracking work (Balearic shearwater mentioned above; Cory’s shearwater in Chafarinas 2011) Refining the methodology and implementing a standardised monitoring programme for beached bird surveys, necessary to assess background mortality and causes of death. Developing the methodology to create a seabird sensitivity index to wind farms, and producing a map of risk for Iberia, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, and the involvement of SPEA in Portugal. Developing and implementing a questionnaire for fishermen to establish background information on seabird bycatch taking into account different fishing gear, seasons, regions, etc. This allowed identifying bycatch “hotspots” where future action should be focused. Initiating contact with the fishing sector to address the issue of management plans for marine IBA/MPA/SPAs, though participative workshops (2012) Lobbying for an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries in the new Common Fisheries Policy, incorporating results from FAME. Of particular interest was the work towards a EU Seabird Plan of Action to reduce seabird bycatch, with follow-up work to assess the EC on the implementation of the plan. Lobbying for the designation of the marine IBAs as SPAs. This work led to the proposal of 39 marine SPAs by the Spanish Government in October 2013, and their final designation in July 2014 (multiplying by 20 the previously existing area, and adding over 49,000 km2 to the existing surface of marine Natura 2000 in Spain). Contribution to the development of the Marine Strategies (transposition of the MSFD) in Spain, with direct involvement of SEO in the initial and mid phases so far.

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2) Main project All partners: ER8 and ER9 conclusion (activities reports and payment claims regarding 2013 and 2014) achievements - Outputs SPEA: Presentation of FAME final results in Paris Seabird Atlas Published and online SPEA’s priorities regarding EMFF and MSFD sent to the most relevant decision makers. Website updates, contents and news 7 articles in newsletters 3 posters in SPEA's congress 2 oral presentations in SPEA's congress 1 article in SPEA's Pardela magazine 1 paper submitted on Seabird bycatch in Portuguese waters 2 boat trips for seabird conservation awareness Brochures, leaflets and other awareness-raising documents – postcards (1000), t-shirts (120), sweatshirts (25), inphographics Calendars (1000) printed with Act. 3 FAME results Birdwatch Ireland: A series of public presentations on the activities and findings was made around the country, covering all 4 provinces of Ireland. One staff member gave 8 talks and another 2, January-April. 3) Project Results and SPEA: Impacts Final event in Paris with discussion of the future of the partnership and presentation of final results with emphasis on the extension Portuguese Seabird Atlas published (online platform), and contacts made Nature Conservation State Secretariat for it to be available in a future Government online platform with info on marine Biodiversity. http://www.atlasavesmarinhas.pt/ SPEA’s priorities regarding EMFF sent to the most relevant decision makers in order to include seabird conservation issues in the funding priorities. We are confident some of them will be include in funding strategies. SPEA’s priorities included in MSFD monitoring programmes for Portugal. First national study on seabird bycatch in Portugal published and available: Seabird bycatch in Portuguese mainland coastal fisheries: an assessment through on-board observations and fishermen interviews http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989414000687. Participation in the VIII SPEA Congress with 3 presentations regarding FAME work -“Portuguese Seabird Atlas” and “Seabirds by-catch in Portuguese waters” and “Monitoring of Madeiran Storm-Petrel in Farilhões Islets”. See http://congresso.spea.pt/pt/ Participation in the VIII SPEA congress with 2 posters regarding FAME work – “Beached Birds Surveys in Mainland Portugal”, “Predation of Black Rat Ratus rattus in Cory’s Shearwaters” and “Complete Seabird Census of Berlengas Archipelago”. See http://www.fameproject.eu/en/results/portugal/ Glossy Calendar printed (with information regarding seabird by-catch, best practices to avoid them, seabird species, tide levels, and FAME Act 3 fisheries results) distributed to several fishermen, fishermen guilds, and public authorities. Fishermen in key ports informed about the

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subject. See calendars: http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/calendariopescas2014.compressed.pdf Banners and graphic material produced regarding the issue, and micro site created inside SPEA website - http://www.spea.pt/pt/participar/campanhas/aves-marinhas/ , to inform general public. T-shirts and Sweat-shirts alerting for seabird bycath issues distributed to fishermen, fishermen guilds, used by volunteers, staff and fishermen. Fishermen in key ports aware and informed. 900 postcards alerting for seabird bycath and demanding for implementation of the BirdLife EU Seabird Plan of Action (Seabird PoA)- http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/seabirds/seabirds_communication_en.pdf, addressed to 5 key Portuguese Members of European Parliament (MEPs), sent to all SPEA members, via SPEA’s Pardela magazine - http://issuu.com/spea/docs/pardela_48/1?e=4191652/8766093 - with a letter from SPEA’s president, appealing for the cause and asking members to make the step of sending them. Portuguese MEPs aware of the subject. Another 100 postcards distributed to public in SPEA’s opened activities. See postcards: http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/postal_1_1.pdf 4) Main contributions to FAME has accomplished many goals, particularly the proposal of seabird hotspots in the north (candidates to SPAs) and the consolidation of the Atlantic Area Natura 2000 at least in Spain (with progress in Portugal and France). It has also set a reference for the implementation of management plans Programme achieved in these sites (SPAs or related MPAs), and started the communication with the stakeholders and the general public. Moreover, new monitoring schemes arise from FAME work, ensuring coordination between countries and the application of standardised methodologies. All this work must continue in the future to ensure the success of the project. In Spain, main actions scheduled for the near future include: Monitoring work to which FAME has contributed is expected to be consolidated thanks to its inclusion in the monitoring programmes of the Marine Strategies (beached bird surveys, boat surveys, tracking, colony monitoring). Active participation in the new WGBird of ICES & OSPAR to further develop the strategies regarding seabirds Development/implementation of the EU plan of action to reduce seabird bycatch. Keep the initiated work of providing advice to the EU and the Spanish Government. Development of the management plans for SPAs in Spain, including several participative workshops. SEO/BirdLife is engaged with the Spanish Ministry of Environment and Fisheries to actively participate in the process Follow-up of the implementation of marine wind energy exploitation in Spain SPEA have worked on: Filling knowledge gaps on seabird distribution, abundance, phenology and threats, via publication of paper on Seabird bycatch in Portuguese waters, and Portuguese Seabird Atlas. FAME has been key to consolidate a BirdLife ECA marine strategy and an active Marine Task Force, which will ensure the continuation of the work initiated during the project, and the cohesion of the partnership. The project is an example to other countries, especially within Europe. Methodologies have already been adopted by others, partly thanks to the work of the BirdLife ECA Marine Task Force. In the near future it’d be desirable to have similar projects involving several countries both in

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the Mediterranean and in the Baltic-North Sea, seeking for a European-wide coordination regarding seabird and marine conservation approach. This is particularly relevant given that EU policies affect all these areas in the same way. 5) Implementation Birdwatch Ireland worked on the Seatrack project, of coordinated coastal seabird counts, that ran for four years (2010-2013) with FAME methodology aspects funding, created a network of dedicated ‘seawatchers’ who collectively continued the programme in to a fifth (non-funded) year, after the attained official conclusion of the FAME Project. A full report on the first four years was produced and circulated to all participants. BirdWatch Ireland continue to lobby the National Parks & Wildlife Service (statutory authority for Marine Protected Area designation) to continue the work done under FAME to identify important feeding areas and concentrations of seabirds within the EEZ. We understand (February 2015) that a programme of aerial surveys is to be undertaken to the limits (west and south) of the EEZ commencing in summer 2015 and continuing for 2 years. 6) Innovative aspects of Influencing key policies at a national level like EMFF and MSFD the project achieved Publication of Portuguese Seabird Atlas First assessment of Seabird bycath in Portuguese waters Operation management

1) Management and SPEA: coordination activities ER8 and ER9 conclusion (activities reports and payment claims regarding 2013 and 2014) organized in the period Presentation of FAME final results in Paris SEO: Partners coordination was ensured thanks to regular meetings, conference calls and side-events, plus specific meetings for coordinated actions between given partners. Of relevance: The preparatory meeting organized by the Atlantic Area to train on project management to all partners (July 2010, Porto) 7 partner meetings/events during the project, which allowed putting in common plans, results, methodologies, lobbying work. Worth to note the participation of some stakeholders and representatives of the general public in some of the meetings. Conferences and side-events which allowed further contact and coordination, e.g. the 11th and 12th Seabird Group Congresses (Plymouth, September 2011; Oxford, March 2014), the Workshop on seabird migration (Santander, March 2012) and the V Iberian Ornithological Congress (Vitoria, December 2012 – with a specific season on seabird-fishery interactions). The annual meeting of the BirdLife EU Marine Task Force, to which FAME largely contributed to consolidate. The FAME blog and website have been used as tools to keep everyone informed of the project advances. 2) Monitoring and Partners worked together to ensure the project progressed as planned. evaluation activities organized in the period

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3) Main problems found Partners worked to the new timescale given in the extension. Some partners were not able to complete the ER9 report so will be submitting and solutions adopted another report – ER10. during the period

4) Majors impacts of N/a eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project SPEA: communication Online campaign on seabird bycatch achievements Dissemination actions regarding EU Seabird PoA implementation (calendars with project results on fisheries, postcards sent to MEPs, t-shirts and sweat-shirts distributed to fishermen Posters and presentations in SPEA’s congress. SEO: The actions of communications received particular attention in FAME, as it is crucial to create awareness among the general public about the threats of the marine environment in general, and seabirds in particular (partly as indicators, partly as sensitive species deserving urgent conservation action on their own). Likewise its crucial to inform about the progress on marine conservation strategies, particularly when it’s time for management/action. Several communication channels and tools were used/produced: FAME webpage FAME blog (coordinated by SEO) Social networks (Facebook , twitter) Regular press releases Publications through SEO’s magazine Seabird plates with all species found in Spain, informing on the sensitivity of seabirds, their threats (with particular attention to fisheries), ... Produced in Spanish, English, Galician and Basque to reach the widest public. (http://www.seo.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/05/Lamina_aves_marinas_FAME_ingl%C3%A9s.jpg) Mugs were produced to give as a present to fishermen during questionnaires and workshops (not intended for wider distribution to the general public) FAME brochures for each country + the whole partnership, with focus on Marine Spatial Planning (November 2013)

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Video on the work with the Balearic shearwater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PUqZEbESXM) Overview video of FAME project and seabird conservation (pending final edits) Selection of Cory’s shearwater as SEO’s Bird of the year 2013, with intense communications action that properly quoted FAME (press releases, TV, web,...) Visibility of the project was high, and largely contributed to attract the general public (and stakeholders) interest on seabirds and marine conservation. The fact that 5 different countries were coordinated in the project gave it particular relevance. In Spain particularly successful were the seabird plates produced, which had high demand and forced to a second printing at the end of the project (Spring 2014).

BirdWatch Ireland supplied a series of Irish articles to Bruna Campos as weekly blog posts for the Birdlife Initernationla European Seabird Hub. Publications

2014 - Documents SPEA: (studies, handbooks, Portuguese Seabird Atlas: http://www.atlasavesmarinhas.pt/ guides…) published on Seabird bycatch in Portuguese mainland coastal fisheries: an assessment through on-board observations and fishermen interviews http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989414000687. any format, as well as all Poster “Beached Birds Surveys in Mainland Portugal”: promotional material http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/poster_fame_arrojamentos_almada_nb_mf_corr.pdf produced in the Poster “Predation of Black Rat Ratus rattus in Cory’s Shearwaters” framework of the http://www.spea.pt/fotos/editor2/poster_congresso_spea_2014_camaras.pdf Project. “Complete Seabird Census of Berlengas Archipelago” http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/poster_fame_berlengas_congesso_2014.pdf Calendars for fishermen with bycath awareness and FAME results for fisheries: http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/calendariopescas2014.compressed.pdf Infographics on Seabird bycatch : http://www.spea.pt/pt/participar/campanhas/aves-marinhas/ Postcards demanding for Seabird PoA implementation: http://www.fameproject.eu/fotos/editor2/postal_1_1.pdf T-shirts and Sweat-shirts

Future documents (studies, handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material

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PRESPO | Priority:2.2 |Nº 2008-1/038 www.cripsul.ipimar.pt/PRESPO

Title Sustainable Development of the Artisanal fisheries in the Atlantic Area (PRESPO)

Slogan Artisanal fisheries, an activity with future!

Project summary Artisanal fisheries have great social and economic importance, being a tradition and a factor of regional identity that constitutes part of the culture of the different regions. PRESPO aims to improve the fisheries management policy of common fishing resources in the AA and the respective exploitation by the artisanal fleet, through the development of alternative tools towards to an integrate management of coastal fisheries. Project Lead Partner Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (PT)

Partnership Centro Tecnológico del Mar-Fundación CETMAR (ES); Aglia (FR); AZTI-Tecnalia (ES); Universidad de Cádiz (ES); Consejería de Agroganadería y Recursos Autóctonos del Principado de Asturias (ES); Universidad de Huelva (ES); Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto- FEUP (PT); Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer-IFREMER (FR) ; Réseau d’Information et de Conseil en Economie des Pêches-RICEP (FR) ; Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera, Alimentaria y de la Producción Ecológica-IFAPA (ES); Associated partners: Conseil Régional de Bretagne (FR), Conseil Régional des Pays de La Loire (FR), Conseil Régional de Poitou-Charentes (FR), Conseil Régional d’Aquitaine (FR), Gobierno Vasco (ES), Xunta de Galicia-Conselleria do Medio Rural e do Mar (ES) Starting date 01-01-2009

Ending date 30-09-2014

Total eligible budget € 3.709.675,14

Total ERDF budget € 2.411.236,84

Global performance

1) Implementation During 2014 it was finalized the work scheduled for activities 1, 3 and 6. All the objectives proposed were achieved and the work carried Progress- Activities out followed the initial plan as well as the plan for the extension project period. Concerning activity 3, it was developed a new visual tool for the dynamic models developed for selected case studies. Regarding activity 6, there were conducted several field surveys in order to

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accomplish the objectives proposed. In what concerns activity 1 it was completed the dissemination of the project and their results. All the activities set in the project proposal were completed. 2) Main project During 2014 the work carried out was devoted to the consolidation of the results achieved and to write the final report of the project. achievements - Outputs Therefore, the main project achievements during its lifetime were: Several tools were proposed to gather information on the activity of the SSF and artisanal fleet; It was designed a data collection program for SSF and artisanal fisheries, particularly for SSF; For several case studies it was developed dynamic models and a visual tool in order to improve fisheries management in the Atlantic Area; It were identified the approaches that should be followed by the sector to value the catches; It were identified the ways that should be followed by the fishermen to diversify their activity; For selected fisheries it was gathered information on the selectivity of the fishing gears, the importance of bycatch and fate of discards; It was assayed the implementation of observatories for SSF; It were identified the main problems faced by SSC fishermen and solutions were proposed to overcome them. It were identified and mapped both the main fishing grounds and the areas used by small scale fishing vessels which is of utmost importance to design a marine spatial planning for the countries involved in the project. It was proposed a new methodology to segment the European fishing fleet into small-scale, artisanal and non-artisanal vessels. 3) Project Results and Although being of difficult measurement, the partnership believes that the results achieved within the lifetime of the project PRESPO were Impacts an important contribute to the organisation of costal fisheries and for the promotion of their sustainability, with positive repercussions at social-economic level, in particular through the maintenance of jobs in the fisheries sector, as well as in its associated industries. One of the aspects that must be underlined is the effort that the partnership has been made to promote the project as well as to disseminate the results of the project. With the strategy adopted from the beginning of the project the PRESPO has reached an ample target audience from the sector and fisheries administration to the general public. Other aspect that must be emphasized is the approach that has been implemented in the studies that have been undertaken in the framework of the PRESPO project. Indeed, in order to deeply involve the sector in the project, it has been promoted the cooperative research where fishermen participate in all steps of the studies from its design and field work to the discussion of the results and management proposal send to the Administration. This aimed the implementation of co-management as advocate by the new CFP. This approach increased the awareness of the sector for carrying out a sustainable activity and also increased their responsibility in the management of the resources that they explore. As a result, several consensual management proposals based on the results of the project were sent to the administration and most of them were put in place, such as minimum landing sizes, closed season, mesh sizes, etc. Other important outcome of the project is related to the acquisition of data regarding the activity of small-scale fishing vessels. Indeed, in the framework of the PRESPO project it was successfully assayed real time fishing vessels tracking devices. Therefore this system has been introduced by the Portuguese, Spanish and French administrations in several small-scale fisheries, allowing the improvement of its management.

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During the PRESPO project it was mapped both the activity of small scale fishing vessels and the most important fishing grounds. This information revealed to be of utmost importance for marine spatial planning since its known possible to identify the areas where activities other than fisheries can take place without jeopardizing small scale fisheries. Other important outcome of the PRESPO project was the novel approach that was developed to segment the European fishing fleet into artisanal and non-artisanal. This approached have been presented in several national/international conferences and a scientific publication was published in a top peer-reviewed journal. The outcomes of the PRESPO project were used to support the report made by João Ferreira (EU Committee on Fisheries) “on small-scale coastal fishing, artisanal fishing and the reform of the common fisheries policy” that was approved by the European Parliament. Is also important to underline that the results of the PRESPO project allowed designing other projects (seven projects to date) that were submitted to other national or EU programmes. We also would like to emphasize the collaboration/cooperation between PRESPO and other INTERREG project, the GEPETO project which have been an added value for both projects. Moreover, the PRESPO project also shared information with The European Fisheries Areas Network (FARNET) and the road map for small scale fisheries document elaborated in the framework of the PRESPO project has been used to design the new strategies for the next H2020 regarding the implementation of CLLD in Europe. 4) Main contributions to The results obtained in the course of the project are an important contribution to the sustainability of artisanal fisheries, from both a the Atlantic Area social, economic, environmental and biologically ensuring the development of fishing communities, contributing in this way, for social and Programme achieved territorial cohesion of the Atlantic Area. Other contributions to Atlantic Area were: Consolidation of the international scientific network of collection of fisheries biological, social and economic data; Promotion of the international cooperation between the main research centres of the project partners; Contribution to the objectives of the new Common Fisheries Policy. 5) Implementation In order to ensure the achievement of project objectives, each activity has been developed in four phases: Phase I – Definition of the methodology aspects methodological approach to be followed (completed before 2014); Phase II - Application of the methodology defined in selected fisheries. attained Integration of information obtained and extrapolation for the Atlantic area; Phase III - Design and dissemination of tools: validation of the tools and models developed (completed before 2014). Dissemination and diffusion of both methodologies and results (completed in 2014); Phase IV - Evaluation and monitoring. (Completed in 2014). In 2014, the project was in Phase II and III, that is, it were applied the methodologies identified in Phase I of the project and presented to industry, government, scientific community and other stakeholders the main results. The Lead Partner and the coordinators of the working groups implemented indicators for monitoring and evaluation (Phase IV) in order to ensure that the objectives defined in the project were all achieved. 6) Innovative aspects of the PRESPO is based on several clearly innovating components, not only in its methodological aspects and in the tools that were used / project achieved developed but also in its strategic focus. An innovative aspect of this project was the creation of Observatories of the artisanal fisheries, at local or regional level, which acted as a forum of analysis and discussion among professionals, researchers and local administrations, leading to scientific-technical proposals to the Fisheries Administration, thus ensuring a high involvement and cooperation by all partners. The new ICT were successful used in the acquisition of important data regarding fishing activity. With this purpose it was developed and

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tested a fishing tracking device which proved to be an important tool for data collection. Moreover, it was applied for the first time dynamic and holistic models to artisanal fisheries which revealed to be an added value for fisheries management. Operation management

1) Management and During the period under review, project management and coordination was carried out through email and two Steering Committee coordination activities meetings were organized, one in Huelva ad other in Oporto. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and In order to ensure that the project did not suffer any deviation from what was initially planned, the project leader (IPMA) maintained direct evaluation activities contact, via email, with the coordinators of the working groups. This allowed to identify problems and to solve them in due time, whenever organized in the period necessary. Monitoring and control of the project was carried out by the lead partner that informed the other partners on the degree of its implementation based on the indicators set for the project 3) Main problems found No major problems were found during the project. All the activities set in the proposal were successfully concluded. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of During 2014 it was not requested any revision to the project. Notwithstanding, in 2013 it was asked an extension of the PRESPO project in eventual project revisions order to produce a new visualization tool for the dynamic models developed during the project (activity 3), to improve information related during the period to several fisheries studied during the project (Activity 6) and to disseminate the results of the project (Activity 1).

Communication achievements

1)Main project During 2014 several strategies were adopted to ensure the ample promotion of the project and to disseminate the results achieved: communication The site PRESPO has been updated regularly to make available to both stakeholders and the general public a range of information and all achievements documentation produced; Results were presented in three national/international congress/seminars (1. Camanho, A.S., Oliveira, M.M., Gaspar, M.B., 2014. Exploring seasonality effects on the performance of artisanal fisheries. 12th international DEA Conference - DEA 2014, 14-17 April, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2. Camanho, A.S., Oliveira, M.M., Gaspar, M.B., 2014. Enhancing the performance of quota managed fisheries using seasonality information: the case of the Portuguese artisanal dredge fleet. International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, January 7 – 9, Bali, Indonesia; 3. Gaspar, M.B., 2014. Importância da investigação cooperativa na gestão da apanha e pequena pesca Projetos PRESPO e GEPETO. Conferência o Mundo Mútua, 25 Janeiro, Nazaré, Portugal.) 4 newsletters were published. 2 scientific articles were published; 1 book was published.

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1 book chapter was published

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Book: handbooks, guides…) Gaspar, M.B., Pereira, F (Eds.), 2014. Pequena pesca na costa continental portuguesa: caracterização socioeconómica, descrição da published on any format, as atividade e identificação de problemas. IPMA, Olhão, pp. 268. well as all promotional Book Chapters: Camanho, A.S. , Martins, J.H., Oliveira, M.M., Gaspar, M.B., 2014. Modelo de apoio à gestão da pescaria de bivalves com material produced in the ganchorra no Algarve baseado em Dinâmica de Sistemas. In: Investigação operacional em ação – casos de aplicação (Oliveira, R.C., Ferreira, framework of the Project. J.S. eds), APDIO, Lisboa. (in press). Scientific articles published in peer review international journals: García-Flórez, L., Morales, J., Gaspar, M.B., Castilla, D., Mugerza, E., Berthou, P., García de la Fuente, L., Oliveira, M., Moreno, O., García del Hoyo, J.J., Arregi, L., Vignot, C., Chapela, R., Murillas, A., 2014. A novel and simple approach to define artisanal fisheries in Europe. Marine Policy, 44: 152–159. Camanho, A.S., Martins, J.H., Oliveira, M.M., Gaspar, M.B. A System Dynamics model to support the management of artisanal dredge fisheries in the south coast of Portugal. International Transactions in Operational Research. (DOI: 10.1111/itor.12090). Newsletter: PRESPO – Results dissemination n.º5 (April de 2014), Miguel B. Gaspar / Fábio Pereira. “DVD-ROM: harvesting and Artisanal fisheries along the coast”. PRESPO – Results dissemination n.º4 (March de 2014), Miguel B. Gaspar / Fábio Pereira. “Improving the information and management of the dredge fleet: introduction of a real-time vessel tracking system”. PRESPO – Results dissemination n.º3 (February de 2014), Miguel B. Gaspar / Fábio Pereira. “Book – Small scale fisheries along the Portuguese coast”. PRESPO – Results dissemination n.º2 (January de 2014), Miguel B. Gaspar / Fábio Pereira. “Real time tracking of small scale fishing vessel: GPS/GSM/GPRS system”. Future documents (studies, The project has already ended. No future documents are expected to be produced apart from some scientific papers (1-4 papers). handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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SEAFARE | Priority:2.2 |Nº 2009-1/123 www.Seafareproject.eu

Title SEAFARE

Slogan Sustainable and Environmentally friendly Aquaculture for the Atlantic Region of Europe

Project summary SEAFARE brings together applied R&D centres, aquaculture industry organisations and environmental agencies across the Atlantic maritime region, to promote sustainable expansion of European aquaculture. SEAFARE develops solutions to specific constraints on industry development for Europe's fish and shellfish farmers, through species diversification and development of low-intensity aquaculture systems that are compatible with sensitive coastal habitats. Thus it provides models for profitable expansion of the aquaculture sector that can be integrated with sustainable management of coastal ecosystems. The partnership of technology transfer and dissemination specialists with R&D providers, industry organisations and public agencies will bridge the knowledge gap to facilitate rapid and effective capitalisation of project results as tangible and sustainable examples of good practice to inform sustainable industrial expansion, environmental management and policy development. Project Lead Partner Bangor University (UK)

Partnership IPMA (PT); Ifremer (FR); IFAPA (ES); AquaTT (IE)

Starting date 01-01-2010

Ending date 31-03-2015

Total eligible budget 3.179.473,00 €

Total ERDF budget 2.066.657,00 €

Global performance

1) Implementation Seafare has promoted the environment and the sustainable management of economic activities and resources, supporting integrated Progress- Activities management of coastal areas and estuaries and protecting wetlands, such as salt marshes and coastal lagoon systems, through low-impact aquaculture.

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2) Main project The project has moved ahead effectively and produced impressive cutting-edge, applied aquaculture R&D. Main highlights include the work in achievements - Outputs southern Spain and Portugal, where extensive pond culture has been carefully integrated into wetland ecosystems to yield valuable crops including bass, bream and oysters. Meanwhile, around Britain and Ireland, and at other sites in Northern Europe, an exciting study covering genetics and field sampling has characterised the extent of naturalisation of the commercially important Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. The project management process is working as anticipated with input from main partners and steering input from associate partners. The eight group meetings held so far have enabled activities to be coordinated between the different partners. Project work is fully advanced on nearly all fronts. We have already held 13 international meetings to coordinate and publicise the project. We have a website : www.seafareproject.eu 3) Project Results and SEAFARE is a thriving project and network that continues to link like-minded researchers with ambitious SME partners in the Atlantic Area. Impacts Spin-offs are anticipated in the form of commercial and research projects. The project has already created 11 jobs (6 female, 5 male) and the long-term impact of SEAFARE will also be bound up in the body of expertise that it is has created. Contributions, by reference to indicators: Regional Authority engaged 1 (EAW); Universities & research centres engaged 9 (project partners + UCD). SMEs engaged 3 (partners). Public agencies engaged 3 (partners). Other non-profit engaged 1 (Formosa). Attendee women 29. Attendee men 31. National Authorities 7(IPIMAR, Ifremer, SAMS, EAW, Marine Inst., CCMAR, CESAM). Regional Authorities 3 (NWNWSFC, EAW, ICES). Public agencies 8 (IFAPA, IPIMAR, IMAR, CCMAR, CESAM, SAMS, NWNWSFC, Marine Inst.). Universities and Research 13 (BU, IPI, Ifremer (Trmbl.& Argenton), UCC, IFA, SAMS, UBO, MI,IMAR, Plymouth, CCMAR, CESAM,).Education and training centres 13. Cross border or transnat. bodies 3 (ICES, NWNWSFC, AquaTT). Private Enterprises 7(Porto meeting 6/10/10). Policy fields addressed Economic, Environment, Innovation. Tackling transnational issues, pooling a critical mass, knowledge transfer. Project generated on the basis of pre-existing project results 1. New networks 1. 4) Main contributions to SEAFARE is a thriving project and network that continues to link like-minded researchers with ambitious SME partners in the Atlantic Area. the Atlantic Area Spin-offs are anticipated in the form of commercial and research projects. The project has already created 11 jobs (6 female, 5 male) and the Programme achieved long-term impact of SEAFARE will also be bound up in the body of expertise that it is has created. Contributions, by reference to indicators: Regional Authority engaged 1 (EAW); Universities & research centres engaged 9 (project partners + UCD). SMEs engaged 3 (partners). Public agencies engaged 3 (partners). Other non-profit engaged 1 (Formosa). Attendee women 29. Attendee men 31. National Authorities 7(IPIMAR, Ifremer, SAMS, EAW, Marine Inst., CCMAR, CESAM). Regional Authorities 3 (NWNWSFC, EAW, ICES). Public agencies 8 (IFAPA, IPIMAR, IMAR, CCMAR, CESAM, SAMS, NWNWSFC, Marine Inst.). Universities and Research 13 (BU, IPI, Ifremer (Trmbl.& Argenton), UCC, IFA, SAMS, UBO, MI,IMAR, Plymouth, CCMAR, CESAM,).Education and training centres 13. Cross border or transnat. bodies 3 (ICES, NWNWSFC, AquaTT). Private Enterprises 7(Porto meeting 6/10/10). Policy fields addressed Economic, Environment, Innovation. Tackling transnational issues, pooling a critical mass, knowledge transfer. Project generated on the basis of pre-existing project results 1. New networks 1. 5) Implementation SEAFARE cross-cutting actions that constitute the communications plan (Activity 5) are near completion as are core activities (Activities 2, 3, methodology aspects 4). Coordination has mostly been achieved through a series of steering and group meetings held every six months. The operational details of attained the sub-projects are worked out at these meetings. For example, the latest meeting was held in October 2014 in San Sebastian, Spain.

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6) Innovative aspects of the Project work is well advanced. We have already held thirteen international meetings to coordinate and publicise the project. We anticipate project achieved significant uptake of our R&D work. For example, we have identified and cultured microalgae species with special nutritional profiles that are attracting interest from the aquarium trade, the neutraceutical industry and from fish hatcheries. Meanwhile, our work on conservation aquaculture has produced manuals for the rearing of species such as the smelt, which is under threat in its natural habitat. Such manuals provide practical solutions for those charged with preserving our diverse natural heritage. Key parts of the SEAFARE project have been implemented at the Veta la Palma farm, which is located in the wetlands of Andalucia in southern Spain. This environment is a designated natural park yet it supports the largest aquaculture venture in Europe. Few people know about this massive farm and how it manages to support thriving colonies of seabirds, including flamingos as well as producing crops of fish and shellfish. It’s important that we raise awareness of positive aquaculture success stories such as this one. They show that sustainable aquaculture is viable and productive. Operation management

1) Management and SEAFARE Group and Steering Meeting, San Sebastian, Spain, October 14, 2014 coordination activities organized in the period

2) Monitoring and The group meeting held in 2014, in San Sebastian, Spain, has enabled all activities to be coordinated between the different partners. The evaluation activities project management process is working as anticipated with input from main partners and steering input from associate partners. organized in the period

3) Main problems found Problems: Delays in compiling our claims (particularly Bangor University and IFAPA) and resulting late submission to the Secretariat; lack of and solutions adopted proficiency with and anticipation of the complexities of the claims and reporting process; bureaucratic complexities and delays within the during the period Spanish administration. Solutions: Submitting project claims before all partners have submitted their sub-claims and reports; building experience and proficiency with the claims and reporting process. 4) Majors impacts of The problem with implementation delays has been eased by the granting of a project extension till the end of March 2015. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Dissemination and communication are proving critical to the success of SEAFARE. The project does include some diverse elements but they communication are all linked in providing an alternative view of aquaculture with the emphasis on environmentally-friendly technology for sustainable achievements production systems. For example, large areas of coastal wetlands fail to realise their potential for aquaculture because people assume that modern aquaculture is incompatible with environmental integrity. This is just one of many myths that SEAFARE will help to dispel so that these wetlands can support fish and shellfish farms and provide rich habitats for wildlife.

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AquaTT have advanced their publicity work, creating the SEAFARE website, factsheet, brochure and press releases. Project Open meeting held in Porto, October 6th 2010, during the Trade show of the European Aquaculture Society. 17 attendees at the Open meeting and 12 Commercial and media contacts established. This was just a first step in the targeted dissemination strategy. The eight project meetings held thus far, in Olhao, Porto (x2), Bangor, El Puerto de Santa Maria,La Rochelle, Prague and Dublin have allowed the project partners to tightly integrate their research and development programs. The first meeting (Olhao) included 11 detailed presentations and the second (Porto), featured a further 12 presentations, the Bangor meeting included 9 presentations and the December 2011 meeting included 10 presentations. The meeting in La Rochelle featured 10 presentations, Prague 2 presentations and Dublin 7. Publicity campaign through trade press: press release via AquaTT News. Internet mailings via AquaTT newsletters. Website: www.Seafareproject.eu. Distribution of factsheets and brochures at the European Aquaculture Society Trade Show, Porto, October 5 -7, 2010, and AQUA 2012, Prague. Workshops in Seville, Spain in October 2013 and in London, UK Dec 2013. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, All such documents are attached to SEAFARE Claim 8 and include: handbooks, guides…) Presentation SEAFARE Open meeting, Porto published on any format, as Factsheet for SEAFARE well as all promotional Brochure for SEAFARE material produced in the website design for SEAFARE framework of the Project. Website homepage and estimation of hits per month Press release for SEAFARE Website snapshots Abstract Aquacultura Organica Stakeholder database Poster Jornadas Cartaya Seafare Logo Seafare Dissemination Report Seafare Knowledge Report Seafare Scientific Report 2 Seafare Brochure Final Seafare Ipimar Scientific sub-report Aveiro Biologica 2010 AE2010 – 724- Harrang Seafare Press Releases

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Future documents (studies, All such documents are attached to SEAFARE Claim 8 and include: handbooks, guides…) to be SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 - 4_meeting_16Dect11_Frederico.pdf published on any format, as SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 Activities IFAPA SEAFARE Puerto meeting dec 11.pdf well as all promotional SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 Apresentacao_IMTA_Exp Desig.pdf material to be produced, SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 CADIZ_SEAFARE.pdf until the end of the Project. SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 ElPuerto_SEAFARE_Activity5DCKTAquaTT.pdf SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 Estelle_SeaFare_Cadix_2011.pdf SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 SEAFARE meeting, Cadiz Dec 16th 2011.pdf SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 Seafare_Lapegue_Cadix161211.pdf SEAFARE CADIZ 2011 Seafare_MW_16Dec.pdf SEAFARE CADIZ DLallias SEAFARE Cadiz 16thDec2011.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 Bangor_SEAFARE_Activity5DCKTAquaTT_v2.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 DLallias SEAFARE Bangor 25thMay2011.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 IFAPA SEAFARE Bangor meeting may 11.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 Ifremer presentation SEFARE Bangor may 2011.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 IPIMAR SEAFARE_Bangor_meeting_25May111.pdf SEAFARE Bangor 2011 MWalton_Seafare_25may.pdf

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Objective 3 - Exploit the renewable energy potential of the marine and coastal environment

ATLANTICPOWER | Priority:2.3 |Nº 2011-1/151 http://atlantic-power-cluster.eu/index.php/fr/

Title ATLANTIC POWER CLUSTER

Slogan Marine Renewable Energy Partnerships

Project summary Atlantic regions have a huge potential in renewable energy which can be useful for the EU to meet the goals of its energy strategy, while contributing to the prosperity of their industries and populations, and meeting the objectives of economic, social and territorial cohesion. The Atlantic Power Cluster project builds on the Marine Energy Working Group set up in the CPMR (Atlantic Arc Commission) and is intended to implement a transnational marine energy strategy so the partner regions can seek complementarities to tackle the crucial challenges for the development of marine energies in the Atlantic Area (AA). Furthermore the project seeks to develop cooperation and joint approaches to facilitate the identification of new market niches in the renewable energy sector and the redefinition of educational and training programs as per the needs of the offshore and marine energy sector in the AA. The project is likewise is expected to contribute to a “greener” model of energy development, while enhancing the competitiveness and innovation capacities in the Atlantic regions. Project Lead Partner SODERCAN (Region Development Agency of Cantabria) (SP)

Partnership FUAC-Foundation University of La Coruña (SP); Galway County Council (IE); Bretagne Developpement Innovation (FR) ; FAEN-Fundacion Asturiana de la Energia (SP) ; Conseil Regional Basse-Normandie (FR) ; CPMR-Conférence des Régions Périphériques Maritimes d’Europe (FR) ; CIT - Cork Institute of Technology (IE); EVE-Ente Vasco de la Energía (SP); WavEC Offshore Renewables (PT); INEGI - Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial (PT); SEGEC-Scottish European Green Energy Centre (UK) ; Pole des Eco-Industries de Poitou Charantes (FR); Société Publique Régionale des Pays de La Loire (FR); Conseil Régional d’Aquitaine (FR) ; CIEMAT-Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (SP) ; Regen SW (UK); The University of Plymouth (UK) Starting date 01/02/2012

Ending date 28/02/2015

Total eligible budget 2.894.805,79 €

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Total ERDF budget 1.881.623,76 €

Global performance

1) Implementation Activity 2 “Regional study on marine renewable energies” will address the present situation in the partner regions from a strategic and Progress- Activities political point of view. Understanding where the regions are will enable them to better define where they want to be in the next future. Coordinator Atlantic Arc Commission CPMR. The preparation of a draft questionnaire was the first tasked assigned to this Work Package. The WP leader had to meet a lot of experts within the Atlantic Regions to be able to prepare a very first draft of that questionnaire. The CPMR also organised meetings with ATPC partners from WP4 & 6 to define what were the issues of the questionnaire should be tackle. Between April 10th 2012 and June 2012, several versions of draft questionnaire were carried out and finally a provisional version of that questionnaire to all partners for comments was sent. When the 1st draft was finalized, the 30th June 2012, it was sent to all the partners for comments and additions. The WP's leader received a lot of comments to add parts to the questionnaire and precise some questions. Upon comments, the WP's leader changed the format of the questionnaire so that partners could answer to it more rapidly (clear organisation on boxes, tick boxes, YES or NOW answers, etc.). After receiving all the comments via e-mail and phone, the final version of the questionnaire was ready. In July 2012, It was sent to all the partners to be complete. All the partners filled in the questionnaire and sent it back to the leader on September 2012. First deadline (31st August) had to be extended to 15th of September because of the Summer Break. Only one partner did not yet replied to the questionnaire but told it should be send soon. The expected results has been the benchmarking study to show all the regional frameworks for the development of marine energy projects so as to know how to develop the other ATPC activities. The aim is to better understand where are the regions at present time to enable them to define where they want to be in the near future. As for communication, a seminar was organised in Caen, Basse-Normandie, on the 24th of May 2012, where the WP's leader presented the expected outcome of ATPC as well as undergoing activities within this work package. While preparing the Action Plan of the Atlantic Strategy, CPMR also took the opportunity to mention ATPC project during the Atlantic Forum Steering Committee in which CPMR participated as the executive secretary of the Atlantic Arc Commission. (several meetings in Brussels and exchanges with EU representatives including Head of Unit of DG MARE in charge of the Atlantic, DG REGIO, DG RTD, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions and European Economic, Social Council and 5 Atlantic Member States Representatives). ATPC project is also mention within the Atlantic Arc Commission working documents et political paper. ATPC was also extensively quoted during the meeting of the Atlantic Arc Commission Marine Renewable Energy Working Group in Nantes on the 26th of September 2012. The Report on Marine Renewable Energy Benchmarking Study was officially presented during the Transnational Seminar held in Nantes (France) on 4th July 2013. Activity 3 “Public awareness and social acceptance” is intended to develop a comprehensive methodology to increase public awareness and social acceptance of marine energy developments. Coordinator Galway County Council. A survey of Partners activity on Social Acceptance was undertaken and outlined the media channels used, the stakeholders involved, the concerns of stakeholders were identified. A Guide to Organize Focus groups was compiled.

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Focus groups with stakeholders were held in partners regions. A compendium of initiatives undertaken by partners to increased Social Acceptance of Marine Renewable Energy was produced. The Atlantic Power Cluster project has a working group in charge of examining how to increase social acceptance of marine renewable energy. An exercise was undertaken by the partners to achieve it. The goal was to prepare a compendium of initiatives that the partners were aware of from their respective regions that have been implemented to attempt to increase social acceptance of marine renewable energy. By compiling this database of initiatives, the partners would be able to identify common features of the initiatives that would inform the partner’s future activities in this space. The compendium also provides information to partners and other stakeholders on the activities that are being undertaken in different regions in order to increase social acceptance of this sector. This can be used as a planning tool for their own activities. This compendium identifies the commonalities between the different initiatives that were submitted by the partners and from this a range of requirements that should be incorporated into any initiative that aims to increase social acceptance of Marine Renewable Energy has been developed. Regarding the social acceptance on MRE, a pack of activities led by the Galway County Council have been carried out by the project partners: Several campaigns were carried out in the different regions. In Galway the social acceptance campaign focused on local public schools (more than 100 schools and with children of the range of 11/12 years old) with specific educational packs during two months. The Spanish partners of Coruna gathered stakeholders linked to fishing activity and harbour facilities of the Harbour of Celeiro (more info) ; whereas the Asturias Energy Foundation has carried out an informative campaign during the summer of 2013 with a travelling informative exhibition for residents, tourists, fishermen and other local stakeholders (see “Focus on Asturias”). In Portugal fishing associations were gathered with the local city hall representative, a training entity, port representatives and also local residents for an informative and fruitful information session about MRE. In Aquitaine, the publication of a report on marine energies potentials has been followed by a consultation process of representatives of the main stakeholders: fishermen, environmental association, economic stakeholders, and elected representatives. Report on Initiatives to Increase Social Acceptance of Marine Renewable Energy The Transnational Seminar in order to disseminate the results was held on 6th May 2014 in Cork (Ireland). Activity 4 “Business development”: Identifying challenges of the marine energy industry in the Atlantic Area, seeking to facilitate the identification of new market opportunities in the EU offshore and marine energy sector. Coordinator Bretagne Development Innovation. The project seeks to identify current and future market opportunities in the field of offshore and marine energies in order to achieve maximum benefit for the Atlantic region and the industry as a whole. The strategy in terms of business development shall be designed at European level, not only at partner regions level, so those areas where the real opportunities are can be considered. In order to make this study a successful tool for the regions, it would be necessary to establish a set of targets to be achieved. In order to select those targets several sources were proposed like the EU-OEA, EWEA, European Industrial Initiatives, etc. The study should help the Atlantic regions to organize themselves in order to answer the following question: How can the Atlantic regions work together and take advantage of the new business opportunities in this field? The following issues have been tackled and discussed: Technology development / technology offer

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Industrial expertise / industrial capacity Supply chain development Port and logistic facilities

Installation and maintenance capability Discussing regional tools for a marine energy strategy in the Atlantic, building a marine energy cluster, these were the objectives of the seminar held in Bordeaux, on February 19th 2014. The event was jointly organized by the Aquitaine Region and Bretagne Developpement Innovation and gathered almost 100 participants from all the Atlantic regions. The one-day event recognized the ATPC project as the good basis for creating a transnational cooperation between the Atlantic regions. 8 clusters from Scotland, France, Spain and Portugal discussed cooperation opportunities. They all agreed on the need for more cooperation considering the lack of maturity of a large number of remaining (non) technological barriers and they made several recommendations on what should be the Atlantic Power Cluster: developing a European market for MRE, building a European value chain, strengthen the networks, lower the costs, bring in to line the regional strategies… Thetis 2014, April 9&10, Cherbourg (France): Thetis is an international convention of marine renewable energies under the patronage of the French Ministry of Ecology. It was created to encourage technology, economy and industrial initiatives to contribute to structure the MRE sector. And each year, a specific B2B platform is organized following this objective. The Atlantic Power Cluster project was hosted on the Aquitaine stand. Many companies and industries linked to the ATPC partners were attending the two-day event: Energie de la Lune, FIVA, Hydrocap Energy, In Vivo, Institut Supérieur Etudes Logistiques, Mappem Geophysics, Mott MacDonald, Multiplast, Pôle EMC2, Pôle S2E2 – Smart Electricity Cluster, Sominex. Within forgotten partners who will be present as visitors: CEGELEC Cherbourg Industry, Centre Technique des Industries Mécaniques, Fonderie et Mécanique Générale Castelbriantaise, H2ION, HydrOcean, Institute of Technology of Saint-Nazaire, JYDonnard Expertise EARL, MIRIADE, SACMO, SEANEO, TEC Automatismes, WDP Offshore, Beaufort University College Cork, SmartBay Ireland, Innovation Norway Paris, BIMEP, Technological Centre of Components,… The ATPC project presented its interactive map of MRE stakeholders in the Atlantic Regions: The Atlantic industries are first divided into the ones that have already entered the MRE market (10% revenues coming from marine energies) and then classified in into the different categories that constitute the value chain for marine energies Database of companies and a dynamic map: Identification of current and future market/business opportunities along the supply chain in the offshore and marine energy sector, both in the Atlantic Area and other EU regions, has been the core of Activity 4. Visit the map on line: http://ressources.bdi.fr/cartes/apc.html EXCLUSIVELY PRESENTED IN THETIS CHERBOURG ON APRIL 9th Trade missions and brokerage events were considered and two major Fairs have been targeted: THETIS 2013 (Ocean Energy) and THETIS 2014 (Ocean Energy). The following reports have been published (in black those as a result of the partnership's collaboration): WP4- Situation& Analysis of Marine Renewable Energies in Galicia- FUAC WP4-Comparative study of European methodologies used at regional/state level to identify priority zones for the development of Marine renewable Energy- L’Agence régionale – Pays de la Loire WP4-Comparative study on offshore wind farm extension versus new exnihilo farm- L’Agence régionale – Pays de la Loire WP4-Business development. Practical guide. Bretagne développement Innovation

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WP4-Etude méthodologique pour faciliter le développement des énergies marines dans les régions d l’espace Atlantique- Pôle des Eco- Industries de Poitou-Charentes WP4- State of the art of Harnessing Marine Renewable Energy in Port Infrastructures- INEGI WP4- Integrating Marine Renewable Energy into the Electricity Networks in Scotland: Innovation Case Studies- SEGEC Final Report on Business Development - Led by BDI. Report on the Supply Chain Development, including: Technology Development, Industrial Capacity, Supply Chain Development and Port and Logistic Facilities. The second last transnational seminar for the Atlantic Power Cluster project (WP 4 and 6) was held ahead of the UK’s biggest renewable energy conference, AllEnergy, in Aberdeen on Tuesday 20th May 2014. Attended by representatives from the five partner member states, the seminar heard the dissemination of the fourth, business opportunities, and sixth, building the cluster, work packages. The day was chaired by Veronica Noone, Energy Strategy Manager at Scottish Enterprise. Many companies from the ATPC partners’ regions attended the event, and made use of the international networking opportunities during both the ATPC seminar and the All- Energy Conference. The Components Technological Centre and Degima from Cantabria, bimep biscay marine energy platform from the Basque Country, Energie de la Lune from Aquitaine, 9 stakeholders from Pays de la Loire : Idea Logistique, Innosea, GEPS Techno, Qos Energy, STX, Valorem, IRT Jules Verne, Neopolia and IUT Nantes - Saint Nazaire (University), and the Irish Maritime & Energy Resource Cluster were attending, as well as INEGI and OCEANO XXI from Portugal, various UK companies such as RegenSW, South West Marine Energy Park, Aquatera and the University of Central Lancashire. Activity 5 “Adapting the Atlantic Workforce to the needs of the marine energy sector” will address the significant opportunities for employment creation and upgrading of skills and the significant challenges in having a highly trained workforce available to service the sector’s future needs. Coordinated by Cork Institute of Technology. Publication of 3 documents within all deliverables. The working group contributed to the results via survey data that allowed the WG leader to collate data for the whole Atlantic Arc area. These surveys were largely done via email but the online tool, wiggio, also allowed for data sharing and storage. Management required was minimal as this was mostly data collection: the writing of reports and deliverables was done by the WG leader with advice and clearance of WG partners. The first report attempted to organise the information in a consistent manner based on MRE technology (i.e. wave/offshore wind/tidal) and by region. This report was circulated to all partners with the proviso that it should remain a draft, allowing for updated and more detailed information until he final deliverable 1 report was compiled: "An Analysis of Skills & Qualifications Requirements for the Marine Renewable Energy Industry" The deliverable report of Atlantic Power Cluster’s WP5, “An Assessment of Potential Growth Patterns for the Developing European Marine Renewable Energy Labour Market”, considers the opportunities for employment creation and skills enhancement, together with the challenges to be overcome in achieving a mature Atlantic Area Marine Renewable Energy sector. This report assesses the labour potential in the developing marine renewable energy fields of offshore wind, wave and tidal generation. By examining studies done previously in regions within the Atlantic Arc, and taking the medium/solid growth scenario figures forecasted by 2050, there is the potential conservatively for between 45,000- 60,000 FTE jobs in the area by 2050. This includes both direct employment in the manufacture, installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines and wave/tidal power installations; as well as indirect employment in the supply chain and ancillary services.

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ACtivity 6 “Defining a marine energy cluster" will build on previous activities to establish current strengths, weaknesses and capability gaps. It will also identify test sites available in the partner regions and afterwards will design cooperative structures from existing resources and complementarities, focusing on technology and project development and development of coherent region wide policies. Coordinator Scottish European Green Energy Centre.

Through the lifetime of the project WP6 has delivered four reports; a transnational seminar; cluster work group discussions; a webinar; the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord with 22 signatures. Key findings: Report on the Complementarities of the Atlantic Power Cluster Regions There is a huge amount of ambition amongst the regions of the Atlantic Arc to exploit the abundant marine renewable energy resource that is available along the coastline. Significant progress has been made towards the delivery of a successful marine renewable energy sector, with the projects in the water, test facilities, pilot zones, research infrastructure and work force. However, there is still work to be done to ensure the appropriate legal, administrative and political landscape for this sector to flourish. Marine Renewable Energy Test facilities in the Atlantic Power Cluster Regions: The Atlantic Area boasts a varied and world-class selection of test facilities available to the offshore renewables sector for testing at each stage of the technology readiness levels (TRLs). These facilities are a necessity for the advancement of the sector as a cost effective means of reducing risk in technology and project developments. Due to the nature of the resource available along the Atlantic coastline, and the cross- sectoral nature of many testing facilities the greatest number of the centres focus on wave, followed by tidal. Offshore wind is represented but less so, but this is due to the maturity of the technology onshore. There is a requirement for test facilities for all types of marine renewables, particularly where innovation is still underway, such as floating offshore wind. There are a greater number of onshore test facilities than real sea sites. This is again due to the cross-sectoral nature of the facilities, such as uses in oil & gas, shipbuilding and aeronautics. Promoting cross border testing allows for a greater number and range of test facilities to be available, but even with transnational collaboration the capacity, capability and accessibility of facilities in the Atlantic Arc should be monitored. Transnational cooperation offers a prospect for growing opportunities and knowledge sharing. This cooperation can be promoted through actions such as writing test guidance for developers based on multiple test centres experiences, development of standards in the testing process and in the collection of information as well as enhancing training opportunities and industry bonds with academia. Cluster Collaboration for Marine Renewable Energy in the Atlantic Area All regions have at least one cluster focused on marine renewable energy (MRE) or related to its supply chain. Clusters tend to be well linked nationally with other clusters (over 75% have links), but our report shows that less than half (41%) have international links. There was an entirely positive reaction to the question on the desire to create international links between clusters. Further answers suggest this response is due to the benefits seen from international collaboration such as wider markets, access to lessons learnt and potential inward investment. The two most highlighted benefits in the responses were greater opportunities for transnational cooperation and increased business connections and wider networks. The next most identified statement was on the benefit of sharing best practice. This is an area that relates

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to several of the regulatory areas of MRE, but is most pertinent around the administrative, legislative and environmental aspects of projects as well as data and experience of prototype testing. Atlantic Area Cluster Cooperation Study This report followed on from the Cluster collaboration report, looking in more depth at the opportunities and barriers to supply chain development for MRE in the Atlantic Area. The report was written by Technopolis Group and Marine South East who interviewed by telephone eleven of the ATPC Accord signatory clusters. The interviewees were asked to list the three pivotal clusters in their regions. A value chain has been drafted from these discussions. The four key areas of recommendations from the report include: Formation and operation of a ‘meta cluster’; High-level leadership to reinforce regional commitment; Reducing policy fragmentation between regions and Leveraging industrial influence. Test Facilities knowledge sharing Webinar The webinar consisted of 5 presentations focused on knowledge sharing in and between test facilities. Each of the five member state countries from the project were represented by the speakers. The conclusion from the discussion was that there was an opportunity to develop guidance to support developers through the testing process, particularly where time and resources are limited thus ensuring the optimum use of available infrastructure. Reports: three out of the four reports were drafted based on written questionnaires sent to the partners to be completed and returned. This elicited a wealth of information, although due to the variety of progress on MRE across the regions, not all partners could provide an equal amount of information. For the final report interviews were used to ensure the maximum amount and quality of information could be obtained for the report writing. Within WP6 partners were consulted on ideas for initiatives and activities for collaboration through work groups held alongside steering group meetings (Cork); transnational seminars (WP2, Nantes) and through teleconference calls with partners in small groups (April 2014). These techniques ensured we gathered appropriate ideas, discussed their potential impact and decisions were made based on potential impact, if the level of information available was enough to ensure success of an initiative and if it would be effective in all regions. The main initiative was the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord, which brings together existing clusters in the Atlantic Regions and will facilitate further collaborative actions, such as personnel exchanges, joint research activities and networking. The first of the networking activities was an online seminar “webinar” focused on knowledge sharing through test facilities, this single action has already initiated collaboration between partners. Good practices that have been used within the work package include effective communication – highlighting timelines for activities, providing drafts for comment; inclusion of partners in decisions to allow for regional differences to be accounted for and knowledge sharing between work packages – WP6 relied specifically on the results of WP2 and WP4 – the WPL for each of these worked closely together to ensure quality of results. The links set up with the ATPC Accord will allow collaboration to be extended beyond project lifetime. For communication achievements, please see the section below.

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2) Main project Regional competences, technological development and manufacturing capabilities, grid connection availability, finance, permit process, achievements - Outputs strategies… have been identified through a questionnaire sent to all the partners’ region. The findings and conclusions, put together by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) in the Benchmarking Study of marine energies in the Atlantic Regions, were the first step to draw up a general picture as to where the Atlantic regions are now in terms of MRE. This state of play was the starting point to better define where the regions want to go in the future, as well as to promote cooperation among complementary regions. The CPMR, responsible for the WP2, organized a transnational seminar in order to present the report. The seminar took place in Nantes in July, 4th at the Institut de Recherche Technologique (IRT) Jules Verne and was co-organised by the partner Region Pays de la Loire. The seminar included contributions from Scotland, Portugal and the DG MARE of the European Commission. Concerning WG3, Activity 3 “Public awareness and social acceptance”, A survey of Partners activity on Social Acceptance was undertaken and outlined the media channels used, the stakeholders involved, the concerns of stakeholders were identified. A Guide to Organising Focus groups was compiled Focus groups with stakeholders were held in partners regions A compendium of initiatives undertaken by partners to bring about increased Social Acceptance of Marine Renewable Energy was produced. Regarding WG4 "Business development", the main outcome has been the on line database of MRE's main stakeholders in the Atlantic Area http://ressources.bdi.fr/apc-stakeholders-maps/ . BDI make some maps with datasets from ATPC partners to have a global view on the MRE, existing and potential resources. 17 partners from 12 regions sent their own data with MRE specific classification and keywords, Companies, Test facilities and Clusters in order to make maps with these filters : For the database, all partners providing information have been worked regionally with: Main regional stakeholders on MRE: companies, clusters, universities, local authorities, associations, supporting institutions, technological centres. Networks in which the abovementioned stakeholders are involved. Public institutions investing in MRE Active projects on MRE Test sites and premises (indoor/outdoor). Agents with activity in design and R&D; development; prospection; financing Active agents in every link of the value chain: conception, industrialization, manufacturing, assembly, testing, transport, control & monitoring, maintenance, electrical distribution & storage Local services offer; R&D offer on MRE Port & logistics: premises Legal framework on MRE (regional, national and European). Concerning activity 5, main results and achievements:

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A survey of Partners activity on Social Acceptance was undertaken and outlined the media channels used, the stakeholders involved, the concerns of stakeholders were identified. A Guide to Organising Focus groups was compiled Focus groups with stakeholders were held in partners regions A compendium of initiatives undertaken by partners to bring about increased Social Acceptance of Marine Renewable Energy was produced As for activity 6: Through WP6 we have interacted with clusters, work groups and forums throughout the ATPC regions. From the reports that we have completed we know that prior to the ATPC project, and the transnational cooperation that it has developed, many regions or clusters weren’t as linked as they wanted to be. We have seen that 76% of clusters have national links, 41% of clusters have international links and 100% of clusters are interested in pursuing international links. The Atlantic Power Cluster Accord has provided the signatory clusters with these international links, and our activities have already resulted in connections and collaborative discussions. When questioned clusters reported the benefits of the ATPC as, in order of most responses: greater opportunities for transnational cooperation increased business connections and wider networks access to a wider supply chain sharing best practice lobbying and influencing improved awareness and understanding of MRE dissemination of activities supporting awareness raising and understanding of the sector Increased awareness of R&D experience, capabilities and capacities. potential for attracting inward investment into regions We can see that there is a willingness of transnational cooperation, which requires initiatives such as the Atlantic Power Cluster to deliver, to either initiate or speed the processes. There are numerous benefits to the supply chain from transnational cooperation. Developing the supply chain in this way also builds competition which helps to bring down the cost of energy for technology such as MRE. It can also be seen from the statistics above that there is still collaboration to be made at a regional and national level, but this is already quite strong, the ATPC project has allowed the development of these links further.

3) Project Results and New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) Social change generated;

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Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes Unexpected measurable results Other types of results and Impacts There are two main streams of follow up activity. Firstly, the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord has set in motion transnational cooperation, it is likely that the networking and events will take place in connection with existing events or using webinar or other technology options to reduce any financial burden. The ATPC Accord has already initiated discussions between partners and clusters and this can be used and fostered in all partner regions. Secondly, the reports that were developed under WP6 will be used in the development of future activities the cluster cooperation report in particular a set of recommendations that can be taken forward by the partners within and between the regions. As the ATPC reports have shown there is significant learning and knowledge sharing that can still be done between the regions to support the development of MRE in the Atlantic Area. The results could be widened to include further regions and member states. The level of knowledge sharing and interaction would be improved through widening the scope of regions involved to bring in the experience of other member states. We have seen already that the supply chain for MRE extends beyond the Atlantic Area so including clusters from these regions would be beneficial for collaboration and competition. Actions for ensuring the sustainability of the work would be to implement some of the recommendations from the Cluster Cooperation study, such as the ‘meta-cluster’ which has already begun with the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord, but which could be developed further with additional financing – models for this could include a project success fee for connections made, regional or European public funding or meta- cluster membership fees. Working with regional and national policy makers will also be key to ensure the work to identify complimentary areas and gaps can be taken forward to facilitate knowledge sharing, keeping the level of information and activity up to date will make this a more successful process. For training needs specifically: Transnational cooperation allowed us, as WG leader, to collect data for the whole Atlantic Arc area without having to dedicate our own human resources to travelling extensively throughout the area. The partnership allowed us to leverage regional and national expertise and networks as tools to gather unique regional data concerning education and training practices. While this cooperation reduced the burden impossible manage both financially and in terms of human resources, it also fostered further networks throughout Europe Relevant conclusions as added value to the project's performance: The two most highlighted benefits were greater opportunities for transnational cooperation and increased business connections and wider networks. A number of the clusters have existing links nationally and internationally; the added value the ATPC can bring is extending those links gives the project activities a clear purpose. Related to these benefits is also access to a wider supply chain for the MRE sector. Through cluster linkages supply chain contacts expand thereby allowing gaps to be filled and the potential for collaborations where there are complimentary services as well as healthy competition. The next most identified statement was on the benefit of sharing best practice. This is an area that relates to many of the regulatory areas of MRE, but is most pertinent around the administrative, legislative and environmental aspects of projects. There is a spectrum of experience in the permitting of MRE projects across the Atlantic Arc, through the sharing of experiences best practices can be developed to avoid all regions

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having to develop permitting and consenting procedures in a vacuum. Also related to the sharing of best practice is the ability to share data collection methodologies and related information to allow comparability of data collected for design as well as environmental information. The ability to share comparable information on design and environmental monitoring expands the use of datasets and allows validation and extended use of modelling. Also stated in the responses was the role of clusters and the ATPC in lobbying and influencing. A number of regions have MRE named in their strategic energy plans, such as the Basque Country and Scotland, there is still the opportunity in all regions and nations to promote MRE as a significant contributor to cleaner and greener energy mixes across Europe. Projects at transnational scale are important for the promotion of MRE at these levels and also at a European level as there is still support needed for this developing sector to reach its commercial potential. Further responses cited improved awareness and understanding of MRE. The awareness of the sector needs to be developed at a number of levels, firstly within relevant supply chains were companies work in a related sector but have the chance expand and innovate into MRE. As with the lobbying and influencing role noted above there is still a need to inform and create awareness of the potential and benefits of MRE at a regional and national government level. As with all new sectors there is also an important benefit in education and the general public to be more aware of energy generation as a whole but also the impact and benefits of MRE to local communities, and globally, leading to increased social acceptance of MRE. The wider networks also offer a larger field for dissemination of activities supporting awareness raising and understanding of the sector. Further to the benefits of increased business contacts and wider supply chains the knock on effect of this an increased awareness of R&D experience, capabilities and capacities. This is hugely important for joint development of projects particularly innovation. Wider business networks also have the potential for attracting inward investment into regions, this adds to the breadth of the supply chain and the economic impact of the sector in a region. There is a real interest in international collaboration. This is a situation that we can develop and build on to promote many areas of the MRE sector such as technology development, environmental monitoring and social acceptance. Collaboration within the supply chain offers scope for innovative solutions to technical problems and greater information sharing. To harness this potential the Atlantic Power Cluster project has invited the clusters that exist within the partner regions to sign up to the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord. This working agreement shows a commitment to engaging in collaborative activities across the Atlantic Arc. The types of collaboration envisaged are highlighted below, although this is not an exhaustive list and all types of collaboration are encouraged. Joint networking activities Any activities that give cluster members the opportunity to network with the other cluster members through, for example, extending event invitations to the Accord signatory clusters; facilitated networking events such as pre-arranged business-to-business meetings on specific topics or projects or dissemination of project information and activities through the cluster networks. This will allow the broadening of networks, the opportunity for promotion of companies to expand potential markets and aid identification of products and services to fill local supply chain gaps. Opportunities for staff exchanges or secondments

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A tried and tested method for sharing experience and disseminating competencies and capabilities is to offer staff exchanges or secondments. This arrangement works well in academic institutions where it is widely used, but should not be limited to only this sector. Secondments from public organisations into private companies can provide a real insight into industry needs, and should be considered within this context. Sharing of information and best practices around the development of MRE, regulation and socio-economic impact As a relatively new industry, offshore renewable energy faces an information deficit in areas such as environmental and resource monitoring as well as operating data. It is important that information is shared as widely as possible, within IP rights, to avoid duplication of effort and spend and therefore to speed the development of the industry. To successfully share data it is important to share best practice methodologies in order to ensure quality and comparability. Education and training The ATPC networks can be used to promote relevant education and training courses available within the Atlantic Area. Work done through the ATPC on workforce readiness and social acceptance have information and tools available for early education as well as those looking to retrain or up-skill for MRE related jobs. Research, development and demonstration There are opportunities for MRE through the Horizon 2020 work programmes on Energy and Blue Growth as well as collaborative actions being highlighted in the Atlantic Area draft Operational Programme 2014-20. This therefore provides a further opportunity for collaboration through consortium approaches to applying for European funding, particularly, but not exclusively, in the area of technology development. Promotion of further Atlantic Area cooperation in the field of MRE This would cover any other activities that would further promote the development of MRE in the Atlantic Area, such as market building and other activities with a shared interest in the sector. There is a significant amount of activity that has taken place in the Atlantic Area in relation to MRE. This is demonstrated by the number and breadth of industry clusters that are dedicated to, or have an interest in MRE. These clusters are active and have shown that they have an interest in developing this sector through transnational cooperation. There are a number of areas of joint activities that have been highlighted that could be used to implement this willingness. The Atlantic Power Cluster project much capitalise on this ambition by using the Atlantic Power Cluster Accord as a focal point for transnational cooperation and activities. 4) Main contributions to Several actions have been taken which have a clear impact of social awareness of Renewable Energies. Under the coordination of the WG the Atlantic Area leader focus groups were hold in the Partner regions which engaged in dialogue with coastal communities and local stakeholders. Raise of Programme achieved social awareness has been achieved at a smaller scale through other actions such as a pilot campaign undertaken though the primary level school system in Galway and the University which reached a high number of students. Another useful action was the stand hosted at the Galway Science and Technology Fair which was attended by over 25,000 people. Regarding the workforce and adaptation to the needs of the industrial sector, preliminary action has already been taken, as a complete analysis of qualifications and skills requirements, together with the identification of shortfalls in the supply of trained personnel have already been achieved. There is obviously not an impact on the Atlantic Programme derived from this task yet, but it will be used as the starting point for the development of the training programmes and courses that match the employment projected demand.

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So far just an analysis of present and potential complementarities, synergies and links across regions, companies and institutions has been developed. The information will be used in order to construct cooperative networks that will commercially exploit and develop research on MRE. New market opportunities will be identified thanks to the diagnosis carried out which aims to help the Atlantic regions to work together and take advantage of the new business opportunities in MRE. Some of the topics looked into are technology development, industrial capacity, supply chain development and port and logistic facilities. 5) Implementation Active coordination between the WG leaders and the lead partner with constant communication through the Intranet set up for project's methodology aspects activities attained

6) Innovative aspects of the Real involvement of stakeholders for the project's development as well as Academia and Regional Governments. It also includes a high project achieved number of SMEs dealing with the different positions within the wide value chain connected to the development of MRE

Operation management

1) Management and Organisation of steering Committees meeting (one held in Santander as the final SC meeting on 3 July 2014). Overall coordination of the coordination activities activity reports and financial claims, activities' performance and budget's execution. organized in the period Preparation, coordination and organization of the Final Conference and the final Steering Committee (2 and 3 July 2014); coordination of the procedure for project's amendment (budget and duration of the project); coordination of the procedure aiming at submission of the final payment claim and activity report. 2) Monitoring and All WG leaders present the current state of development of the WGs activities. Then, corrective measures are agreed and taken when evaluation activities needed. All partners have the chance to make comments and suggestions. organized in the period The planned objectives have been reached, thanks to the high level of coordination and optimal participation of the partners. Intense monitoring of the financial execution of each partner has been done during this period. A request for budgetary amendment and project (time) extension has been sent. 3) Main problems found The main issue has been co-ordination of the 17 partners. This has been critical for the amendment request. Its complexity required several and solutions adopted months work to define it and complete it. during the period

4) Majors impacts of Budget's amendment claim and project's amendment (extension of the project's final date). Activity report and final activity report and eventual project revisions payment claim in progress during the period

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Communication achievements

1)Main project Publication of 4 newsletters. Transnational seminars organized for dissemination of major outcomes (see activities above) and Final communication Conference held in Santander (Spain) on 3 July 2014. Attendance to THETIS fair 2014 in Cherbourg; organisation of B2B meetings in ALL achievements ENERGY 2014 (Aberdeen, Scotland, UK), dissemination of project's outcomes through a specific session within the panel of conferences.

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Publication of 4 newsletters. Transnational seminars organized for dissemination of major outcomes (see activities above) and Final handbooks, guides…) Conference held in Santander (Spain) on 3 July 2014. Attendance to THETIS fair 2014 in Cherbourg; organisation of B2B meetings in ALL published on any format, as ENERGY 2014 (Aberdeen, Scotland, UK), dissemination of project's outcomes through a specific session within the panel of conferences. well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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ENERGYMARE | Priority:2.3 |Nº 2011-1/157 www.energymare.eu

Title Cooperation for the use of renewable energies in the Atlantic Area.

Slogan EnergyMare: ocean power as alternative.

Project summary The Area of the Atlantic has a maritime patrimony with wide natural resources which must be protected and preserved and at the same time, it must also be used to stimulate the economic growth, the social welfare and quality of life. The renewable ocean power is a clean and native alternative to conventional production which should be considered to push the economy and a tool for territorial cohesion of the AA. EnergyMare project was created to guarantee the sustainable development of the Atlantic regions enhancing renewable energy production from the ocean. Our proposal: Creation of a Transnational Cooperation Network to push, promote and develop a renewable tidal power production. Exploring the potential of innovative energy sources from the sea. Development of pilot projects to test experimental prototypes of energy production in the marine environment. Cooperation to overcome the limitations which currently influence the implementation and progress. Project Lead Partner Instituto Enerxético de Galicia-INEGA (ES)

Partnership Fundación Leading Innova (ES); Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial-INEGI (PT); Ecole d'Ingenieurs en Genie des Systèmes Industriels (FR); University of Strathclyde (UK); University of the Highlands and Islands-ERI (UK); Limerick Clare Energy Agency (IE); National University of Ireland, Galway (IE); Consellería de Medio Ambiente, Territorio e Infraestruturas-MeteoGalicia (ES); Instituto Superior Técnico- MARETEC (PT); Technopôle Brest Iroise (FR) Starting date 15/11/2012

Ending date 15/05/2015

Total eligible budget € 3.042.432,40

Total ERDF budget € 1.997.581,06

Global performance

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1) Implementation The technical activities follow progressing successfully. The most of the activities are well advanced, mainly, the actions not directly related to Progress- Activities the test of devices. The delays are associated an administrative permits and/or the availability of testing facilities.

2) Main project A new detailed European marine renewable resource map focus in the studied regions is almost finished. The request for authorization of the achievements - Outputs MRE test site in Galicia was submitted to the Spanish authorities concerned on 29/07/2014 and the latter allegations for final authorization were submitted on 20/01/2015. 3) Project Results and A detailed European marine renewable resource map will help to the validation of the different marine technologies in the studied regions. Impacts The development of a new test facility will allow advances in marine renewable power technologies and the experimental stages of the devices will be shorter. The progress achieved would make it easier to take the next step: pre-commercial stages of the validated technologies. The different Atlantic regions involved have held different meetings with their authorities concerned for the enhancement and improvement of the development of the MRE in Atlantic Europe. The partnership is very interested to continue working in the future in the different fields involved in the EnergyMare project. 4) Main contributions to Cooperation between the partners in order to achieve the successful development of the different activities. The progress made by each of the Atlantic Area the partners and the whole partnership will contribute to the sustainable use of the ocean power resources in the European Atlantic Coast. Programme achieved

5) Implementation Exchange of knowledge and experiences in ocean power between the partners. All partners are sharing ocean resources data from their methodology aspects region/country. That collaboration will allow to make important progress in the MRE at regional, national and European levels. attained

6) Innovative aspects of the The creation of test facilities for marine renewable power technologies in the Northwest of Spain. New detailed European marine renewable project achieved resource tool.

Operation management

1) Management and 5thproject meeting (Galway, 22/05/2014). 6thproject meeting (Brest, 17/10/2014). coordination activities organized in the period

2) Monitoring and 5thproject meeting (Galway, 22/05/2014). 6thproject meeting (Brest, 17/10/2014). evaluation activities organized in the period

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3) Main problems found The development of the project was reviewed at the meetings and, due to some delays, the partnership agreed to request an extension of 6 and solutions adopted months for the projects. The claim was approved (19/12/2014). during the period

4) Majors impacts of Improvement of the development of the project activities. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project EnergyMare Seminar (23/05/2015. North Campus, NUI-Galway). communication Seminario- Las Energías Renovables Marinas en Galicia (06/02/2014. Santa Cruz- Oleiros, A Coruña). achievements Different partners have also participated in various events, conferences, seminars, and workshops. Examples: 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics- New York, 17-21/08/2014. Sea Tech Week- Brest, 13-17/10/2014. Université d’été e5t & journée créocéan, La Rochelle. Salon de la Croissance verte- Poitiers, 6-7/11/2014. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, EnergyMare: Delivery of offshore generated energy to existing electrical power networks- Optimisation of sub-sea electrical power networks handbooks, guides…) for the utilisation of marine & tidal energy. EnergyMare: Study of socio-economic impacts of Marine Energies in the Atlantic Area. published on any format, as EnergyMare: Memoria descriptiva para la autorización de la zona experimental para el aprovechamiento de las energías del mar en Galicia. well as all promotional Book of abstracts of the Seminar of the EnergyMare project (Galway, 23/05/2014). material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Newsletter/studies about the main achievements of the project activities. New brochures including the main achievements. Summary report handbooks, guides…) to be of the project. published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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MAREN2 | Priority:2.3 |Nº 2013-1/225 www.marenproject.eu

Title Hydro-environmental and economics modelling of multipurpose platform marine renewable energy devices

Slogan

Project summary The project addresses barriers to accelerating the production of marine renewables: cost; threats to natural heritage and fisheries; balancing use of marine space with other interests. MAREN 2 reduces costs through multi-purpose platform design, multiple uses of facilities and increased stakeholder involvement to influence design to minimise negative impacts and speed up real scale implementation through good communication and fewer public objections to plans. We need to work out the best way of producing maximum energy in the smallest space. Either to combine several applications on one platform, or to share common services, infrastructure and logistics between several single applications. We aim to find out which, by using Cost Benefit. Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment tools developed by MAREN 1, and engaging communities. We will apply the results to conceptual device design, using three different test sites; one deep-water, in the southern part of the AA waters; the second in shallow, northern waters and the third a barrage/impoundment structure. The results will be used to improve platform design to maximise the efficiency and cost effectiveness of energy output whilst minimising collateral environmental damage and to support the social sustainability of coastal communities. Project Lead Partner Cardiff University (UK)

Partnership National University of Ireland, Galway (IE) ; Institut français pour la recherche et l'exploitation de la mer (Ifremer) (FR) ; Universidad de Cantabria (SP);Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (PT) Starting date 01/01/2014

Ending date 30/06/2015

Total eligible budget € 1.052.952,25

Total ERDF budget € 684.418,96

Global performance

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1) Implementation Activity 2 Progress- Activities 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree The Lead Partner (LP) has finalised the Partnership Agreement during this reporting period. We have started setting up and building a substantial International Stakeholder Forum. The LP has appointed project coordination staff including a project and events consultant, a technical implementation lead for Cardiff led activity 5 and a finance officer. All Project Partners (PPs) have appointed or liaised with existing FLCers. Two Kick-off meetings took place in the UK (in Februay 2014) and in Santander (in May 2014) (see 9.9 for more details). A midpoint conference and project meeting and a technical site visit took place in Lisbon and Brittany in November and October 2014, respectively. Planning of the final project conference in Cardiff in April 2015 has started. Regular email exchange and teleconferences of all PPs took place during 2014. Finance officers and communication officers met at the kick-off meetings in the UK and Santander. Activity 3: Action No1 NUIG have carried out extensive validation exercises of wave and current data collected by their high frequency radar system in Galway Bay; the radar covers the 1/4 scale wave energy test site in the bay. They have also implemented data assimilation techniques in a coastal hydrodynamic model of Galway Bay. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) Study has shown that HFR wave and surface current data correlates very well with wave rider data for wave heights and ADCP-measured surface currents. 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? It is hoped to demonstrate that HFR data is of sufficient accuracy to be used for resource assessment or as part of a real-time management system for operation of wave and tidal farms. It is also intended to show that HFR data can be used in an assimilative manner to improve operational models for sea state forecasting; such models could also be part of a tidal / wave array management system. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? Tidal / wave energy device developers / operational managers; existing owners of HFR systems; the research community at large. Activity 4 (Action 1 and Action 2) Tests are being executed in order to assess the performance of the numerical models, regarding different outputs from the ones obtained in MAREN1 (wave parameters), like sea level or current velocities. Afterwards, these will be related to wave energy resource, for an analysis of multi-purpose MRE platforms. This data will also be used to quantify/predict flood risk.The study of weather windows are also being performed in order to assess how to interact with the MRE platforms (deployment, construction, maintenance, etc) in the most efficient way.A methodology was developed for the assessment of the cost of energy from different floating wave and wind energy devices located

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offshore in a life cycle perspective. This tool enables the evaluation of the economic feasibility of the concepts and options considered, and the breakdown and analysis of the various costs per life cycle phase The method was tested for a specific wave and wind device concept in two different locations in the Portuguese deep waters (Aguçadoura and São Pedro de Moel) and it’s being revised to enable the assessment of other marine renewable energy concepts. A risk assessment approach to appraise the feasibility of wave energy concepts in a life cycle perspective was also developed. It deals with the existing constraints related to available data and experience, enabling the analysis of existing uncertainties and potential benefits or threats. The approach is being revised and can be integrated in the methodology that was developed, contributing to the robustness of the assessments of marine renewable energy concepts that are made. The chosen test sites are being discussed between partners. A draft of the handbook methodology has been prepared and some chapters are now being written. Activity 5: Action No1 For Knowledge Transfer and Stakeholder Engagement we have started building on and expanding the strong networks established in MAREN 1 along the Atlantic corridor with the aim being to communicate the tools we have started developing and setting up to stakeholders. The LP and PPs have started to pro-actively assess the information needs of the stakeholder base, ranging from MRE developers, national institutions, such as the Environment Agency, to NGOs with their specialist research teams to Councils and the general public. The LP is leading this activity working together with the PPs who in turn are working with their respective stakeholders. All partners are setting up tools for assessment of multi-platform MRE benefits and results will become available in due course which will lead to this action being carried out. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) The LP gave an invited MAREN2 lecture at the prestigious INORE meeting to 30 young researchers in the Marine Renewable Energy sector (see presentations in App 7 and 11, P1 in Report No1) which gave MAREN2 a wide exposure within this innovative sector and will have attracted new relevant stakeholders. The LP has started setting up and running numerical models for the North Wales coast. These are being calibrated and tested during this reporting period. First results have been presented at the RENEW conference in Lisbon in November 2014. 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? The numerical modelling studies will still be further refined and the multi-purpose platform MRE schemes will be further assessed both in terms of their resource optimization and environmental impact assessment. These results will then be widely distributed at the final conference and via the website and the stakeholder forum. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? Tidal / wave energy device developers / operational managers; existing owners of HFR systems; the research community at large which are all part of the international Stakeholder Forum Activity 5: Action No2 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree;

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The LP will appoint an external economics specialist to work together on the economics assessment of multi-purpose MRE projects. As the data from the computer modelling study will only become available in early 2015, work on this action is still in the planning phase. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) This will become available towards the end of the project and are aimed to be presented at the final MAREN2 conference in Cardiff on 5th-7th May 2015 and at the IAHR Congress in the Hague in June 2015 to a wide range of stakeholders. They will also be integrated into the visualization tool which will be developed towards the end of the project when all the results will be available. 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? The results from the economics study of multi-purpose MRE projects and the methodology developed to assess these will be published and disseminated widely. Assessment of the extra benefit of co-locating MRE devices and including extra benefits via a cost benefit analysis will help the future implementation of MRE projects as it will show that they will be more economically viable than previously the case when they were designed as single purpose projects. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? Tidal / wave energy device developers / operational managers; environmental engineers; environmental protection groups; the research community at large which are all part of the international Stakeholder Forum. 2) Main project The LP has successfully managed all the planned activities and are working towards the delivery of all of the expected results as in the project achievements - Outputs plans. Cardiff University has started carrying out overall project management and employs the common project management staff. Each Partner has designated one named person for technical implementation, finance, FLC and communication, respectively. For Knowledge Transfer and Stakeholder Engagement the LP has started building on and expanding the strong networks established in MAREN 1 along the Atlantic corridor with the aim being to communicate the tools we have started developing and setting up to stakeholders. The LP and PPs have started to pro-actively assess the information needs of the stakeholder base, ranging from MRE developers, national institutions, such as the Environment Agency, to NGOs with their specialist research teams to Councils and the general public. The LP is also leading activity 5 and is contributing to all other activities and will be hosting the final project conference in Cardiff. As LP we are also coordinating the Stakeholder Forum. Project partners have met four times in 2014 for planning, discussing and presenting project outcomes and administrative and financial requirements. Activity 3 Action 2: 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree; NUIG have developed a hydrodynamic model which can simulate changes in tidal flows resulting from aquaculture installations (long-line mussel droppers and/or fish cages). The model has been applied to Killary Harbour, a shallow water case study area on the west coast of Ireland and used to investigate the magnitudes of flow accelerations (and hence increases in power available to tidal turbines) beneath long- line mussel droppers for different densities of droppers. NUIG have used a model of the Shannon estuary is Ireland to investigate the potential of large-scale tidal turbine arrays for flood risk mitigation.

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A two-way nested 3D numerical model is being developed to simulate tidal turbine impacts. The model is able to simulate the change in tidal velocity with depth due to energy extraction by tidal turbines and the interaction between devices. The approach has application for assessment of the extraction potential and hydrodynamic impacts of tidal turbine arrays placed beneath mussel droppers / fish cages. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) output from the Killary Harbour model has shown that flow acceleration of up to 60% can occur beneath the mussel dropper canopy. Given that the power available to a tidal is a function of the cube of the tidal velocity, this would result in a four-fold increase in available power. The model results confirm that there is definite potential for co-location of turbines with aquaculture sites that involve large structures which impeded flows in the upper-half of the water column and thereby induce accelerated flows beneath the work on flood mitigation has shown that large-scale arrays have the potential to alter water levels in the Shannon estuary to an extent that flood risk may be reduced 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? The 3D nested model will be capable of simulating the changes in tidal flow resulting from the deployment of a tidal turbine. It will have the significant advantage over 2D models of being able to compute the change in the vertical velocity profile. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? Tidal / wave energy device developers / operational managers; environmental engineers; environmental protection groups; the research community at large. Activity 4 A review of MRE platforms has been made along with preliminary studies of different wave energy converters. A methodology has been developed for the assessment of the cost of energy from different floating wave and wind energy devices, located offshore in a life cycle perspective, and is now being improved. A risk assessment approach to appraise the feasibility of wave energy concepts in a life cycle perspective was also developed and will be improved in 2015 A draft of the handbook methodology has been prepared. 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts Development of the Stakeholder base to ensure coverage of all output indicator groups including the HMG Technology Strategy Board – KTN and UK Licensing Agencies. This will help to ensure that project outputs are taken into consideration/put into action. 4) Main contributions to First results presented at the prestigious INORE meeting to 30 young researchers in the Marine Renewable Energy sector (see presentations in the Atlantic Area App 7 and 11, P1 in Report No1) which gave MAREN2 a wide exposure within this innovative sector and will have attracted new relevant Programme achieved stakeholders. The LP has started setting up and running numerical models for the North Wales coast. These are being calibrated and tested during this reporting period. First results have been presented at the RENEW conference in Lisbon in November 2015 5) Implementation Four project meetings took place during 2014 and all activities are now well under way and aims and objectives and a project plan for the methodology aspects remainder of the project are in place. attained International Stakeholder Forum database collated, updated and expanded which is being used for results’ dissemination and for invitation to MAREN2 events like the final conference.

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All partners are setting up tools for assessment of multi-platform MRE benefits and results will become available in due course which will lead to this action being carried out. 6) Innovative aspects of the Assessments of resource and environmental impacts of multi-purpose platform MRE schemes. project achieved Nothing more to report yet. The data mining and model applications and developments are well under way and will lead to innovative outputs in the final part of the project. Operation management

1) Management and The project partners met four times in 2014 to discuss and monitor the evolution of the activities that are being developed within MAREN2. coordination activities The partners have also had Regular meetings with research groups and stakeholders, in order to plan the execution of tasks organized in the period

2) Monitoring and Regular meetings took place with the research group and its coordinator, at Cardiff University and at CENTEC, in order to plan and analyse evaluation activities progress. organized in the period The project partners met four times in 2014 to discuss and monitor the evolution of the activities that are being developed within MAREN2.

3) Main problems found The short project duration overall has been a focus item during all the meetings and partners are very aware of pressures of producing and solutions adopted outcomes on time. The reporting has also been an agenda item during all meetings as delays are difficult to avoid due to the multi-stage during the period reporting process and partners have been made aware of the importance of supporting this process as much as possible

4) Majors impacts of It is planned to submit a revision request straight after the first report has been submitted which will include some changes to the budgets eventual project revisions and requests for travel outside the AA area as well as the support of MAREN2 supported events which will enable the project results to be during the period broadcast even more widely.

Communication achievements

1)Main project Distribution of MAREN2 brochure and newsletter 1 to stakeholders. communication There will be participation, with a presentation, in the Atlantic Stakeholder Conference, in Porto, on the 20th of January, 2015. MAREN2 has a achievements pullout stand with leaflets and MAREN2 Folders. Results from all the achieved activities mentioned have been presented and will be published in the 1st International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore – RENEW 2014 proceedings. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, MAREN2 has started the delivery of internal and external communications activities which are led by the Project Communication Officer in handbooks, guides…) Spain and coordinated by the LP.

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published on any format, as A project brochure, pullout stand and the first newsletter have been produced and distributed in 2014, another is in process and two more well as all promotional newsletters will be produced and distributed in 2015. material produced in the Book Chapters framework of the Project. Martins, D.; Muraleedharan, G., and Guedes Soares, C. Weather window analysis of a site off Portugal. Guedes Soares, C. & Santos T.A. (Eds.), Maritime Technology and Engineering. London, UK: Taylor & Francis Group; 2015; pp. 1329-1338. Santos, F. P.; Teixeira, A. P., and Guedes Soares, C. An age-based preventive maintenance for offshore wind turbines. Nowakowski, T. et al., (Eds) Safety and Reliability: Methodology and Applications. Taylor & Francis Group; 2015; pp. 1147-1155. Future documents (studies, Under this activity, production and wide dissemination of two more newsletters is planned as well as of memory sticks with the conference handbooks, guides…) to be presentations to be distributed to the International Stakeholder Forum. published on any format, as Also, two visualisation devices which will be coming out of activity 5 will be located at educational centres in North and South Wales which well as all promotional will be coordinated in this activity. material to be produced, Handbook on potential for co-location of MRE installations with other marine-use installations. until the end of the Project. Conference Presentations Castro-Santos, L.; Martins, E., and Guedes Soares, C. Calculation of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of a wave energy converter. Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon Gaspar, J. F.; Calvario, M., and Guedes Soares, C. Pump and gas accumulator based phase control of wave energy converters . Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon Karmakar, D. and Guedes Soares, C. Review on the design criteria and scope of multi-use offshore platforms. Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon Sinha, A.; Karmakar, D., and Guedes Soares, C. Numerical modelling of array of heaving point absorbers . Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon Tomey Bozo, N.; Karmakar, D., and Guedes Soares, C. Numerical investigation of submerged surging plate wave energy converter . Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon Gonçalves, M., Martinho P. and Guedes Soares C., A 10-year hindcast study on wave energy potential in France, Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon 9. Gonçalves, M., Martinho P. and Guedes Soares C., Wave energy assessment in the Canary Islands from a 10-year hindcast, Guedes Soares, C. (Ed.) International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore. 24 – 26 November 2014, Lisbon

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TURNKEY | Priority: 2.3 |Nº 2013-1/279 http://www.turnkeyproject.eu/

Title Transforming Underutilised Renewable Natural Resource into Key Energy Yields

Slogan TURNKEY

Project summary Countries in the Atlantic Areas have a massive potential to exploit wave and tidal power. These substantial resources present an opportunity to build a world leading industry with significant benefits. A thriving marine renewable energy industry would revitalise its maritime legacy; boost renewable energy generation; help to achieve EU carbon reduction targets and to maintain security of supply as well as deliver economic benefits. TURNKEY, a transnational cooperation project, will help to develop renewable energy potential in a sustainable manner whilst promoting economic vitality, community well-being and environmental integrity. TURNKEY aims to investigate: market driven incentives and planning outlooks whilst developing a simplified licence system and standardised procedures. By pooling resources and sharing knowledge across the transnational network, TURNKEY will help to progress marine renewable energy development across the Atlantic Area

Project Lead Partner Environmental Research Institute (ERI), North Highland College, UHI, THURSO, Scotland

Partnership Centro Technologico del Mar (CETMAR), Vigo, Spain: Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal: Ecole D’Ingenieurs en Genie des Systemes Industriels (EIGSI), La Rochelle, France: Fundacion Leading Innova (CT_INNOVA), Cantabria, Spain: Energy North, Invergordon, Scotland.

Starting date 23/12/13

Ending date 31/05/15

Total eligible budget 1 774 475,25€

Total ERDF budget 1 153 408,82€

Global performance

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1) Implementation Project approved on 23 December 2013 with set up through spring of 2014. Project management and financial coordination undertaken by Progress- Activities Lead Partner. Collaborative partnership established across 4 countries pooling technical and human resources to ensure a more efficient use of administrative funds and allow investigation into a wider range of development considerations than could have been achieved by individual partners. Work Packages coordinated by WP Leaders to minimize duplication; specific activity aligned with expertise across partnership with good collaboration over research activity; Knowledge exchange network established through a variety of communication processes. Transnational issues tackled in a collaborative and coordinated manner.

2) Main project Transnational pool of marine renewable expertise established along with Knowledge exchange network - working collaboratively across 4 achievements - Outputs countries has created opportunities for staff, provided local benefits and established an Atlantic Area skills resource which could be mobilized across the region to help develop MRE in future. Novel monitoring technologies deployed and their effectiveness investigated in remote and demanding environments – recommendations for alternatives to traditional resource assessment methodologies will be made to government and industry on Project completion. Coastal vulnerability and other biodiversity issues investigated –data bases created which should help to de-risk development and help with sustainable site selection.

3) Project Results and 1. New transnational collaboration established between 6 partners in Spain, Portugal, France and Scotland – diverse expertise in marine Impacts renewable research pooled together and working well to create an Atlantic Areas skills resource. The ability to mobilise such a diverse pool of expertise across the Atlantic Area to help progress marine development will have benefits to EU, individual governments and developers. 2. 10 Work Packages agreed at the outset which ensured that activity focused on addressing gaps in research and development and that results could be achieve within a very short timeframe. Target audience included the Partners themselves but following completion of the Project a review of working processes by Lead Partner will contribute to more effective Project implementation in future. 3. This collaboration has allowed Partners with different expertise to work together, providing opportunities for younger staff to engage with more experienced researchers raising their skills level and creating a lasting legacy for labour forces across the region. 4. Pooled resources (technical, human and financial) has reduced administrative costs and maximized outputs (within a short timeframe). Initial beneficiaries are the Partners themselves although the marine renewable industry will benefit from Project outputs. Such collaborative working will provide a basis for more efficient use of future project resources. 5. Novel technologies deployed and tested in remote and harsh marine environments – whilst further work needs to be done these trials have established a better understanding of the potential for new techniques (Waveglider; Image Processing Techniques; Satellite imagery) to monitor harsh environments which will benefit governments, industry and academia. 6. Results will be used to identify cost effective monitoring and resource assessment alternatives for use in challenging environments –a necessary step if marine energy is to be sustainably utilized from areas of extreme, high energy across the Atlantic Area. 7. New links established between TURNKEY partners and industry/ governments raising awareness of TURNKEY research, ensuring that outputs are relevant across Atlantic Area and laying foundation for transnational agreement about how to tackle some of the current

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constraints to development - for example IST (Maretec) in Lisbon now has enhanced collaboration with Enondas (stakeholder responsible for managing Portuguese Pilot Zone). 8. Wave Glider deployment (novel technology) has generated synergy between the equipment manufacturer, engineering contractor and ERI/NHC in Scotland creating opportunities for further collaboration. Technology deployment under TURNKEY has necessitated close links with other marine users and legislators both in Scotland and Portugal (e.g. Portugues Marina) providing baseline information about pilot zone use. This information will be valuable beyond the lifespan of the project and will feed in to future discussion about streamlining development procedures regardless of location. 9. Partner meetings and other dissemination activity (e.g. EuroGOOS; Atlantic Power Cluster workshop; CENSIS; Pentland Salmon Initiative; All Energy) has successfully raised the profile of TURNKEY partners and, of issues surrounding sustainable development of marine energy in the Partner countries. 10. Collaboration over specific activity, drawing on expertise across the partnership, has led to new investigations into the use of satellite altimetry and the production of a joint paper (awaiting review). The work will continue beyond the life of TURNKEY but is expected to generate new, safer remote ways of working. 4) Main contributions to Establishment of a collaborative, transnational pool of marine renewable expertise (or Atlantic Area skills resource), which could be mobilized the Atlantic Area across the region to help develop MRE in future. Novel monitoring technologies deployed and tested along with investigations into assessment Programme achieved methodologies - recommendations will be made to industry and governments. Knowledge exchange network established and contributing to fundamental research which will help develop sustainable renewable energy use across the region. Skills gap identification –experience acquired through TURNKEY has upskilled local labour forces –ongoing work will identify future skills requirements and how to provide these.

5) Implementation Project delivered within one global contract, lead partner coordination - pooling human and technical resources across partnership for more methodology aspects efficient use of administrative funds; Collaborative project involving academic, government and public interests to cooperate over shared issues; attained Common work plans developed and adopted-specific activity allocated to partners to avoid duplication/ better use of scarce resources and expertise. Open communication- website used to share knowledge/ documentation; sustainable working methods adopted through use of social media and video conferencing; collaborative working has allowed wide range of transnational issues to be investigated -problems that face the industry irrespective of location.

6) Innovative aspects of the Novel monitoring technologies deployed and tested in remote and challenging high energy environments. Databases (coastal vulnerability’ project achieved features of interest) produced to allow streamlining of site selection and infrastructure investigations. Resource assessment methodologies including use of satellite data, investigated for wave, tidal and wind energy with view to recommending cost effective alternatives which are applicable across the region.

Operation management

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1) Management and Management structure established, steering committee agreed, work package leaders appointed. Management structure and financial coordination activities commitments agreed with Partners. Communication process agreed including schedule for video conference and partner meetings. 2 partner organized in the period meetings and 2 virtual meetings implemented. Briefings and updates provided as required.

2) Monitoring and Work package progress reviewed through partner meetings and by Work Package leaders on regular basis; financial review conducted on evaluation activities monthly basis within Lead Partner. Events reviewed internally to ensure activity addresses requirements. organized in the period

3) Main problems found Delays in implementation resulted in one partner withdrawing before WP activity got underway. Mistakes with early administration required and solutions adopted submission for re-approval which subsequently delayed implementation. Staff changes made within Lead Partner to address issues with during the period communication and progress. Partners have agreed to scale back outputs and focus on practical measures which will ensure baseline data is available for future projects. 4) Majors impacts of Reduction in partner number by 1- loss of specific expertise and opportunity for knowledge sharing in another country; delay in eventual project revisions implementation of socio economic work package as a result of staff changes within Lead Partner –this will be addressed in 2015. during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project TURNKEY Project has been promoted at a range of external regional meetings and international conferences ensuring activity is relevant and communication that results are widely disseminated. Within the Project a website has been established to share information; Partner meetings have taken achievements place to review progress and share knowledge; Project activity has been highlighted in Lead Partner quarterly newsletter, in social media and local and national press Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, leaflet in 4 languages; handbooks, guides…) resource assessment report published on any format, as report on potential of low-cost image processing technologies for underwater monitoring well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Coastal vulnerability and sensitive feature assessments being developed into web based GIS handbooks, guides…) to be Assessment of use of Modelling to de risk site selection –web based GIS Collaborative paper on use of satellite altimetry to be published later this year

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published on any format, as Report - Assessment of use of novel monitoring technologies well as all promotional Final Conference papers and Project report material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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Objective 4 - Protect and promote natural spaces, water resources and coastal zones

AARC | Priority:2.4 |Nº 2009-1/079 http://aarcproject.org

Project Summary The AARC project partnership will cooperate intensively to deliver a strategy for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which will be demonstrated across the Atlantic Area, in targeted river basins, networked by regional/river observatories in each Member State. The actions demonstrated will continue and expand after the project is complete because a central theme of the project is concerned with linking resource protection to sustainable economic development though a Paid Ecosystem Service model, as recommended by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and IUCN via the Ecosystem Approach. Project Lead Partner Westcountry Rivers Trust (UK)

Partnership University of Exeter (UK), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique – INRA (FR), ICETA, Universidade de Porto (PT), University College Cork (IE), Shannon Regional Fisheries Board (IE), Universidad de Oviedo (ES), ADDLAP - Associação de Desenvolvimento Dão, Lafões e Alto Paiva (PT), ADIRN - Associação para o Desenvolvimento Integrado do Ribatejo Norte (PT) Starting date 01-01-2010

Ending Date 30-06-2013

Total Eligible Budget € 3.870.696

Total ERDF Budget € 2.515.951,96

Global performance

1) Implementation Progress Project preparation (complete) (activities) River assessment and rehabilitation (meetings complete, best practice river restoration completed in almost all areas) River access network (opportunities developed, observatory sites almost completed) Stocking and Aquaculture (All Salmon cycles complete, Sea Trout database complete, Shad database near complete) Sea Catch sampling (Sea catch complete) Transnational Education and Engagement (Near Complete, some development still needed) Project coordination (on going)

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Communication plan (Complete except for communication of final project results) 2) Main project Development of IWRM (Integrated Water Resource Management) post graduate and graduate courses, including the sending of pilot achievements (results) students Development of international database of sea trout genetics on a river by river basis for assignment of fish back to river of origin. This is a ground breaking result is now functional, and we have commissioned at sea sampling to test the genetic database. The results of this will feed directly into marine and freshwater management. Development of international Shad database. Water quality improved via long term sustainable methodologies River connectivity improved, including significant river restoration at demonstration sites. Testing of hatcheries as Salmon mitigation systems compared to environmental systems. All cycles now complete, early results will have major impact on how hatcheries are utilised across Europe. 3) Main contributions to Habitat improvements under the WFD (Water Framework Directive) and Natura 2000 the Atlantic Area Bathing water directive improvements Programme achieved Polycentric development via creation of local centres of expertise Economic/Social/Environmental project cross-linkage Combating climate change and addressing threats to public health and managing natural resources effectively Linkage of Ecosystem Services to public participation in river sports 4) Implementation Exemplar restoration for migratory fish species through IWRM undertaken including removal of very large obstacles to fish passage and methodology aspects river restoration attained Linkage of restoration to sustainable business First and second phases of aquaculture complete Migratory species stock structure base line complete Postgraduate/graduate course defined Regional and National impacts made to policy and application 5) Innovative aspects of the Genetic fingerprinting of migratory fish proved to be effective and baseline established and tested project achieved Almost all river restoration activities achieved Aquaculture facilities supporting reintroduction of migratory marine fish complete First and second phases of IWRM graduate/postgraduate planning and pilot complete Operation management

1) Management and Management and coordination was achieved by: coordination activities Phone calls are used for trouble shooting and urgent project coordination issues organized in the period Emails are used for whole project communication The PCC website is used for sharing meeting agendas, minutes etc

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General and topic specific meetings have been held to ensure project is on track 2) Monitoring and Monitoring was achieved by evaluation activities Phone calls and emails organized in the period A custom template was used by the lead partner to monitor and evaluate the partners activities Submissions of products as and when produced Work Package leader monitoring Meetings (both specialist and general) 3)Main problems found and Some partners were not able to achieve planned objectives, therefore these objectives were shared in the partnership in order to ensure solutions adopted during that they were met. the period

4)Majors impacts of There were no major project revisions. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Major transnational conference and final meeting held in Limerick, Ireland communication Delivery of project video achievements Publication of high impact peer reviewed journal papers on IWRM Input into policy of management of migratory fish species management Publications

2012 - Documents (studies, Please see 14 attached publications and documents handbooks, guides…)

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IV. Priority 3 - Improve accessibility and internal links Objective 1- Promote interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/air intermodality

. BATTERIE . CFAEFFIPLAT . DURATINET . REPUTE . SITE

Objective 2- Promote short sea shipping and cooperation between ports

. None

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Objective 1- Promote interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/air intermodality

BATTERIE | Priority:3.1 |Nº 2011-1/153 www.batterie.eu.com

Title Better Accessible Transport to Encourage Robust Intermodal Enterprise

Slogan BATTERIE

Project summary The project is about transport; It is about connectivity in transport and reducing co2 emissions. The Batterie project is designed to help local and regional government, to help the community make the shift from carbon intensive fuel to greener more sustainable forms of fuel. It addresses Atlantic Area priority 3.1; Improve accessibility and internal links; Promote interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/air intermodality Project Lead Partner Action Renewables (UK)

Partnership South West College (UK) ;PURE Energy Centre (UK); European Automotive Strategy Network (UK); South West Regional Authority (IE) ; INTELI (PT); Oeste CIM (PT) ; ESIGELEC (FR) ; CEIN (SP); CENER (SP) ; Denokinn;(SP); FAEN (SP) Starting date 01/01/2012

Ending date 31/12/2014

Total eligible budget €3,435,848.11

Total ERDF budget €2,233,300.98

Global performance

1) Implementation All of the activities in the BATTERIE project are completed. Progress- Activities

2) Main project Transnational website created, hosting alternative fuel supply maps and journey planning tool to facilitate journeys across the Atlantic Area achievements - Outputs using alternative fuels 5 National and 5 regional interim reports on the effectiveness of all intermodal networks in Atlantic Area, the various smart technologies, which could have an impact on issues identified and their stages of development, environment and safety aspects, and alternative fuel supply chain development in the Atlantic Area.

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An interactive BATTERIE website-based map of alternative fuel supply points. 5 Interim Reports quantifying the future potential impact of rising fuel costs, fuel shortages and non-interconnectivity, and opportunities of smart technologies and alternative fuels on intermodality; the relationship between alternative fuel type and rural/urban divide, behaviour, legislative frameworks and economic environment in each partner region; potential future changes to energy consumption, potential changes to driving technique and potential future changes in human behaviour towards intermodality A Final Study Report documenting how the outcomes from BATTERIE will improve information about public transport services, improve connectivity between road/rail/sea and air, optimise international trips for passengers and better complementarity between services provided by various operators An information pack indicating an outline permitting route for the relevant infrastructure in each region - 5 information packs in total 1 Transnational policy guidance document detailing current and modelled future alternative fuel supply chains in the Atlantic Area, including environmental impacts, safety, electricity grid impact and best practice 5 Regional Action Plans addressing intermodality and interoperability of existing transport networks using smart technology and alternative fuels 1 Transnational, 5 national, 5 regional and 5 local guidance documents for authorities Established pilot journey in each region, including a steering group in each region consisting of policy makers and industry representatives; Documented results from the pilot network and the impact of smart technologies and alternative fuels in the partner regions. 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts Each partner established a stakeholder group for the pilot journey in their region. The Stakeholder group was made up of policy makers, strategists, government representatives in the transport sector, transport operators and transport industry. These are new networks, people who mostly had not worked together before. For two years they worked together in each region to help establish the pilot journey. In addition they gave feedback on the reports and on the briefing notes. This was BATTERIE’s way of ‘bringing’ policymakers on the journey with us. This made certain that the reports and the briefing notes were raised at a high level. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); The BATTERIE project will have contributed to policy making decisions being made about alternative fuels in each of the regions. Each region held a workshop/conference based around the same time as the pilot journeys. The aim of the workshops / conferences was to inform the target audience of the availability of the reports and the briefing notes but also to expose the audience to the most relevant and up to date speakers on smart technology and alternative fuels. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; BATTERIE and the BATTERIE partners have established new relationships with the partners in SITE, ENEVATE and START projects. These relationships would not have happened without the BATTERIE project. Members of the BATTERIE project have been invited to participate in new projects being created for other funding programmes. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level.

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In Northern Ireland, with regard to the spatial planning aspect of alternative fuels implementation, Northern Ireland is showing some progress. The Department for Regional Development has recently published two important strategy documents; ‘Regional Development Strategy 2035 (RDS2045)’ and more recently, ‘Ensuring a Sustainable Transport Future – a New Approach to Regional Transportation’. In each case sustainability and the environment play a key role. Furthermore the Deputy Director of the DRD was on the Stakeholder Group for BATTERIE and he indicated that the knowledge he had gained form BATTERIE would feed into those strategies and documents. BATTERIE made a series of recommendations at the end of each report; and each partner indicated that they will endeavor to ensure BATTERIE feeds into regional policy and strategy making. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to EASN (European Automotive Strategy Network) were a partner in BATTERIE. EASN presented the Reports and outputs from BATTERIE at the European Electronic Vehicle Congress (www.eevc.eu) in November of 2014. The EEVC attracts a huge audience form within the transport sector. We have no way of confirming if we have contributed to plans developed or made a contribution, but the audience was the right sectoral audience. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations www.egomap.eu 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) The Final Report for BATTERIE refers readers to the other reports published and how to access them. 8-Social change generated; The partnership hoes that through the pilot journeys we will have helped to generate social change. The aim of the pilot journeys and the web based journey planning tool was to address the issue of range anxiety. The egomap particularly will help people to see that they can in fact travel just as far as they could in a conventional fuelled vehicle. 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes The egomap has been distributed through all the social media groups on ecars – facebook / twitter etc… 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts 4) Main contributions to The BATTERIE project was designed to deliver results against priority 3.1 of the Atlantic Area Operational Plan and encourage Better the Atlantic Area Accessible Transport to Encourage Robust Intermodal Enterprise. The BATTERIE project recognised that to secure effective and smooth Programme achieved operation of existing transport infrastructure, there were difficult issues to be addressed. For example issues around interconnection between networks, intermodal links between road, rail, air and sea, better coordination of and complimentarity between services supplied by various operators, and local accessibility of many airports. These are common concerns across the regions of Atlantic Area, and BATTERIE aimed to address them. BATTERIE’s objectives were to identify smart technologies and alternative fuels, their current and future availability and potential impact on intermodal networks. We wanted to examine how they will help to provide an easy transition between modes of transport and how other factors will impact such as legislation and behaviour. This in turn we hoped would help to identify scenarios and models of changes to policy and transnational strategy, thereby making a clear contribution to the Atlantic Area Strategy. Taking each of the outputs in turn and examining how they have made a contribution to the Atlantic Area Programme:

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Web based journey planning tool:- The Journey Planning tool is live in France, Spain, Portugal and all of Ireland. It is a tool which allows an owner of an electric vehicle to plan a journey beyond the charging capacity of the car, taking into account rapid and fast charging points, times, distances and it also, critically, is linked to all forms of public transport. Previously, owners of electric vehicles had to plan a journey outside of it's range, using pen and paper and maps. The JPT (Journey Planning Tool) allows the owner of the electric car to plan a journey hundreds of miles long and it will link with all other forms of public transport. This is a substantial contribution to the Atlantic Area programme in that it directly addresses intermodality. The JPT links public and private transport, it addresses smart technology and alternative fuels and it helps to encourage people to use green forms of transport thereby reducing CO2 emissions. The reports:- which the project has published address the levels of readiness of alternative fuels, smart technology and consumer behaviour towards green fuels and reducing CO2 emissions. The reports have been made available to strategists, policy makers, industry representatives and transport operators in all of the Atlantic Area regions. This will in turn help them to help the public to make the shift from fossil fuel based transport to greener CO2 friendly forms of transport. A series of briefing notes have been published - one for each report together with a further set of regional briefing notes. Each of the briefing notes has been translated to the language of the regions involved. The workshops / conferences:- which were held (7 in total; one in each region) were used to publicise the reports and the briefing notes so that they would be adopted at a high level for reference. Around the same time as each set of workshops / conferences, we held pilot journeys in each region. The pilot journeys were designed on a practical level to demonstrate the different technologies and alternative fuels which are available. These highly visible and very practical demonstrations we hope will make a substantial contribution to the Atlantic Area programme, not only from highlighting the programme during the conferences and workshops, but also because it will help the uptake of alternative fuel vehicles. The overall aim of BATTERIE was to establish better accessible and sustainable transport which will in turn encourage and secure more effective and smooth operation of existing transport infrastructure in the Atlantic Area. We linked with the Atlantic Area programme through highlighting new and effective ways to:- - Effectively interconnect all intermodal networks (Journey Planning Tool) - Introduce smart technologies (The Reports and Briefing notes and the Pilot Journeys) - Identify the alternative fuel sources available (The Reports and Briefing notes) 5) Implementation Action Renewables as Lead Partner has been co-ordinating the BATTERIE project for the last three years. The most important aspect of this methodology aspects has been the on-going responsibility for the project’s financial management and the respective official representation to the management attained structure of the Atlantic Area Programme. Action Renewables is also responsible for arranging the partner meetings and for Project Coordination – Action Renewables is the responsible partner for this work package. We established an internal management system, (on Wiggio; through the website at www.batterie.eu.com and via email and regular conference calls) led by the Deputy Director and Programme Manager roles in Action Renewables. With the input of all partners, Action Renewables has co-ordinated and promoted the continuous use and updating of the web domain attributed to the project in the Coordination Platform of the Atlantic Area Programme. Action Renewables has also coordinated the

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implementation of communication and publicity measures in compliance with the regulations of the Commission and the Communication Plan of the Operation Programme. During the year 2014 there were 5 partner meetings and conference calls during the months where there were no partner meetings. The Partner Meetings together with the Conference Calls have been the main method of implementing the project. 6) Innovative aspects of the There were three main innovation aspects to the BATTERIE project. First there were the pilot journeys. There was a pilot journey in each project achieved region, which had been planned for at least a year in advance. Each region set up a stakeholder group, made up of transport strategy makers, policy makers, transport industry representatives and transport operators. The stakeholder group steered the thinking with regards the pilot journey in each region. In Northern Ireland, the pilot journey was to take an electric car from Larne down to Cork in the Republic of Ireland (400miles). EASN in the Netherlands brought an electric vehicle form Amsterdam, through Germany and across to England and then across to Ireland and up to Northern Ireland. In both cases we managed to get a huge amount of publicity. On the journey to Cork we were interviewed for the Radio and newspapers. For the journey form the Netherlands to Belfast, we were able to get live Radio coverage on BBC Radio Ulster during their prime time news at 6pm. The reason why this is innovative Is that through demonstration we were able to let people seriously consider the harm that fossil fuel vehicles do to the environment and to consider a viable alternative; an electric car. The second innovative thing that BATTERIE did was to produce a map of charging points for all forms of alternative fuels (electric / biofuel / hydrogen etc..) for all of the Atlantic Area Regions. Maps existed before of charging points for electric vehicles for example; within regions. But no map existed which showed existing charging points for biofuel or hydrogen charging stations, and certainly not transnational. The third innovative thing which BATTERIE produced is the Web Based Journey Planning Tool at www.egomap.eu. The egomap is still the worlds first ecar journey planning tool. Egomap is live in France, Spain, Portugal and all of Ireland. It is a tool which allows an owner of an electric vehicle to plan a journey beyond the charging capacity of the car, taking into account rapid and fast charging points, times, distances and it also, critically, is linked to all forms of public transport. Previously, owners of electric vehicles had to plan a journey outside of its range, using pen and paper and maps. The JPT (Journey Planning Tool) allows the owner of the electric car to plan a journey hundreds of miles long and it will link with all other forms of public transport. Operation management

1) Management and Partner Meetings coordination activities During 2014 there were five partner meetings; two in Portugal, one in Ireland, one in Spain and the Final Partner Meting in Northern Ireland. organized in the period With almost a full attendance at every meeting a lot of progress was made on finishing the project outputs. The final six months of the project was very busy for all of the partners. The Reports had to be proof read and then translated, as had all of the briefing notes and the final report. The web based journey planning tool had to be fully functional before the final partner meeting and the final conference held in Belfast in November. Conference calls In between each partner meeting we held at least one conference call with all of the partners. This has worked well for keeping the work on track and making progress in between partner meetings. In total there has been 7 Conference calls meaning that together with the Partner Meetings we met as a partnership each month.

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Claims / Activity Reports The lead partner has been responsible for making sure that claims have been made regularly every semester by all partners and that all activity reports have been submitted on time. 2) Monitoring and Action Renewables has recorded minutes of all meetings, virtual conferences, meetings with the lead partner. evaluation activities Feedback was obtained from attendees at all partner meetings during the Steering Group meetings. organized in the period Numbers and names of attendees was recorded at all meetings.

3) Main problems found None and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of A project modification was submitted prior to the final 6 months of the project. This was to take account of some changes regarding budgets eventual project revisions for unspent funds from previous reporting periods and also for the final Conference. There has not been any major impact from the project during the period revision.

Communication achievements

1)Main project The main communication achievements in the run up to the end of the project was the publicity and media activity focused around the communication egomap. In the last year of the project we held a conference in Ireland, in Cork, which was attended by almost 250 people. The Conference achievements was addressed by an Irish Minister and that alone attracted a lot of media attention. The Final Conference in Belfast was attended by about 150 people and together with the launch of the web based journey planning tool (egomap.eu). The final Conference received a huge amount of publicity and BBC Radio Ulster interviewed the project leader live on the radio, together with several other project members. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, - Reports (9) handbooks, guides…) - Briefing notes (16) published on any format, as - Final study report (1) well as all promotional - Web based journey planning tool material produced in the - Leaflet, DVD and information pack framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, None handbooks, guides…)

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CFAEFFIPLAT | Priority:3.1 |Nº 2011-1/155 http://www.atlanticcorridor.eu

Project Summary The strategic objective of the CFAEFFIPLAT project is the promotion and development of the Atlantic Rail Corridor for freight from an integrated transport viewpoint, favouring its interconnection with ports and multimodal logistics platforms in the Atlantic Arc through the creation of a transnational network including public authorities, rail, logistics and port operators (public and private), with a shared interest in the improvement of rail and intermodal transport in the Atlantic Corridor for freight. Project Lead Partner GOBIERNO VASCO- DEPARTAMENTO DE MEDIO AMBIENTE Y POLÍTICA TERRITORIAL. DIRECCIÓN DE TRANSPORTES (SP)

Partnership Autoridad Portuaria de Pasaia (SP), Xunta Galicia-Conselleria Medio Ambiente, Territorio (SP), Gobierno Navarra. Agencia Navarra del Transporte y la Logística (ANL) (SP), Fundacion Centro Tecnologico Logistica Integral Cantabria (SP), Universidad de Cantabria (SP); ADIF. Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (SP), Gobierno del Principado de Asturias. Consejería de Fomento, Ordenación del Territorio y Medio Ambiente (SP), Conseil Regional Aquitaine (FR), Conseil Regional de Bretagne (FR), Irish Exporters Association (IE), Starting date 01-01-2012

Ending Date 01-10-2014

Total Eligible Budget 1.320.718,75 €

Total ERDF Budget 858.467,14 €

Global performance

1) Implementation Creation of the project’s and the CFAEFFIPLAT network’s web site Progress (activities) Brussels 11.12.2012: Public introduction of the Atlantic Railway Corridor and creation of the CFAEFFIPLAT network Steering Committee Meeting Project CAEFFIPLAT: Paris, Bilbao, San Sebastian and Brussels Promotion of the adhesion of new members to the network Public dissemination of the results of the actions of the project 2) Main project In line with the general objectives specified for the project, the expected results can be classified under the Work Package responsible for achievements (results) achieving it and in terms of the calendar laid down in the proposed work plan. Work Package 1: Communication and organisation of the network Results 2012:

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1/ Drafting and launch of the project communication plan which defines actions for the communication and dissemination of the project's activity and results (website, technical presentations, press releases, annual report, working documents, final documents...) 2/ Creation of a website for the project presenting the positioning of participants with respect to the European rail corridor, monitor the actions that this project carries out and communicate the results or conclusions reached 3/ Creation of the organisational structure of the CFAEFFIPLAT network 4/ Presentation of the CFAEFFIPLAT network to the European Commission and the competent Ministries from the member states involved 5/ Public dissemination of the results of the actions of the project Work Package 2: Infrastructures and Projects Results 2012 1/ Monitoring of the infrastructure actions and critical analysis of the planning for the Atlantic Rail Corridor: proposal of corrective measures and supplementary projects Work Package 3: Intermodality and Services Results 2012 1/ Proposals for new projects for platforms that optimize the network of multimodal and logistics platforms along the length of the Atlantic Arc 2/ Proposals to improve rail freight services increasing their efficiency and competitiveness with respect to road transport 3/ Proposals to improve the intermodal operation of the logistics centres 3) Main contributions to The results of the project, and the subsequently achievements by the network are intended for the benefit of any agent in the multimodal the Atlantic Area transport chain and will always remain public (through the website, presentations, panel discussions...) and may be used by any interested agent, Programme achieved including those not resident in the geographical area of the Atlantic Arc.

4) Implementation It is oriented towards results which as well as being tangible must be practical and realistic taking into account the conditions that govern rail and methodology aspects intermodal transport attained It is focused on integrating the different aspects and/or interests affected by or concerned with the implementation of the project

5) Innovative aspects of In relation to the freight transport problems which the project CFAEFFIPLAT tackles, we can identify the following innovative aspects: the project achieved The CFAEFFIPLAT project does not tackle the infrastructural aspects of the Atlantic Rail Corridor but rather it creates an integrated infrastructure and all-encompassing focus which at the same time incorporates connections from the ports and logistics centres to the corridor in order to provide the Atlantic Arc with an integrated multimodal transport system. The integration or treatment of the rail infrastructure (overcoming problems of continuity, different track gauges, harmonisation of technical standards…) is insufficient to resolve freight transport problems if it does not also include the development of an efficient and competitive intermodal rail service offer, and this question is also tackled by the CFAEFFIPLAT project taking into account the future demand and potential of the market and the requirements for efficient and competitive services that create a real alternative to other means of transport, in particular, by road.

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Before the Atlantic Rail Corridor can become an operational reality in the European rail market, it must be known about, recognised and integrated by the public and private stakeholders involved into Atlantic Arc freight transport. This integrative function of sensitisation, information, positioning, promotion and enhancement of the Atlantic Rail Corridor both internally in the Atlantic Area and towards its exterior (the rest of the EU, North Africa...) is one of the innovative features that the CFAEFFIPLAT project incorporates. Operation management

1) Management and Steering Committee Meetings: coordination activities París 09.01.2012 organized in the period Bilbao 16.05.2012 San Sebastián 30.10.2012 Brussels 10.12.2012 2) Monitoring and In process evaluation activities organized in the period

3)Main problems found There have been many changes in the composition of the partnership due to the impossibility of co-financing due to the present economic and solutions adopted situation. during the period

4)Majors impacts of Annual budget breakdown changes eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1) Main project The project communication plan has been developed through the creation and maintenance of a web site for the ARC-EFFIPLAT network, through communication participation in public events aimed at players in the intermodal transport chain and through the publication in print and digital media of both achievements opinion pieces on aspects relevant to the rail transport of goods in the EU and the Atlantic Arc and of press releases on aspects of current EU or national affairs affecting the project as well as the development and execution of the detailed work plan scheduled for this project Publications

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2012 - Documents In process (studies, handbooks, guides…)

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DURATINET | Priority:3.1 |Nº 2008-1/049 www.duratinet.org

Title Durable Transport Infrastructure in the Atlantic Area Network

Slogan A contribution to get more durable infrastructures in Atlantic Area

Project summary The main goal of the project is to create the excellence network DURATI-NET to facilitate an efficient exchange and transfer of knowledge to promote the durability, safety and sustainability of transport infrastructures in the Atlantic Area, turning these regions more attractive to live and work and for competitive business. Different short-term and long- term objectives were defined in the transnational context. The short- term objectives, to accomplish the duration period of the project, are: to produce Guidelines on Reinforced Concrete and Steel Infrastructure Maintenance Optimization, to create new competences at level of infrastructure maintenance and to identify new requirements from structures owners on quality control on repair products and rehabilitation processes. The long–term objectives will be mainly: to develop a Web Platform with interactive information and a data base open to all technical and scientific community to improve expertise and knowledge in service life prediction of materials and performance and ageing of repair materials and to promote the development and the use of “green and smart” structural materials and repair products creating the upraise for a new cluster on “Green and Smart Materials” in the AA. Project Lead Partner Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (PT)

Partnership IFFSTAR (FR); Bordeaux 1 University (FR); Université de Nantes (FR); University La Rochelle (FR); University of Dublin-Trinity College - TCD (IE); Queen's University Belfast (UK); Universidade de Vigo (ES); National Roads Authority - NRA (IE); Estradas de Portugal, SA (PT); REFER, E.P. (PT); Conseil General de la Charente-Maritime - CG-17 (FR); Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências da Construção - FUNDCIC (PT); Administração do Porto de Lisboa (PT) Starting date 01-01-2009

Ending date 15-10-2014

Total eligible budget € 2.590.628,42

Total ERDF budget € 1 683 777,25

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Global performance

1) Implementation The work progress proceeds according the project plan for this period. Progress- Activities Activity 8- Web tools creation for project dissemination Progress: upgrade and maintenance of the web tools to facilitate the dissemination and divulgation: the DURATINET website and the web platform for internal project communication and AA web platform. Improvements on the interactive web version of Technical Guide , a project end product online since 2012 for public access (www.duratinet.org/techguide). Upgrade of the DB-Durati with new data and design of new functional actions (www.dbdurati.lnec.pt). Activity 9- Project promotion and divulgation Progress: Organization of the 2nd edition of DURATINET course on testing techniques for structures inspection. Organization of two seminars in Ireland and UK- North Ireland. Activity 10- project management Progress: During this period the management and coordination activities was mainly achieved by the communication between the leader and the partners through the internal platform. Any partnership meeting was considerate necessary to organize in the reporting period, because the physical project end-products (TG, web-TG, DB and TR) were already produced and these reporting period is mainly devoted to dissemination. During 2014 was prepared the 2nd edition of Course “Técnicas de ensaio para inspeção de estruturas” in Lisbon (feb 2014) and a Course "Maintenance des infrastructures métalliques : pathologies, techniques de contrôle, diagnostic et optimisation de la maintenance" in Nantes (mars 2014). Two successful dissemination events were prepared and held at TCD (Republic of Ireland) and QUB (Northern Ireland) in April 2014. Execution of all management tasks inside the project consortium and with the Atlantic Area Program. Preparation and submission of Project Report 11 with progress activities and claiming reimbursements from partnership and Revision Claim nº 7. 2) Main project The main project outputs are: achievements - Outputs • DURATINET Network creation and maintenance, for knowledge transfer and dissemination to promote durable transport infrastructure in Atlantic Area mainly with management infrastructure administrations. Web tools have been developed to give conditions for the follow up of the network also after the project closure. • DURATINET Technical Guide (TG) with recommendations on maintenance and repair of transport infrastructure. • Interactive webversion of the TG for users free access in the web • Publication of 10 Technical Reports in several WG’s on specific subjects concerning durability of structures in marine environment, new materials and monitoring in structures. • Presentation of 55 papers about DURATINET activities in several national and international technical meetings or in technical journals • Promotion of ideas to create the cluster “green and smart structural materials” in AA. Concerning the network creation during 2013 several actions were taken to build the interface between the R&D centres, the administration bodies on infrastructure maintenance, the contractors and the products development companies to transfer the existent knowledge and to

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contribute to have for more durable and sustainable transport infrastructure in Atlantic Area. Partnership also invest more on upgrade of project end products. 3) Project Results and On Atlantic Area regions due to the similar maritime influence the administrations from transport infrastructures management have common Impacts problems concerning their structures which in many cases need large amount of investments on maintenance and repair. The network Duratinet compiled the existent knowledge in this regions concerning the practices used on infrastructures maintenance and developed a TG containing harmonize guidelines concerning the different subjects involved on infrastructures maintenance and repair. The network also developed different tools for the dissemination of these guidelines at the different levels of end users as it is the case of the networking website and the interactive version on the web of TG. The beneficiaries of the DURATINET end products are mainly the transport infrastructures administrations, involved in the three kinds of transport roadways, railways and maritime. It is expected that with this large dissemination of knowledge developed by DURATINET creates a significant impact on cost reduction of infrastructures maintenance and could represent a major contribution to have more durable structures in the Atlantic Area regions as was one of the main goals of the project. Also it is expected that in the future more reliable and sustainable maintenance practices could be adopted by the infrastructures administrations. The enterprises working in the field of maintenance and repair of structures and construction materials producers also profit from the knowledge dissemination done by the network and from the several opportunities of communication between them and the administrations created by the project through the several transnational and national divulgation events organized by DURATINET. In fact, with the technical courses on tests for structures inspection and Duratinet workshops the transfer of knowledge reach more than 800 participants. The Website visits also reach around 19000 during the project development. Also the Database created by DURATINET containing already several examples of infrastructures with data concerning good practices of maintenance received very positive opinions by administrations and are one of DURATINET results that must have future development. Projects Results and Impacts – This section must be completed. Definition - Results and impacts do no refer to project outputs or actions already described above. They are the concrete change generated by the project in terms of new forms of work, new inter-linkages with organisations and programmes, measurable change in organisation, legislation, plans of various nature, behaviour/knowledge and awareness raising of specific target groups or beneficiaries; and of new products, services and processes generated. They should normally refer to the original specific objectives of the project, but also included project spinoffs. 4) Main contributions to The location of the Atlantic Area with a strong maritime influence, places accrued problems in terms of durability of transport infrastructure, the Atlantic Area comparatively with those located in other continental European regions. The cost with structures repair involves very high budgets, which Programme achieved introduces serious problems to the owners and managers authorities to manage their structures with the new reduction on their annual budgets and requires the use of maintenance methodologies for prioritization of repairs. The divulgation of the most efficient repair practices and the dissemination of the advanced technological knowledge in this field accomplished by DURATINET will be a contribution to increase the capacities of all players. The publication of Duratinet Technical Guide with guidelines on optimised practices for maintenance and repair or rehabilitation of transport infrastructures represents an effective contribution to facilitate the sustainable trade and economic growth in the Atlantic Area with environmental responsibility, i.e., Greener, Cleaner, Smarter but also Cheaper because the dissemination of this knowledge could reduce the transports infrastructures due to durability restrictions, the use of new raw materials or the construction of new

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structures to replace the damage infrastructures. The relevance given in the project to the transfer of knowledge is also an efficient contribution to the development of new competences and to improve the technical qualification of several kind of players in this area. The online tools created by the project will be also a determinant contribution for this objective. The dissemination of knowledge produced by the project partnership during the reporting period, specially to infrastructure administration maintenance staff and other engineers involved in repair development systems and materials, represents a relevant contribution to get good and well maintained transport networks permit the growth of freight transport, the tourism development and also facilitate the connection inside the Atlantic regions and are also expected to be different ways for the life improvement and jobs creation in these regions. 5) Implementation The consortium has the participation of 17 partners from research centres and administrations with the different skills and knowledge needed methodology aspects for the project objectives execution. The network introduced specific methodologies for the project consortium activities management, the attained internal monitoring of activities progress and the periodic work plan evaluation to get tangible project results and to facilitate the development of the consortium work. The creation from the project start of an internal webplatform for all kind of communication between partners and to exchange the progress done in the work plan of each working group facilitates the implementation of the management methodologies and internal monitoring. For the internal follow up of the project development the advisory and steering committees were very important. At least a semester meeting occurred with the participation of all partners and some technical meetings in midterm of the semesters were also implemented. These methods improved are the practical support needed to reach the pretended objectives. Other methodologies were also implemented to promote an efficient external dissemination and divulgation of knowledge produced by the DURATINET. One of this was the creation of the project site which has more than 500 visits per month. Also the Transnational Workshops gave the possibility for interesting discussion of point of views and dissemination of results to end users. 6) Innovative aspects of the All the mechanisms planned in the project for tangible results were implemented from the beginning of the project and the results reached project achieved turn evident the tangibility of the project results established and all planned project results were reached. The TG interactive web version that is an innovative new project result was implemented and some upgrade was done during the reporting period. The mechanisms designed for dissemination of project results during and after project conclusion will be a guarantee for project results sustainability after project closure. Regarding the communication and divulgation strategy for transmission of knowledge, the most relevant achievements reached in the period concerned were the actualization of the project website in the four idioms of the consortium partners, the maintenance of the internal web platform in English and a technical course devoted to Administration structure maintenance responsible, organized in Portugal, and also another National Conference for Duratinet results dissemination organized in Ireland. Both represent important tools for external dissemination and divulgation of DURATINET activities and for the internal and efficient network communication. The creation of the TG with recommendations on structures management with an interactive web version and the creation of Duratinet Data Base DB-Durati, with reliable data for service life prediction on structural materials and performance of repair materials (DB-Durati) are really two innovative products, because no similar tools exist yet. The data contained in DB-Durati will be very useful to support priorization of infrastructures maintenance and to do service life predictions of these infrastructures. This is, in fact, an innovative tool created in the project, which should be expanded to support more data from new structures and also to support the benchmarking of existent service life models and the development of new models to optimize the maintenance and repair of rehabilitation in structures to facilitate their management by the administration. This will be an excellent opportunity for next development by Duratinet consortium.

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Operation management

1) Management and The Duratinet creates from the beginning of the project a website for external communication and an internal webplatform for coordination activities communication between partners. This platform is also a relevant and efficient tool for the project management at different levels. organized in the period Methodologies were also defined from the project beginning concerning the general project management. According the plan of the project semester partners’ management committee (PMC) should have place. The Advisory and Steering Committees were also very important to follow the technical coordination, to do the monitoring of all activities according the project plan and also for peer review of project publications and dissemination actions plan. Two workshops and two courses in testing techniques were organized in Ireland, North Ireland, France and Portugal in the first quarter of 2014. 2) Monitoring and According the project organization beside the project leader management, the leaders of each working group have as main task the evaluation activities coordination of each activity. The Advisory (AC) and the Steering committee (SC) are responsible for the monitoring of technical project organized in the period activities progress. In the AC participates all administrations and industrial partners and the main task of this committee is to evaluate and to give recommendations about project results and end products to answer the end users expectances. The SC involves all partners’ coordinators of the 9 working groups. 3) Main problems found The main problems found during the reporting period concerns the preparation of some partner’s reports. Two French partners have and solutions adopted problems with the preparation of partner’s activity and claiming reimbursement report to be included in project report, especially concerning during the period the national processes for expenses validation and also with specific problems to fill the activity on their claiming reports. To overcome these problems the project leader spent many time to clarify the partner’s questions. However, in many cases this situation delays the project reports submission for claiming reimbursement and at the end one of the French partners decided not submit any claim report. Concerning other partners they also delays the report submission due to internal complex problems inside their institutions. 4) Majors impacts of Any revisions done in the period. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project For communication Duratinet adopt: project website (over 500 visits per month), publication of newsletters and flyers. communication Course on testing techniques in Lisbon and Nantes: 2 books, 1 flyer ,12 posters and several presentations achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, 1 flyer for divulgation of course handbooks, guides…) 2 books (supporting Duratinet Course on testing techniques)

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published on any format, as 12 posters well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material

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REPUTE | Priority:3.1 |Nº 2013-1/264 www.reputeproject.eu

Title Renewable Energy Public Transport Enterprise

Slogan REPUTE

Project summary REPUTE will create an Atlantic Area framework for encouraging innovation in enterprises promoting the use of renewable energy in public transport. REPUTE builds on the work done in previous transport projects concerning energy, to support interoperability, intermodality and continuity of existing transport networks. REPUTE will establish an annual event, with supporting annual publications, for the transnational regions to engage in collaborative work on the use of renewable energy in public transport to promote interoperability and intermodality, attracting support from representatives in the sector across Europe; it will develop a process for engagement with the different ideas for the use of renewable energy in public transport to promote interoperability and intermodality generated in the Atlantic Area and across Europe; and it will undertake pilot testing in flagship concepts designed to achieve the core priority for Atlantic Area: promoting interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/air intermodality. Project Lead Partner Action Renewables

Partnership South West College, Fundacion Asturiana de la Energia, Limerick Institute of Technology, Comunidade Intermunicipal do Oeste, Oxford Brookes University, Ecole d'Ingneieurs en Genie des Systemes Industriels Starting date 1/1/2014

Ending date 30/6/2015

Total eligible budget 1,466,301.00

Total ERDF budget 953,095.52

Global performance

1) Implementation The partnership has been making sound progess in it’s activities and implementation. The fact that it is a small partnership with a very tight Progress- Activities timeframe I think is actually making the partnership work better. There is a real sense of urgency; no room for complacency and no room for making excuses! So the partnership knew each other very well in the beginning and they respect the lead partner and our enthusaiasm! There have been regular conference calls and regular partner meetings. Activities and progress are discussed regularly with deadlines set and monitored.

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The main progress was in the workshops to begin with. The workshops had to happen in the second semester and in the event, 4 of the 6 planned have taken place. The workshops all followed the same format but with different speakers. They were all attended by about 50 people but the audience was made up of the right people; transport industry / operators / policy makers / strategists etc.. At the same time the Guide has been in planning and we have been working on it continually. It is now in it’s first full draft stage and we will be concentrating on it in the next final 6 months. The same applies to the Conference Tour – we have been planning it regularly; discussing options and making travel arrangements. Regarding the pilots; a major exercise was to make a modification to the project budgets; which once it was approved emant we could move ahead. While waiting for the modification we went ahead and prepared eth tenders for Scotland and for Portugal. The tenders have been issued for the work and have been decided and approved. The work on the pilots begins in January 2015. 2) Main project Outputs achievements - Outputs A transnational REPUTE website 2 newsletters DVD REPUTE information leaflet One stakeholder workgroup in each pilot region Engagement and linkages with other EU projects which are relevant Engagement and linkages with other pilots which are relevant A Draft REPUTE guide on state of the art of existing and new renewable technologies available for use in public transport 4 REPUTE workshops in the regions so far, to engage with local and regional Government responsible for public transport, the public transport operators, the academic sector, the training sector, private enterprise and the energy sector 3) Project Results and 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Impacts None 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); In one region, Oeste CIM, decisions were taken which will influence the future of the region. OESTE CIM had a budget modification so that they could spend more of their budget on Services Supply, allowing them to implement a more enhanced Pilot Project in their region. The decision was reached with agreement between 12 Mayors. If all 12 Mayors had not agreed to participate, in the 12 regions in Portugal, then the pilot would not have taken place. It was a difficult process for Oeste CIM to go through but they managed it and all 12 Mayors agreed. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; It is hoped that in the Oeste CIM Region we can move beyond the life of the project and obtain additional funding to sustain the pilot project. That is being worked on presently, with the Tourism authority. It is also hoped that the model in Oeste CIM can be replicated in the other regions. Each partner will use the photos and the video, and the presentation about what the pilot is about in Oeste, to approach their own transport / tourism authority with a view to obtaining fund sto launch a similar pilot in their own regions.

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4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. The pilot in Portugal can – we hope – affect the transport strategy at regional / national level. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to AA Objective 3.1: ‘Promote interoperability and continuity of existing transport networks, and sea/road/rail/air intermodality’. REPUTE is making a contribution to interoperability and intermodality; significantly from it’s pilot projects in linking renewable energy based car transport with buses. REPUTE is also addressing the imbalance between the more populated regions and the sparsely populated regions. Again the best example of this is the pilot in Portugal. The Pilot project in Portugal is similar to projects which already exist on a commercial scale in large industrial centres such as London and Paris. This is the first time this kind of pilot has been developed in remote parts of Atlantic Area. The pilot in Scotland where we are installing transport information signs in remote areas, operated by renewable energy, is also a good example. These signs will make the people in these sparsely populated regions feel more inclusive and up to date with modern technology. The GUIDE will help with regional and sectoral tragets for CO2 reductions. This is because the GUIDE is designed to help people developing transport strategy to consider using renewables in transport. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations Three services have been developed as part of the pilot:- Personal Travel Planning is being piloted in Scotland during the last 6 montsh of the project. Renewable Energy Powered Transport Information signs are being installed in Scotland in remote regions during the last 6 montsh of the project. Renewable Powered EV’s are being installed in 12 regions in Portugal in the last 6 montsh of the project. These three services – we will have more fully developed information about their progress and impact in June 2015. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) The GUIDE is in it’s first draft form; and will be ready in 6 months time. It will have a measurable impact. 8-Social change generated; The pilots will generate social change – we hope! 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes 10-Unexpected measurable results 11-Other types of results and Impacts 4) Main contributions to REPUTE project is well under way! In the second six months the project activities are starting to really take shape. The activities are: Producing the Atlantic Area a Guide, Pilot Tests, Conference Tour, Workshops, Communication activities (Newsletters, Website). The Guide will not be fully ready until the Programme achieved end of the third reporting period. The same fo rteh Conference Tour. But most of the workshops have taken place and the Pilot tests are under way. The Communication Activities are also helping to contribute to the AA programme. We have said that REPUTE will be a catalyst for a dynamic and innovative application of renewable energy to the public transport sector. REPUTE will also address the issue of balanced territorial development by bringing the technology, the pilots and the learning through the Guides, the workshops and the Conferences to the regions which are remote and sparsely populated. It will help to lessen regional development disparities.

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Other key policies which will be tackled by REPUTE are: Energy 2020 ‘A Strategy for competitive, sustainable and secure energy’; Green Paper ‘Towards fair and efficient pricing in transport’ Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion ‘Turning territorial diversity into strength’ The EU Car Directive ‘Results of the review of the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles’ Integrated Maritime Policy for the Atlantic Ocean EU Green Vehicle Strategy European Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme The Workshops have already started to be a catalyst for RE and helping to rebalance the whole territorial development imbalance. The workshops have been extremley well attended. The audience has been coming from right across the triple helix of academic, public and private sector. Another excellent example is the two set sof pilots. For example the pilot project in Portugal is bringing RE powered vehicles to all the remote parts of Portugal. Normally it is the big cities like Lisbon or Porto, which has projects like this. 5) Implementation Work Package 1: Management and co-ordination: methodology aspects Signed formal subsidy contract; Created Transnational Partnership Agreement; Created Steering Committee attained Implemented the work plan; Managing the budget; Updated the PCC Created a website Ensuring sound financial management and audits; Ensuring claims are submitted/ activity reports are completed; Responding to requests for information; Work Package 2: Publish a REPUTE guide on state of the art of existing and new renewable technologies available for use in public transport: Oxford Brookes University is the responsible partner for this work package. OBU has been working well with all of the partners to develop the first draft of the guide. All partners have been feeding into the first draft and it is on schedule. Work Package 3: Hold one REPUTE workshop in each participating region. FAEN is already working with all of the partners to design the workshops. To date four of the six workshops has taken place with just two outstanding (Portugal and Scotland). The workshops were well attended with the guide being the focus of the workshops. Work Package 4: Pilot Tests; Months 10 – 18 (Linked to WP2 (Guide) and WP3 (Workshops)) Stakeholder groups have been established in each of the two pilot regions; onein Scotland and one in Portugal. Oeste Cim and Action Renewables are working very closely to make sure that the pilots are complimentary. The Scottish and Portuguese tenders ahev been issued for the work to be carried out and these have just passed the tender phase. Contractors have now been appointed and it is expected that work will start in earnest in January / February 2015. Work Package 5: Hold a series of final Conferences: Month 18 (Linked to WP2, 3, 4)

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EIGSI is leading this work package. The aim of the Conferences is to engage policy change discussion and to disseminate the REPUTE approach. The final Conferences will be held in 5 of the regions and will be transnational. They will aim to attract an audience from all over Europe and specifically to demonstrate significant and tangible progress in transnational cooperation geared towards cohesive, sustainable and balanced territorial development of the Atlantic Area. EIGSI has designed a Conference Tour, over a two week period and has been working intensely with each of the partners to manage the speakers, decide on the actual location, set the date, invite the agreed audience (agreed between all of the partners) and manage the events. A tour leaflet has been designed. Each region has set its'own agenda with it's own spekers. Some speakers will go to all of the conferences. While others will speak at just one. Work Package 6: Communications Limerick Institute of Technology is leading this work package, which will run consistently throughout the duration of the project. LIT will publish 3 newsletters; produce a DVD; publish a REPUTE information leaflet; create a REPUTE website; promote REPUTE through press / media / PR. Already the first two newsletters have been published, the leaflet has been designed and is published and the website is live. The DVD has also been produced. 6) Innovative aspects of the The innovative aspects of the project achieved to date are several. Starting with the Guide. The Guide is innovative in that it will present all of project achieved the major transport and RE based projects and pilots from around the world and in Europe. The aim is that for the first time someone working on transport strategy and policy will be helped when making decisions about using RE as part of their transport solution, they will be able to refer to this Guide. The Guide is in it's first draft phase and a lot of work has taken place to develop it during the reporting period. The second innovative aspect of the project is the pilots but in particular the pilot in Portugal. In Portugal we are involving 12 regions in the project. Each region is installing an EV charging point powered by PV panels, to charge a small electric car. The cars can be pre-booked by using a special website. This means that someone from outside the region can pre-arrange transport at no cost, and CO2 free, via a website to encourage them to use the bus to get to their meeting rather than take their car. That's the entire point of the availability of the CO2 free EV's - people can continue their journey beyond the bus station to their meeting. The third innovative aspect of the project is the Conference Tour. Rather than holding a final conference for the project, we are holding a conference tour, where we will start with a final conference in Scotland, then moveto Ireland, then on to France, Spain and Portugal. So there will be five conferences in two weeks. Some speakers will be international and will attend and speak at several conferences. Operation management

1) Management and Action Renewables has been responsible for managing and coordinating the project since the beginning. During the claim period we have coordination activities arranged two partner meetings. There has been four conference calls during the period also. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and At each partner meeting we examine the original application and look at the deliverables; to see if we are delivering against the targets. The evaluation activities same exercise happens during the conference calls and if any activities which are monitored, are not delivering on time, then they are organized in the period highlighted as the first agenda item at the next meeting.

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3) Main problems found There have been no issues, no problems found during the reporting period. and solutions adopted during the period

4) Majors impacts of None eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project 2 newsletters issued by all partners (translated into French, Portuguese, Spanish) and issued to email addresses covering transport operators, communication policy makers, fuel associations, regional and national authorities. The partnership has created a project video; which is now avilable through achievements youtube and the website. The REPUTE Information Leaflet has been created and published and has been made available at all of the workshops to transport operators, policy makers etc… it is also available electronically. The website has been created and its address is www.reputeproject.eu. Each partner has been targetting the audience as planned. 4 of the 6 workshops have taken place already and the final 2 will take place in the early part of 2015. Target audiences have been made up of Academia, transport industry, transport policy makers, strategists etc… Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Leaflet for the Conference Tour has been published. handbooks, guides…) 2 Newsletters have been published. published on any format, as DVD well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, The ‘GUIDE’ (presently in Draft format). handbooks, guides…) to be 2 further DVD’s published on any format, as well as all promotional

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SITE | Priority:3.1 |Nº 2011-1/170 http://www.site-project.eu/

Title Smart Integrated ticketing for Europe

Slogan Smart traveling in Atlantic cities

Project summary The aim of SITE was to bring together a number of transport authorities and operators representing the 5 member states in the Atlantic Area to work together on the development of smart ticketing products and to address the barriers to interoperability of tickets. New ticketing products have been introduced and evaluated in pilot projects in the different regions. The ultimate goal was that residents of Region A could be able to purchase a smart ticket that could also be used in the transport networks in the other regions, thus contributing to a reduction in the use of private motor vehicles in Atlantic Area cities and regions. However, before this can be achieved, a number of complex barriers need to be overcome. The authorities and public transport operators worked closely together on a variety of topics such as: Ticketing products and pricing; Ticketing equipment – on- and off-vehicle; Rules & regulations; Revenue apportionment between regions/operators; Sales systems; Back office systems; Security; Customer interface; Pilot project implementation and monitoring. These issues were addressed in order to set up standards that could easily be adopted by all cities and regions in the Atlantic Area and to trial interoperable systems to facilitate improved continuity of transport networks. Within the SITE project, local and national transport authorities and operators representing the 5 member states in the Atlantic Area have developed, trialed and implemented smart ticketing solutions to improve and facilitate sustainable mobility for their citizens. During 3 years, the partnership worked on 3 key aspects of smart ticketing: the fare structure, the technology (smart cards and NFC) and the selling and promotion. The project has also addressed the issue of interoperability between ticketing systems in different cities and regions by launching the first real life interoperable ticketing product between distant cities through a SITE phone application. Project Lead Partner Nantes Métropole Communauté Urbaine (FR)

Partnership Société d’économie mixte des transports de l’Agglomération Nantaise (FR) ; Ayuntamiento de Donostia San Sebastián (ES); Compañia del Tranvía de San Sebastián, S.A. (ES); Empresa Municipal de Transportes Urbanos de Gijón, S.A. (ES); Merseytravel Passenger Transport Executive (UK); Moveaveiro - Empresa de moblidade E.M. (PT); Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board (IE); National Transport Authority (IE); Câmara Municipal de Aveiro (PT) Starting date 02/01/2012

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Ending date 31/12/2014

Total eligible budget € 6 437 499,14

Total ERDF budget € 4 184 374,44

Global performance

1) Implementation In Nantes, the post-payment card Libertan was successfully launched at the beginning of October 2013 on the Nantes transport network, as a Progress- Activities first step towards the widespread introduction of multimodal ticketing. Further services were added to the card in September, 2014: access to the bike sharing and car sharing systems. The reflection over the fare structure accompanying the launch of Libertan also led the conurbation to restructure its social fare policy. In Donostia San Sebastian, a regional public transport fare integration took place during 2013. Launched in March 2013, the new fare integration in Gipuzkoa region establishes progressive discounts by use of a common fare scheme for special user profiles and other discounts for transfers between operators, simplifying and unifying the fare structure. In order to enable Dbus to integrate in the new system, more than 200.000 chip contact cards have been replaced with multi-modal contactless smartcards, valid to travel between inter-city buses, trains and urban buses. In Gijon, the use of different validating machines for different travel cards and different bus routes made the payment scenario too complex both for the user and the operator. Ticketing machines were upgraded to enable users to validate with the card of their choice in any of the machines, and have access to a wider variety of discounts and advantages both in rural and urban areas, improving their users experience and therefore making public transport the best option to travel. The introduction of Merseytravel’s smart ticketing programme (which began in late 2010) has met with several delays which are symptomatic of the complexities of the way public transport is delivered in the UK. In order to overcome these complexities, a strategic review of smart ticketing was reviewed, which highlighted that the focus of smart ticketing should be on the user and not the technology involved. From that review, Merseytravel, in collaboration with the other SITE partners, successfully began to introduce a revised scheme for smart ticketing in the Liverpool City Region. The first three phases of the roll-out include a concessionary reimbursement model, a revised ticketing strategy and a trial of a 24 hour smart ticketing product which will be rolled out across the region. In Aveiro, the SITE project allowed rethinking the whole bike sharing system considering the available smart ticketing technology, not only as a form of payment and identification of users but rather as a tool to induce accessibility to all urban attractions in Aveiro. In the framework of the SITE project, an important study has been carried out to design the new BUGA system and define its technical specifications. The BUGA Card is not yet implemented but will probably use RFID technology that is already used in public transport in Porto or in student cards at the University of Aveiro. RFID will allow interoperability with those existing systems, but also with future systems to be created in the region.

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In Dublin, the Leap Card scheme was implemented to provide the commuters of Dublin with a convenient, flexible, and reusable way to pay for travel across all modes of travel in and around Dublin: www.leapcard.ie Market research into customer behaviour was carried out to assess the likely reaction to smart ticketing and the likelihood of acceptance, and to model passenger journeys and revenue impacts resulting from the implementation of new smart card features. The fares model was also used to forecast the implications of the introduction of transfer discounts. As the Leap Card did not fully meet the needs of tourists and visitors to Dublin, so a product was designed and launched to make transport more attractive, sustainable and easier to use for visitors to Dublin. In addition, a variation was also developed specifically to cater for language students coming to Dublin for periods of from 1 to 4 weeks. Lastly, a NFC feasibility study was done to investigate the technical and business opportunities available in the smart ticketing context; as a result of this study NTA took the decision to proceed to develop a NFC ‘proof of concept’ application. 2) Main project The main achievement at consortium level was the launch of the NFC trials in San Sebastian and Gijon. A single smartphone application has achievements - Outputs been developed and tested in the two cities, as a first answer to the issue of interoperability of smart ticketing products from one region to the other. This concrete experiment allowed identifying the necessary steps, the stakeholders to be involved, the advantages of the solution and the main barriers to a wider rolling out in more cities. These best practices are described in a document produced by partner EMTUSA, which explains the scalability of the NFC solution within the other cities of the Atlantic Area. Another interesting achievement was the reflection carried out by Aveiro on how to use smart ticketing as a tool to rejuvenate their bike sharing system, thus enlarging the scope of smart ticketing to other means of sustainable mobility. 3) Project Results and The main expected impact for SITE measures is an increase of modal share for sustainable mobility modes (mainly, for the project: cycling and Impacts public transport). During the project, the new smartcard schemes implemented in Dublin, Nantes, San Sebastian and Gijon have been massively adopted by public transport users. In Liverpool and Aveiro, the studies and the exchanges made in the duration of SITE will lead soon to the creation of new smartcard based systems. It is however difficult to measure the impact of such measures on the overall modal split as they are part of a wider set of actions aimed at increasing the use of alternative modes. For example in Nantes, the recent integration of public transport, bike-sharing and car-sharing services into a unique smartcard is increasing the user-friendliness of the bike-sharing system. However, if this definitely contributes to the steady increase in the modal share of cycling, this cannot be only attributed to ticketing enhancing, as it is part of a wider set of measures (creation of cycling lanes and routes, improvement of signage for cyclists, creation of secured bike parking places…) Generally speaking, the major improvements brought by the adoption of smart ticketing have proved to benefit both to mobility services users, local authorities and to operators, for which management and monitoring have been simplified and efficiency of operation increased. 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations All along the project, contacts were made with the following networks or associations, cooperation’s which were materialised by an invitation to contribute to the SITE final conference in Dublin, held in June, 2014: - the Smart Ticketing Alliance

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- the ABC project (application billettique commune) - the Integra network, to which all partners have become members. In parallel, regular contacts have been held with the CAAC for the whole length of the project, mainly for dissemination and information purposes. Similar relations were also held with EU networks such as the CIVITAS initiative, the UITP, Polis, Eurocities and the Eltis platform. 2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); N/A 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; N/A 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. The ticketing schemes improvements developed in the SITE project are part of global policies in favor of sustainable mobility modes at local level. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Insufficient interconnection of transport networks and problems of continuity and interoperability of the networks have been identified as weaknesses of the Atlantic Area. The pilot project developed between San Sebastian and Gijon (see below) constituted a first answer to tackle this issue, by encouraging inter-regional travelers to use public transport in the city they are traveling to. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations One of the project objectives was for partners to work together on the development of common interoperable smart ticketing products and to address the barriers to interoperability of these new tickets. This was successfully achieved through the launch of a pilot project between public transport operators of San Sebastian and Gijón, from February to October 2014. A guide to the scalability of the NFC solution within the other cities of the Atlantic Area was then produced by project partner EMTUSA. In terms of figures, the pilot project reached: 100 potential users 38 users who subscribed to the service 21 users who travel with the app during the 6 month duration of the pilot project. A total of 834 travels made with the SITE application. Despite the technical difficulties and its limited extent, this experimentation should be highlighted as a notable step forward in the development of interoperable ticketing solutions. It is expected that it will lever the technological developments required to further progress in this regards. In many cases the unavailability of the needed technology is not caused by the lack of knowledge but by the strategic positioning of stakeholder companies which are awaiting for the corresponding markets to open and reveal a profitable horizon. And this could only be showed off by pilot projects like the one undertaken within SITE, 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) N/A

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8-Social change generated; The social changes generated were linked with the more favorable fare policies set during the project: 3 partners implemented changes in their fare structures that, linking with the implementation of an innovative ticketing system, better fit user needs (actual and potential users). Simplification, discounts, connections with different networks, loyalty schemes… different options have been implemented by the different partners in order to adapt this common approach to their particular situation. The main conclusion to these experiments was that optimal results could be rather expected in the medium-long term than in the short term in the three partner cities, since the adaptation of the fare system was conceived in all cases as a prerequisite for the development of a smarter system which requires some time to consolidate. 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes The SITE project has raised the awareness of local politicians on the importance of interoperability of mobility systems between themselves and with other cities and regions in Europe. The launch of user friendly solutions has also raised the awareness of citizens about the availability of mobility options they could select in accordance to their needs. 10-Unexpected measurable results SITE and more specifically the pilot project highlighted how the collective work between partners could lead to significant lessons to learn, with Dublin closely following progress in Donostia-San Sebastián and Gijón to further define their NFC scheme, currently being experimented by NTA. 11-Other types of results and Impacts N/A 4) Main contributions to The project has revolutionised the way public transport and mobility services can be used in 4 Atlantic cities and will lead soon to new the Atlantic Area ticketing schemes in 2 other cities. Programme achieved It has placed the Atlantic Area as a leader to take into account in future improvement towards multimodal ticketing integration at European level. 5) Implementation The implementation methodology remained as follows: in each activity, the lead partner coordinates the different actions and assists the methodology aspects partners in implementing their actions at local level, contributing that way collectively in achieving the objectives of the project. Each partner attained is responsible for involving in the project all the necessary stakeholders in order to achieve a satisfactory implementation of the project at a local level. Last SITE public workshop: Smart mobility + BUGA bike sharing system (Aveiro - 29 October 2014 )Associated to the SITE final meeting which is held in Aveiro, the Municipality organised an open session to public participation. The aim was to discuss the role of smart ticketing as a tool to connect the different modes of transport, integrating them as a seamless continuity. 6) Innovative aspects of the Each of the partners shown a relatively high level of innovation with respect to their local context. However, the most significant level of project achieved innovation reached was the launch of the NFC pilot project between San Sebastian and Gijon, as the first real life interoperable ticketing product. Operation management

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1) Management and Report 5 – Interim report (including payment claim) coordination activities The report was submitted in May, 2014 organized in the period Report 6 – interim report including payment claim The 6th report was submitted in September, 2014. 4 Steering Committee meetings were organised in 2014: - In San Sebastian in February - In Liverpool in April - In Dublin in June - last Steering Committee meeting in Aveiro in October . 2) Monitoring and The continuous monitoring of the project was developed in a final evaluation report, which thoroughly assessed the impacts of the project at evaluation activities city level and per action and activities organized in the period

3) Main problems found The major challenge faced by the project was the withdrawal of one partner, MoveAveiro, which occurred in 2012. This partner was however and solutions adopted successfully replaced by the Municipality of Aveiro, which has furthermore brought a very interesting added value to the project by enlarging during the period its scope to cycling issues. The withdrawal of MoveAveiro also raised the question of communication issues, which were under the responsibility of this partner. The task was therefore entrusted to SEMITAN, which tendered a new contract to launch and accelerate dissemination activities within the project. Even though this resulted in some delays compared to the initial work programme, the first results (new website, brochure, newsletters) have been very satisfactory 4) Majors impacts of A project revision has been presented during the period to adapt the budget split between the partners and to have project period extension eventual project revisions needed for delays in different tasks, and to allow a satisfactory conclusion of the project (management and evaluation tasks...) during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Communication actions had been delayed because of the withdrawal of the partner initially in charge of this task. Since the responsibility has communication been shifted to SEMITAN and their new subcontractor, rapid progress has been done and main deliverables could be rapidly launched. achievements The main web communication was done via the multilingual website (www.site-project.eu) and the different newsletters which provide regularly the news on the different achievements related with SITE in the 6 partner cities. A leaflet presenting the general objectives of the project was produced as well as a final brochure.

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Also, a strategy has been developed to interact with European mobility stakeholders, to find synergies which could multiply the impacts of the project. Presentations of the SITE project were made during major mobility events such as the CIVITAS forum in September in Casablanca or the Transport Ticketing Conference in London in January. Lastly, the final conference, held in Dublin in June, attracted more than 100 participants and was a successful way of sharing the findings of the project with the main stakeholders. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, The following documents have been produced in 2014: handbooks, guides…) - 2 newsletters (June and October, 2014) published on any format, as - final transferability guide well as all promotional - final brochure material produced in the - final evaluation report framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, The final project report is the only document left to be produced. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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V. Priority 4 - Promote transnational synergies in sustainable urban and regional development

Objective 1- Pool resources and skills in the field of sustainable urban and rural development

. AAPUBLICSERV . ANATOLE . CLIMATLANTIC

Objective 2 - Make cities and regions more influential and attractive through networking

. ATBRAND

Objective 3 - Conserve and promote Atlantic cultural heritage of transnational interest

. ATLANTERRA . DORNA

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Objective 1- Pool resources and skills in the field of sustainable urban and rural development

AAPUBLICSERV | Priority:4.1 |Nº 2008-1/022 http://atlantic-e-services.ernact.eu

Title AAPUBSERV 2008-1 / 022

Slogan Building Sustainable Public Services in the Atlantic Arc

Project summary AAPUBLICSERV aims to develop a transnational innovation system capable of creating a long-term sustainable e-administration cluster within the Atlantic Area. Project objectives include: The development of methods and approaches to build transnational e-services, particularly e-admin services Use the tools to create a number of transnational multilingual e-services Pilot an innovation process designed to transfer products developed by the public sector for wider use in the Atlantic Arc The extra activities are focused exclusively on widening the dissemination of the results of the project to the wider Atlantic Area. The main rational for the new dissemination activities is that the impact of the project in the Atlantic Area would be much greater if the approach (objective 1), services (objective 2) and innovation (objective 3) that it developed could be extended beyond the five original regions. Dissemination to additional regions, and the additional public authorities and high technology companies that they would bring, would help to create a much richer and sustainable Atlantic Area innovation eco-system than achievable within the existing partnership. Project Lead Partner ERNACT, IE

Partnership Derry City Council (UK) ;Department Of Environment (UK); Donegal County Council (IE); EMCANTA (SP); Fomento de San Sebastián (SP);Cardiff City Council (UK); Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (FR); CTL Cantabria (SP) Starting date 01/12/2008

Ending date 30/04/2014

Total eligible budget € 2.247.263,55

Total ERDF budget € 1 460 721,02

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Global performance

1) Implementation During 2014 period, besides the Activity 2 (project management) activity which will be explained in the next section, the main activities Progress- Activities developed within the project have been: Activity 18 (Implementing ePublic Services in the Atlantic Area) This activity promoted and discussed the successful deployment of public e-services in the Atlantic Area, one of the core aims of the AAPUBSERV project. The results formed the basis for a workshop in Donegal, Ireland and one of the parallel sessions in the final Digital Agenda workshop. Activity 19 (Innovation Platforms & Facilitating the Development of AA Smart Clusters) A key focus of this activity was to explore the innovation linkages between companies and research organisations within the Atlantic Area involved in the development of technologies for the public sector. The results formed the basis for a workshop in San Sebastian and one of the parallel sessions in the final Digital Agenda workshop. Activity 20 (Multimodal Transport & High Speed Broadband) Using the experience developed in the project, this activity disseminated the results along the Atlantic Area, discussed the transnational e- services needs to support integrated transport systems, developed a position paper on how the use e-services for transport combined with High Speed Broadband can support the effective delivery of integrated transport systems in the Atlantic area. The results formed the basis for a workshop in Santander and one of the parallel sessions in the final Digital Agenda workshop. Activity 21 (Disseminate Results to Atlantic Area) This task provided active input into the dissemination tasks undertaken in activities 18, 19 and 20. It was carried out over a six months period using the digital dissemination tools developed in Activity 17. This included the e-services developed, innovation platform and services directory. Finally, the conclusions of the activities outlined above were discussed at a final Digital Agenda project workshop to which all regions of the Atlantic Area were invited. The event was held in conjunction with the Atlantic Arc Commission General Assembly in Bordeaux in April 2014 to maximise attendance. Attendees included President of Atlantic Regions, Mayors, Director of associated Atlantic networks, Vice-president of regions, public authorities, technicians, etc. All project information disseminated through ERNACT & CPMR network’s social media accounts to reach as wide an audience as possible. A number of short videos were recorded during the workshops which took place in Activities 18, 19 & 20 and these were uploaded to the ERNACT network’s YouTube account and disseminated using Twitter and Facebook. The project collaboration platform was further developed and enhanced to facilitate carrying out a Digital Atlantic consultation in parallel with activities 18 – 21. This consultation was targeted at specific organisations within the Atlantic Area regions. 2) Main project Main project achievements during 2014 are: achievements - Outputs 1 Steering Committee meeting completed Social media channels of project partners & larger networks utilised to disseminate information 3 thematic workshops and 1 final dissemination workshop carried out Video interviews produced from the 3 thematic workshops and disseminated across the Atlantic region

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Digital Atlantic Consultation set up as part of Activity 17 3) Project Results and The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions in Europe (CPMR) joined the project as a partner for the project extension, which was Impacts approved in 2013. CPMR has strong linkages with European regions in the Atlantic area through its Atlantic Commission, covering the Atlantic Area’s five Member States and 60 million inhabitants (or 12% of Europe’s population), thus they greatly boost the dissemination capability for the project. The organisation’s staff also possesses substantial skills in large-scale dissemination on a transnational basis, workshop organisation and a knowledge of regional development needs in the Atlantic area. This had a measurable impact in 2014 when carrying out the workshops in Activities 18 – 21. The final dissemination workshop in Bordeaux proved a great opportunity to disseminate project information to Atlantic Commission regions and make new contacts and partnerships. The online collaboration platform has resulted in the development of enhanced linkages with partners from across the Atlantic Area The beneficiaries/target groups of the project results were Public Authorities, High-Tech Companies, and Innovation & Applied Research Centres. 4) Main contributions to The project contributed to this Programme objective achievement through pooling and sharing the regional existing knowledge, expertise, the Atlantic Area tools and capacities on a transnational basis. The methodology developed enabled finding synergies and complementarities between Atlantic Programme achieved Area regions in order to develop new services and project ideas based on existing experiences and tools and making this process more effective. The partners concentrated on promotion of the e-services developed in the project, which was one of the core aims of the AAPubServ project. A key focus for partners was exploring linkages between companies and research organisations within the Atlantic Area, the dissemination of project results and discussing the transnational e-services needs across the Atlantic Area. The activities that were carried out shared existing services and promoted new venture collaborations between companies aimed at finding new business opportunities and achieving a sustainable rural development. 5) Implementation The general aim of this project is to “Develop a transnational innovation system and cluster capable of creating long-term sustainable e- methodology aspects administration services within the Atlantic Arc”. This general aim was realised by following this methodology: attained 1. Develop the tools, methods and approaches for building transnational e-services, particularly e-administration services, in the Atlantic Arc. Partners focused during the first part of the project in the definition and selection of these items in order to develop their services. 2. Use the tools to create a number of transnational multilingual e-services: 6 services developed. 3. Develop and implement an innovation process designed to successfully transfer products developed by this project and the public sector for wider in the Atlantic Arc: process related activities carried out throughout the project are allowing to find new opportunities to transfer the developed services into other transnational regions, i.e. workshops have been held in order to transfer the services developed and disseminate project information across the Atlantic Arc Area. 6) Innovative aspects of the The first innovation of this project is that it focussed on the under-pinning ICT systems required to support the development of transnational project achieved products/services, particularly public services targeted at citizens and business. It went beyond the development stage by implementing a number of transnational services, including a transnational contact centre for citizens and business. During 2011/2012, 6 ICT based services were developed.

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The second innovative aspect of this project is that it attempts to pool and share on a transnational basis, the ICT development tools (that were used to create the new services) already in use by public authorities, research centres and ICT companies. Concrete examples of this are the interest from Derry City Council and Donegal County Council to implement the service developed in Cantabria (Port management system). Partner EMCANTA shared their knowledge, acquired experience and results achieved with these interested partners to help them to implement the port management system in their regions. In addition to this, all the participating regions are sharing the existent services provided in their regions and maintaining an updated catalogue of services that can be accessed transnationally. The project used content and data in existence in the participating regions to develop the Transnational Innovation System. This system is multilingual in conception and capable of deployment in the languages of the Atlantic Arc. The goal of the Transnational Innovation system was to create a transnational ICT cluster, incorporating high technology companies, research centres and innovative public authorities. This cluster approach will optimise the sustainability of the project's results by creating the conditions necessary for sustaining the development-research-usage cycle. Operation management

1) Management and Activity 2 (project management) includes all related management and coordination activities. During this period these activities have been coordination activities carried out to consolidate effective transnational inter-agency working relationships between the partners. This was key to developing the organized in the period understanding, trust and knowledge required to translate co-operation into effective change in the form of transnational service analysis, cooperation and networking. The following coordination and management activities have occurred in 2014: 2nd Steering Committee Meetings (Donegal on 23/01/14): The project Steering Committee included representatives from all the project’s partners. The Steering Committee pooled resources to assume collective responsibility for ensuring achievement of the project’s objectives, continuing the high level of transnational cooperation from the preparation phase to actual management of the live project. keeping up to date the Online Collaboration webspace coordinating the project level functions necessary for the successful completion of the entire project within budget and on-time teleconference meetings as required preparation and submission of the final Execution report 2) Monitoring and Apart from the normal project monitoring and reporting activities, the project followed testing phases of the Territorial Innovation platform evaluation activities before making it live. Partners also evaluated each of the thematic workshops to ensure the subsequent workshops were as effective as organized in the period possible.

3) Main problems found During 2014 the project has achieved its objectives in terms of governance, without any partner conflict and agreeing common activities and and solutions adopted measures to be adopted through partner consensus. during the period Main issues were some partners having difficulty to organise their thematic workshops in the proposed timeframes due to other organisation commitments. The partners also wanted tried to run each workshop alongside larger regional events in order to attract as big an event

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participation as possible. As a result the partners requested an extension to 30 April 2014 in order to maximise project results and ensure budget spend. This resulted in a need for a budget change in order to reflect the movement of project spend into 2014. 4) Majors impacts of The main impact of the aforementioned project extension date revision was to affect the timeline. Partnership agreed to change project eventual project revisions dates in order to better achieve the project objectives. This also meant that the project needed to request a budget change to reflect more during the period expenditure in 2014.

Communication achievements

1)Main project Apart from the general day-to-day communication activities in 2014, the following events have taken place: communication Project extension kick-off meeting in Dublin on 19th October 2013 attended by project partners. achievements 2nd Steering Committee meeting in Donegal on 23/01/2014 attended by the partners Social media channels of project partners & larger networks utilised to disseminate information 3 thematic workshops to communicate project results in Donegal (23/01/14), San Sebastian (13/03/14) and Santander (09/04/14). 1 final dissemination workshop carried out in Bordeaux (24/04/14) to disseminate project result to all Atlantic Area regions. Video interviews produced from the 3 thematic workshops and disseminated across the Atlantic region Digital Atlantic Consultation set up as part of Activity 17 Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Internal documents in the collaboration space handbooks, guides…) 1 target audience for each of Activities 18, 19, 20, & 21 published on any format, as Agenda documents for 3 thematic discussion workshops (Activities 18, 19, & 20) and final dissemination workshop (Activity 21) well as all promotional Speakers presentations for 3 thematic workshops and final dissemination workshop material produced in the 1 e-public services workshop on 23/01/14 in Donegal (7 promotional videos produced; 41 persons attended) framework of the Project. 1 Smart Specialisation Cluster workshop in San Sebastian on 13/03/1 (promotional videos produced; 34 persons attended) 1 Multimodal Transport & High Speed Broadband workshop in Santander on 09/04/14 (promotional videos produced; 99 persons attended) 1 final project dissemination workshop in Bordeaux on 25/04/14 (80 persons attended) News and information posted on social media channels and website e-services development companies targeted with Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog e-public services research centres and start-up incubators targeted with Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog regional high tech Smart Specialisation Clusters targeted with Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog digital technology research centres and start-up incubators targeted, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog

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Future documents (studies, The project ended on 30 April 2014. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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ANATOLE | Priority:4.1 |Nº 2009-1/080 www.atlanticcities.eu

Title ANATOLE

Slogan Atlantic Network Abilities for Town To Organize Local Economy

Project summary Involve Local Goverment of the Local Authorities (LA) in the develoment of the Local Economy (LE) with the convention between LA and LE organisations (Local development organisation working between local food producers and local consumers). Project Lead Partner AC3A

Partnership Deputacion de Huelva, IERU Coïmbra, Ad Terra Galicia, CVAA (Atlantic Cities), IMK Hazi (Euskadi Government), Nantes Metropole, Irish Exporter Association, Westmeath Community Development, Universtat Nova de Lisboa, AIRE 198 (La Rochelle, Angoulème, Niort Poitiers), A Coruña, Aveiro, RUOA (unersity network of West Atlantic). Starting date December 2009

Ending date 18th July 2014

Total eligible budget 1 835 797,78€

Total ERDF budget 1 192 673,72€

Global performance Implementation/cooperation/guide/argumentary on LE policies

1) Implementation Cooperation between Local authorities and Development organizations (private agencies and universities) in 20 pilot sites to make contract Progress- Activities between Local Authorities and Development organizations. State of the initial situation in each site, description of the local issues and needs from consumers and producers, analysis from LE skills from LA and local development agencies. Implementation of food chain and supply services system in each place. 2) Main project 15 Contracts- 1000 guides in english1000 in French 100 in Spanish 1000 argumentaries in English/French/Spanish achievements - Outputs Implementation of shops (San Sebastian, St Nazaire), school canteen service (Nantes, Niort), city food chains, drives, speed meetings (Dublin, Périgueux, Pau), LE market (A Coruna, San Sebastian, Bordeaux), cooperation between LA and local development organization (Poitiers,

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Santiago, Aveiro), training projects (Bordeaux, Galicia,), social producers networking (Lisbon, Rennes, Niort), producers networking (Westmeath, Setubal, Caen)… 3) Project Results and Definition - Results and impacts do no refer to project outputs or actions already described above. They are the concrete change generated by Impacts the project in terms of new forms of work, new inter-linkages with organizations and programmes, measurable change in organization, legislation, plans of various nature, behavior/knowledge and awareness raising of specific target groups or beneficiaries; and of new products, services and processes generated. They should normally refer to the original specific objectives of the project, but also included project spinoffs ANATOLE involved motivated LA with different situations (less or more developed). The main project result is the transfer of local experience between partners and through them to LA (staff/elected people, local development agencies). In this motivated LA some skills and abilities described how they progress in the LE development: without specific training and guide and argument to influence local policies. ANATOLE caught these testimonies to prepare two meeting October 2013(A Coruna) and December 2013 (Lisbon) to present its result and to encourage Universities and school to use them to organize training sessions to explain how to manage LE developments. Take into account the following elements and answer the questions when describing the results and impacts. 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree; As exposed before, the partnership noted that the real curb are the logistic, the sanitary rules, the necessary skills, the fear of the unknown spaces and activities. To change this situation two ways have been used: Testimonies and examples with visits and explanations on the different possible organizations, Training people and mainly LA staff and elected representatives to influence on local policies. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) New implementations of shops/markets/organizations: food chains in different sites with school canteen using local food and adapted school kitchen employers. Project of training not only oriented to producers or supply chains but to help LA managers to survey producers and consumers to propose adapted policies and support local projects adapted to their needs. This results on different programs (ERASMUS+, Horizon 2020, PSDR with researchers and farmers). 3-What are the expected results and impacts? (not achieved at the end of 2014 but expected by the end of the project or after)? Impacts are on the new EU projects in Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ where many collectivities will be aimed by the results of the works in transnational meeting in the 2013/2014 extension. The result is multiplying the number of the LA involved by 10. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? The beneficiaries are the consumers with a better possibility to consume local food, creating more local added value. The consequence on more added value is more profits for local producers. The global effect is to create more territorial added value at the condition that rules/policies/activities are respected (reason of the Anatole deliverables contract, guide, argumentary). 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organizations Food chain, Social cooperatives private/public, cooperation between producers and cookers, Super market supply change to valorize LE.

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2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organizations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); Training LA staff and elected representatives to give them solutions and organization framework. 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; The synergies are on the transfer of experience, testimonies and organization models. The Universities will open new training session mainly on masters. 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. Contracts between LA and local development organization for LE development. Facilitation by adapted organization of the sanitary producer’s problems. 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Agriculture and food service/distribution 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organizations/administrations Local economy with social link established between urban and rural inhabitants 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) Argumentary for LA to policy purpose. 8-Social change generated; More consideration of food producers and on food respect (school canteens, supermarket). 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes Consumers change their relation to the food and to the products: less wasting 10-Unexpected measurable results Influence on international food enterprises. Example of the Irish Exporter Association taking in account the necessary link between local consumers and local producers and their abilities to organize local food chains. 11-Other types of results and Impacts The number of youth interested to create their enterprise to produce local food. Caution at their necessary involvement in the networking created by ANATOLE to adapt the supply to the demand. 4) Main contributions to More Atlantic cities develop new policies and new activities to create a strong LE. Development of sea food chain on the ANATOLE model. the Atlantic Area Programme achieved

5) Implementation Proceeding on contract relation between the producers and the consumers with the regulation role of the LA. methodology aspects attained

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6) Innovative aspects of the New training content on tools to measure LE impact on the territories, new job to support LE development, with new skills and new networks project achieved of skills (schools and universities training offer.

Operation management

1) Management and Change and sustainable relations between the partners and the partners with LA involved in the project: more importance of the organisation coordination activities needs in the LA organisation into LA staffs and management. organized in the period

2) Monitoring and Control of the real impact of the events created and the role of the ANATOLE tram to let out the LE development based on LA involvement evaluation activities organized in the period

3) Main problems found Partners member of the partnership more interested by their own development than on the collaborative activities to involved more LA and and solutions adopted staff of LA. during the period

4) Majors impacts of No major modification except on the partnership with going out of two LA and coming in the partnership of two organisation eventual project revisions (University/cities association) providing 20 new LAs in the partnership. during the period

Communication Partners communication through their Websites achievements

1)Main project As a capitalization exercises, after the closing of the project, there will be a communicate event in Barcelone March 2015 communication achievements

Publications Articles in different newsletters, connection on the websites.

2014 - Documents (studies, Preparing University training content with new organisation involved in the training of LA staff and LA elected representatives. handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional

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material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, Books on the new tools to measure the LE impact on the territory (Added value/number on new employs, new training sessions). handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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CLIMATLANTIC | Priority:4.1 |Nº 2009-1/076 http://www.climatlanticproject.eu/eng/index.php

Title Local and regional actions for carbon footprint reduction Slogan Local and regional actions for carbon footprint reduction Project summary CLIMATLANTIC aims to develop an integrated Atlantic Strategy based on developing strategies (related to 4 basic pillars: mobility, energy, territorial management and social behavior) at regional and local level towards the reduction of the carbon footprint in the European Atlantic Area. The steps to achieve this goal are: Constitution of 4 think tanks (TT) with experts from all partners: 1st definition of strategies. Validation of strategies through joint transnational pilot projects, analyzed and validated by the TT before execution. Second round of TT with experts from all regions to capitalize contributions and results of the pilot experiences. Promotion of an Atlantic debate with regional and local authorities with the collaboration of existing networks of regional and local authorities. Final congress and joint approval of a Strategic Atlantic Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development for the reduction of carbon footprint aiming at increasing cohesion, competitiveness and sustainable development. Dissemination of the Agenda to National Authorities in the Atlantic Area and the EC. Capitalization of the Climatlantic strategy through specialized studies on the defined priorities and the corresponding debate forums. Project Lead Partner Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (Portugal) Partnership Eixo Atlántico do Noroeste Peninsular (Spain); Communauté d’Agglomération du Grand Angoulême (France) – Not taking part in the project extension; Instituto de Estudos do Territorio (Spain) – Not taking part in the project extension; Diputación Provincial de Ourense (Spain); South East Regional Authority (Ireland); Merseytravel (United Kingdom) – Not taking part in the project extension; Quimper Communauté (France) – Not taking part in the project extension; École d’Ingenieurs en Genie des Systemes Industriels (EIGSI) (France) – New partner for the extension. Starting date 01/01/2010 Ending date 31/10/2014 Total eligible budget 1.999.434,67 € Total ERDF budget 1.299.632,52 € Global performance 1) Implementation In 2014 CLIMATLANTIC project was totally focused on the capitalization activities: Progress- Activities February 20-21, 2014. Mobility Forum. Organized in La Rochelle (France), under the leadership of EIGSI. It was focused on defining challenges and trends in transport, as well as on boosting capacity and skills to foster the development of sustainable mobility strategies.

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March 12-13, 2014. Energy Forum. Organized in Dublin (Ireland), under the leadership of TCC. It was focused on promote marketing strategies to promote and sell renewable energy related products. March 25, 2014. Maritime Forum. Organized in Viana do Castelo (Portugal), under the leadership of Eixo Atlantico, it was focused on ports and its role in the definition of global cities, covering three main areas: port cities as areas for investment and sustainable integrated coastal management; territorial planning of maritime areas based on sustainable integration between coast and the interior; and models for sustainable and integrated territorial development based on the sea and the maritime related activities. April 11 2014. Territorial Management Forum. Organized by Deputación de Ourense (Spain). The event was attended by academic experts and scientists who approached the issue of CO2 reduction from different fields of activity, as the applications for public transport, the innovations in the field of energy and mobility, sustainability and waste, as well as the actions that each citizen can carry out within the framework of good environmental practices. September 25, 2014. Waste Forum. Organized in Monforte de Lemos (Spain) by Eixo Atlantico. This forum aimed to present different waste management system for urban waste, so local authorities could choose those practices more efficient from the CO2 emission reduction point of view. October 1, 2014. Closing Seminar: “From Climatlantic to Climatlantic +”. Organized in Ourense (Spain) by Deputación de Ourense and Eixo Atlantico. At this Forum, the partnership presented the results of the work developed within the project to identify measures and solutions in the energy, sustainability and transport areas focused to help the adaptation to the climate change effects at local level. All Forums were complemented with a study about the issue to be covered in the session. Concerning this, special attention should be deserved to the study presented at the seminar in Ourense, as it was the Climatlantic + Study, which was aimed to demonstrate how the main strategic sectors identified for the sustainable development of the Atlantic Area fit within the European investment and financing priorities 2014-2020. 2) Main project 6 International Forums about the issues covered by the Climatlantic Strategy achievements - Outputs 3 sectorial studies about sustainable mobility, promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energies and the Climatlantic + study, focused to demonstrate how the sustainable development priorities perfectly fits in the investing priorities of almost all financing programmes 2014-2020. 3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts – This section must be completed. Impacts The impact of the CLIMATLANTIC project is clear: it has generated not only a common Atlantic strategy for the sustainable development based on local actions for the reduction of CO2 emissions but also an active international pull of experts and a network that keep on working in this area, besides the project. Thanks to the project activities and its active dissemination action, many local authorities on the ground have acknowledge the benefits of following a strategy for the reduction of CO2 emissions, not only in environmental terms but also in the economic and competitiveness areas. That is, if previously environmental issues like energy efficiency were seen as an environmental theme, now they are also envisaged like an opportunity to improve the territorial competitiveness of the Atlantic Area. With the added value that a solid and contrasted strategy is offered in order to go further in deep this concept. In addition, we also must say that the international think thank created is available to work with the interested local authorities in further develop the actions envisaged in the strategy.

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In addition, it is very important to point out that the impact of Climatlantic project did not end with the end of the project as once acknowledged the potential benefits of developing actions following this strategy local authorities are asking for new actions within the referred fields. So new outputs and deeper impact is expected. 4) Main contributions to the The Climatlantic strategy, developed by the international think thank and tested by the pilot actions in each partner region, has been completed Atlantic Area Programme in 2014 through the capitalization activities. These activities have been very useful to widespread the knowledge and the perspective developed achieved during the project and also, and what is especially interesting for the program, to assess the stakeholders’ interest about the potential priority lines of the Atlantic Area Program 2014-2020. 5) Implementation The first phase of the CLIMATLANTIC methodology had already been completed in 2010, once the Think Tank has been set up. methodology aspects In this respect, before the kick-off meeting each partner had prepared a preliminary document with methodological proposals for the Think attained Tank. Afterwards, all the partners had identified a group of environmental experts in their national territory, professionals who have become frequent collaborators of the partners. As foreseen in the CLIMATLANTIC Application Form, these experts, coming from the five European Atlantic countries, have attended the kick-off meeting in order to set up the preparation of the diagnosis and definition of the Strategy for the Atlantic Area. As a result, there is a working group for each of the four pillars of the think tank: Mobility, Energy, Management Territory and Social Behavior. Each of the groups has an expert as coordinator. On top of this, a general coordinator of the four groups has been appointed. This experts group has intensified its activity during 2011 and first half of 2012 in order to finish their work. During 2012 the second phase of the CLIMATLANTIC Methodology, the validation of strategies, has been concluded. Partners have met and studied the final delivery done by the experts (final version). They have finished as well the identification and almost the implementation of the transnational pilot actions. The third phase of the CLIMATLANTIC methodology has been finished in 2012 – beginning 2013: the Atlantic Debate. Concerning this point, partners have organized the Climatlantic final congress (A Coruña in June 2012) and published the final consolidated document. Finally a new phase was added to the Climatlantic methodology in 2013: the capitalization of the Climatlantic strategy, which was implemented during 2014. This last phase of capitalization was based on the priorities defined in the Climatlantic strategy for the reduction of the carbon footprint in the Atlantic Area. On the basis of these priorities, the partnership produced specialized studies and the corresponding debate forums. The main goal of the Climatlantic Strategy is to increase the competitiveness of the productive sectors of the involved regions and help to the economic development and employment through seven priorities defined in the strategy. On the basis of these priorities, in2014 the partnership has also produced specialized studies (each one about one of the priorities, the one best adapted to each territory and interests in each case: Maritime, Energy, Local Sustainability and governance and Mobility), and debate forums for the discussion and dissemination of the Climaltnatic strategy priorities. 6) Innovative aspects of the The CLIMATLANTIC partnership had already developed the two foreseen innovative aspects during the previous reporting periods. project achieved On the first hand, regarding the dimension of the project, the Think Tank has been created, involving the partners alongside with environmental experts and policy makers, and the group has finished its work.

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On the other hand, concerning the methodology, all the phases have been done: setting-up of the Think Tank, production of the final drafts of their documents (one per pillar) and of the final strategy document. Nevertheless, a new phase was included to the methodology during 2013: the capitalization of the Climatlantic strategy, which was developed during 2014. This phase has another innovative aspect as not only was focused to disseminate the obtained results but also to assess the interest on the ground for the priorities 2014-2020 in the field of adaptation to climate change from the local authorities perspective. Operation management 1) Management and According the management and coordination activity, the Lead Partner has been in charge of the transnational coordination of the project coordination activities activities and partners. On this way, the contact with the Atlantic Program management actors (JTS, MA, etc.) has been assured by the Lead organized in the period Partner. On the other hand, CLIMATLANTIC has organized two Steering Committee meetings: 8th SC (May 2014 in Porto - PT): Midterm review of the capitalization phase, analysis of the financial implementation and budget review and adjustments. 9th SC (October 2014 in Ourense –ES)- Closure of the project. Regarding the financial issues, the pertinent Execution Reports and Payment Claims of the CLIMATLANTIC project were prepared and submitted, being this work coordinated by the Lead Partner but assured as well by each partner at its own level. 2) Monitoring and The CLIMATLANTIC partnership is always in contact and particularly the Lead Partner is in charge of the project monitoring through the direct evaluation activities and continuous contact with the other partners as well as the JTS. organized in the period 3) Main problems found No major problems were found during this period. and solutions adopted The only issue to be mentioned is that during 2014 one partner (p7 – SERA) disappeared and was substituted by the Tipperary County Council during the period (TCC). This fact was overpassed preparing all administrative forms for the change and in close communication with the JTS and the National Correspondent in Ireland. 4) Majors impacts of In 2014 there was not submitted any new revision claim. eventual project revisions during the period Communication achievements 1)Main project Mobiilty Forum (La Rochelle – France, February 2014) communication Energy Forum (Dublin – Ireland, March 2014) achievements Maritime Forum (Viana do Castelo – Portugal, March 2014). Territorial Management Forum (Ourense – Spain, April 2014) Waste Forum (Monforte de Lemos – Spain, September 2014) From Climatlantic to Climatlantic + (Ourense – Spain, October 214) Project website. Publications

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2014 - Documents (studies, The new role for port cities handbooks, guides…) Alignment of the Climatlantic Carbon Footprint Reduction Strategy with the Strategic and Operational Framework EU 2014-2020 published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project. Future documents (studies, As the project has finished in October 2014, no more publications are foreseen. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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Objective 2 - Objective 4.2. – Make cities and regions more influential and attractive through networking

ATBRAND | Priority:4.2 |Nº 2013-1/185 www.atbrand.eu

Title AT Brand

Slogan N/A

Project summary AT Brand focuses on innovation and management in integrated city branding, a proposal which incorporates priority 4.2 of the 4th Interreg IVB-Atlantlic Area Programme. Over the course of the project it has three main aims: Increasing the level of innovation and effectiveness along the chain of city branding design and management in the Atlantic area To capitalize on the eisting expertise and experience of the participating cities as well as the whole Atlantic area, and from the state of the art in place branding at EU level. To establish a collaborative learning programme for innovative city branding techniques and models To experiment with new innovative solutions within the field Explore the idea of a long term strategy for co-branding the Atlantic area Detailed scoping and promotion of the common values of the European Atlantic Facade as relevant element for local and regional branding strategies Orientations for a potential roadmap for co-branding in the Atlantic area. Achieving the appropriation and the sustainability of the project’s findings and outputs Wide dissemination within the whole Atlantic area. Setting mechanisms to guarantee availability and long-term relevance of the project’s findings and outputs Project Lead Partner Dublin

Partnership Dublin, Faro, Cardiff, San Sebastian, La Rochelle, Liverpool, Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities

Starting date 1st Jan 2014

Ending date 30th June 2015

Total eligible budget €1.134.170,57

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Total ERDF budget €737.210,75

Global performance

1) Implementation 2 City Brand Workshops held in Liverpool and La Rochelle. Work is progressing with the State of Play Brand Reports for each partner city, Co- Progress- Activities Brand Strategy for North Atlantic Façade. Each partner city innovative pilot action in the process of being developed.

2) Main project 2 Brand Workshops held.Main outputs such as co-strategy, brand roadmap and innovative pilot actions will not be completed until the end of achievements - Outputs the project.

3) Project Results and The AT Brands focus on developing new methods that put stakeholders within cities at the centre of how cities communicate. The innovative Impacts pilot actions which are being developed by partner cities put this idea at the core of their projects. Throughout developing strong city partnerships and developing new lines of communication are a main concern for the project and in tackling this issue we allow a voice to previously unheard groups within the city, while also developing comprehensive partnerships that allow for a citywide push in the promotion of our cities. In this case the development of these partnerships is an important aspect of the project. At a wider regional level with the possibility of developing a co-branding strategy for the North Atlantic Façade we envisage a strong partnership of cities to be developed within the Atlantic Area Programme. With this we will be able to move forward with a strategy beneficial for the entire region, developing and further increasing links at city, country and regional level. The development of the co-strategy is seen to core in developing a strong and fluid network of cities that by working together will create synergies in developing cohesive goals beneficial to all. Again at a city level the innovative pilot actions are having an increased influence upon authorities/organizations strategies in promoting their cities. Each partners action is leading the way in developing innovative and progressive strategies in promoting their cities at both an organizational and city level. In promoting new and innovative methods in explaining our cities narratives the AT Brand is changing the way how we promote our cities, through the project we are pushing away from outdated and exhausted methods to explain our cities and using new and innovative methods which incorporate technology and more democratic process which put wide ranging stakeholder groups within the city at the centre of strategies/policies to promote or cities and region. With the cross learning itinerary throughout the project the AT Brand has been instrumental in the development of new ideas and change of techniques at a city level. The interactive city workshops allow partners to forment new ideas about strategy and policy. Bringing these back to their cities partners are using these newly formed ideas to impact upon their own strategies. By the end of the project it is envisaged that AT Brand will have a number of outputs that will play their part in developing new modes of thinking about explaining and promoting cities. These include a suite of easily transferable innovative methods which will come from activity four. Concurrently we will have produced a city brand roadmap which will allow other cities European wide insight into new ways of thinking about city promotion.

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Further to this, we will have clear insight into the possibilities of a co-branding strategy for the North Atlantic Façade, while also having built an innovative brand toolkit which highlights the commonalities within the region via www.atbrand.eu. 4) Main contributions to The AT Brand project specifically focuses on Priority 4.2 of the Atlantic Area Programme, namely “Make cities and regions more influential the Atlantic Area and attractive through networking”. First of all developing such a wide ranging partnership that spans throughout the Atlantic Area has Programme achieved developed both new and strengthened existing ties between the partners. Without the AT Brand many of these cities would not have had contact with each and with the AT Brand as a bridge a strong partnership with increasingly developing links and similar mindsets which sees the Atlantic Area Programme at the heart has been formed. The cross learning part of the project (activity 3) is playing an increasing role within this area also. Each workshop provides a platform for interaction and engagement with various academics, place brand experts, and other European cities. Thus, developing and promoting our cities further via networking. The cross learning activity has also allowed cities within the Atlantic Area Programme an opportunity to develop, learn and discuss new ideas revolving around the concept of city branding and allowed our cities to develop new ways of highlighting and promoting themselves, which in turn has helped develop activity four even further. Activity 4, the innovative pilot action, internally within partner cities is also furthering this idea of collaboration to make our cities and thus the Atlantic area more impactful at a global scale. In progessing with their pilot actions partner cities are building and developing influential stakeholder partnerships and working groups that will eventually lead to a more concerted and cohesive effort in promoting their cities. Further to this the work carried out by all partners is leading to the development of a comprehensive roadmap for city branding which will no doubt be of benefit to any cities within the Atlantic Area Programme. 5) Implementation Within the cross learning initative we have had 2 innovative city brand workshops and near completition of each partner city brand profile. methodology aspects With the development of www.atbrand.eu we have built a strong dissemination tool which along with promoting our findings within the attained project will be a web-based toolkit which will incorporate core messages and communition activities. Work on the co-strategy is developing and is at an advanced stage. All pilot actions are progressing with some near completition, such as Liverpool and Cardiff. 6) Innovative aspects of the The collaborative learning model has been a success to date and has led to partner cities being able to develop their own strategies even project achieved further. Also, this innovative model has allowed further development into the discussion and implementation into new methods of city branding, which will in the long run benefit the entire Atlantic area with the development of a comprehensive model for innovative city branding. Innovative pilot actions such as the creation of Liverpool’s city app, the current development of Dublin’s city website and Cardiff’s online city video story bank to name some of the projects, highlights the AT Brand’s focus on innovation within this field. This is a digital focus on innovative city communicative tools. Faro, La Rochelle and San Sebastian focus on developing strategic partnerships within the city highlights new forms of innovative co-operation between partners in a city. Operation management

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1) Management and Since January 2014 we have had four (3 Physical, 1 Virtual) steering committee meetings with all partners in attendance. Also, the lead coordination activities partner co-ordinate with the communications partner (CAAC) in relation to any communication with the project. Each Transnational organized in the period workshop is co-ordinated with the partner city, lead partner, communications partner and the consultant in charge of technical assistance. In relation to overall project aims i.e. co-branding strategy and branding roadmap the lead partner co-ordinates the development of these with the consultant. 2) Monitoring and Periodically the lead partner asks for updates from partners regarding finance and progression with innovative pilot actions. Also the lead evaluation activities partner is in continous discussion with the consultant employed to provide the main technical assistance. The lead partner is also in continous organized in the period contact with partners if any queries arise. Finally, we have held four Steering Group Committees so far in Dublin, Liverpool and La Rochelle and one virtual with all partners in attendance. At these each partner updates the group with their progress with their pilot project. Also, the lead partner gives an overview of the progress of the project and finally any queries by partners are discussed. 3) Main problems found Problems have occurred within the reporting of the project. There have been large delays with some partners in getting financial claims and solutions adopted approved by their national contacts. Also, the method (access database) to report to the JTS is overly complicated and sometimes confusing. during the period Some partners who are new to EU programmes have had a number of problems in preparing these.

4) Majors impacts of The major impact upon the project has been the delays we have suffered at the beginning, ideally AT Brand would look to extend the project eventual project revisions for a number of extra months to have everything fully complete. during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project Development of Communications Strategy, development of website www.atbrand.eu, development of AT Brand Social Media Channels. communication achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Throughout the partnership partners have promoted the project through various media channels. An example of this is a recent article in handbooks, guides…) placebrandobserver.com produced by the lead partner. published on any format, as well as all promotional http://placebrandobserver.com/atlantic-city-branding-project/ material produced in the framework of the Project.

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Future documents (studies, A Co-Strategy Document for the North Atlantic Façade, City Brand Roadmap, State of Play City Brand Reports for each partner city. handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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Objective 3 - Conserve and promote Atlantic cultural heritage of transnational interest

ATLANTERRA | Priority:4.3 |Nº 2009-1/081 www.green-mines.eu

Title ATLANTERRA

Slogan “De la Mine, maintenons la flamme”

Project summary

Project Lead Partner Commune de Noyant-la-Gravoyère, France

Partnership Geological Survey of Ireland (Ireland), Castlecomer Discovery Park (Ireland), Copper Coast Geopark (Ireland), Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (Wales, UK), Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (Wales, UK), VPLV Les Mines de la Brutz (France), Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia (Portugal), Agencia de Desenvolvimento Regional do Alentéjo (Portugal), Instituto Geologico y Minero de Espana (Espagne) Starting date 01/01/10

Ending date 30/04/14

Total eligible budget 2 042 924,52 €

Total ERDF budget 1 317 517,93 €

Global performance

1) Implementation Progress- All the activities are now closed since April, 30, 2014, ending date of the project. Activities

2) Main project In 2014, the only activities of the project was to finish all the activities, and to close the implemented actions. The main achievment is the achievements - Outputs publication and dissemination of the minutes of the Nantes Conference on the “Valorisation of the Mining Heritage”, with a guide of good practice for a good valorisation of the Mining Heritage.

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3) Project Results and The expected results and impacts are an increase of the awareness of being part of a European community. With this awareness, people of Impacts the Atlantic Area regions, will take conscience of their common heritage and will use it as a valuable resource for touristic and economic development. The beneficiaries and target groups of the results are the partners of the ATLANTERRA project, but also all the regional or local stakeholders in Mining Heritage, and all the organizations (associations, administrations, private societies, etc.) interested in the valorisation of their Mining Heritage. The ATLANTERRA project raised a willing from the partnership to continue working together on other projects. Locally, other networks or partnerships appeared, to continue the work started during the project. As the Mining Heritage is better knowed, the authorities or organisations are starting to impement some actions to valuate Mining Heritage as a valuable resource to the touristic, economic, and social development. By now, it is just the starting of the work, but a movement is appearing on these actions. Each partner has search for complementary funding sources, at local, regional or national levels. Given some partners are local authorities, or are working together with local or regional authorities, some policies are modified byt the project's results, following the activities and actions of the ATLANTERRA project. The ATLANTERRA project contribute to a better knowledge of the Mining Heritage in the European Atlantic Area. With this better knowledge, people in these regions are aware of being part of a transnational community, and are starting to think oabout working together on the valorisation of this Heritage. Partners organisations and the administrations they are working with, are trying to use the same practices in the different ways of valorisation of the Mining Heritage. The minutes of the European Conference on the “Valorization of the Mining Heritage in the European Atlantic Area” has been produced and shared to the partnership and in the regions of each partner. It includes a Guide of good practice for a good “patrimonialization” of the Mining Heritage. Social change are not easy to analyse. It is too early to really see such changes. Despite this, one social change appears. People in the partnerships' regions are starting to be really interested in their Heritage, and are starting to use this heritage as a resource for their development, respecting the women / men equality, and sustainable development. People are now proud of their heritage, while they were sometimes ashame about it. People in the partnership's regions are more sensible to their heritage, and how to protect and valorise it, with environmental and social respectful practices. 4) Main contributions to The only contribution was the publication and dissemination of the minutes of the European conference on the “Valorisation of the Mining the Atlantic Area Heritage”, held in Nantes. Programme achieved 5) Implementation As 2014 was just the completion of the actions engaged, no complmentary methodology has been used. methodology aspects attained

6) Innovative aspects of the All the innovative aspects of the project were made in the previews years. project achieved

Operation management

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1) Management and The year 2014 has been used for administrative closure of activities. The only management has been made by emails. coordination activities organized in the period 2) Monitoring and There was just an all day monitoring by emails, phone or online processes in 2014. evaluation activities organized in the period

3) Main problems found and As there wasn't new activities or actions, the main problems were solved in the previews years. Only the administrative process cause some solutions adopted during difficulties for a few partners. the period

4) Majors impacts of The only modification will be made “a posteriori” to adjust the budget to the real expenses. eventual project revisions during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project As it is written previously in this document, the main project communication achievment is the dissemination of the minutes of the Nantes communication Conference on the “Valorisation of the Mining Heritage”. achievements

Publications

2014 - Documents studies, Goog practice guide for the projects holders, in the “Valorisation of the Mining Heritage” in the Atlantic Area. handbooks, guides…) published on any format, as well as all promotional material produced in the framework of the Project.

Future documents (studies, At that date, there is no documents sheduled to be published after the end of the project (the end of the project has been post poned to handbooks, guides…) to be match with the scheduled publications). published on any format, as well as all promotional

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DORNA | Priority:4.3 |Nº 2008-1/062 www.proyectodorna.eu

Title Desarrollo Organizado y Sostenible de Recursos en el Noroeste Atlántico

Slogan

Project summary The current Atlantic Area of Cooperation covers all of Ireland and the Atlantic regions of Spain, Portugal, France and the United Kingdom. Its global strategic goal is the achievement of significant and tangible progress in matters of transnational cooperation with the objective of favouring a cohesive, sustainable and balanced territorial development of the Atlantic Area and its maritime heritage. DORNA promotes the conservation and recovery of the traditional nautical heritage of the European Atlantic coastal regions as an endogenous element for local development. It is based on the recommendations established by the ‘Green Paper – Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union: A European vision for the oceans and seas COM (2006)’, starting from a necessarily global approach on the different problems posed by conservation and valorisation of the Atlantic nautical heritage. Project Lead Partner Diputación de A Coruña (SP)

Partnership Consellería do Medio Rural e do Mar (ES) ; Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Galicia (ES); OARSOALDEA, S.A. Agencia de Desarrollo Comarcal (ES); Associaçao das indústrias Navais (PT); Galgael Trust (UK); Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Ulster (UK); FUAC: Fundación Universidad de A Coruña (ES) Starting date 01/01/2008

Ending date 30/06/2014

Total eligible budget € 1.583.244,51

Total ERDF budget € 1.029.108,89

Global performance

1) Implementation For DORNA project’s extension the initial cooperation with DORNA project partners has been maintained. Thanks to the extension, partners Progress- Activities promoted international cooperation by strengthening and adding value to the final results. Therefore the project achieved a transnational dimension, taking part in it the following territories of the “Atlantic Area”: Galicia, the Basque Country, Portugal, United Kingdom and France.

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2) Main project The Project will contribute to the development of the economies of the Atlantic coastal regions. The economical development of the regions achievements - Outputs involved in DORNA is one of its main challenges and will take place through, on the one hand, the reactivation of the naval sector focused on traditional boats through the definition and creation of the brand BATE (Traditional Euro-Atlantic Boat) and, on the other hand, through actions that will foster Atlantic tourist routes through the creation of an integrated tourist product, with a consistent focus on quality and sustainability. Main result: Conservation and recovery of traditional nautical heritage from the European Atlantic coastal regions, as an endogenous part of local development. Dorna starts from a holistic approach on the different issues posed by the conservation and promotion of nautical heritage of the Atlantic coast. From that necessarily global approach, the Dorna project focuses on the development and promotion of traditional vessels from a cultural diversity and economic sustainability perspective. Specific results: Identification and valorisation of the nautical heritage of the European Atlantic regions. Promotion and recovery of the culture related to Atlantic traditional boats. Endogenous and sustainable development of the naval sector in the Atlantic Area with a specialization on traditional vessels. Development of tourism by bringing into the market new products (traditional boats) related to Atlantic culture. Extension facility result: The main objective of Dorna Project expansion is to strengthen of the business framework of coastal areas by supporting innovation and the development of wooden shipbuilding, optimizing the use of local resources and reducing the environmental impact of the activity. 3) Project Results and Projects Results and Impacts Impacts Creation of a transnational working team from the participant territories to can manage and share methodology to elaborate the plan, and regional work groups en each territory as well as transnastional experts in nautical-atlantic heritage. An European Naval Woodworking network has been created. 1-Give a precise description of the nature and context of the relevant element (result), that is what has changed, how it has changed and to what degree; A traditional shipyard in Muros, Galicia. 2-What are the achieved results? (already visible and measurable) Restoration as a pilot scheme of a traditional shipyard in Galicia and creation a database 3-What are the expected results and impacts? Protection and empowerment of woodworking traditional industry, heritage conservation as a touristic resource, and make woodworking as an economic sustentable activity. Spread the use of the web to sell traditional boats as the main tool. 4-Who are the beneficiaries/target groups of the results? The inhabitants of maritime areas with special connection with old shipyards and traditional boats. Please complete each of the following categories of results as appropriate: 1-New or enhanced networks, partnerships, clusters organisations Not applicable

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2-Decisions taken/contributed to/implemented in the authorities/organisations targeted by the project (partners, stakeholders, beneficiaries); Not applicable 3-New synergies/relations/Interactions with other funding tools/programmes/projects at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level; Not applicable 4-Policies/strategies/legislation developed or contributed to at a) local, b) regional), national), Atlantic Area, EU level. Not applicable 5-Sector/thematic/Local/regional/Atlantic Area plans developed or contributed to Maritime construction/historical boats/Portugal, Galicia and Euskadi in Spain, Bretagne in France and the United Kingdom. 6-Product or services developed/ put on the market or used by organisations/administrations BATE certificate of quality in wood historical boats and CULTURA MARTIMA ATLANTICA as a touristical integrated brand used in the areas. As well a database to sell traditional boats. 7-Significant publications produced (i.e. having a measurable impact) Not applicable 8-Social change generated; With the enquises, we can see that the social change was different depending on the area. 9-Awareness raising of specific groups on specific question, themes Not applicable 10-Unexpected measurable results Unexpected measurable results. In some activities, the success bigger than the estimation of the population and, per example, transport enterprises of the area, having an important impact. Some activities had more editions, all of them with success. 11-Other types of results and Impacts The Dorna Project has contributed to capitalize on good practices of territorial projects cooperation. 4) Main contributions to The DORNA project, in coherence with its general aim: “conservation and recovery of traditional nautical heritage from the European Atlantic the Atlantic Area coastal regions, as an endogenous part of local development”, falls within priority 4 “strengthen synergies between rural and urban Programme achieved sustainable growth”, objective 3 “Conserve and promote the legacy of the Atlantic Area that is of cross border interest”. In order to establish these aims, the DORNA project has been based on recommendations set out in the GREEN PAPER: Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union: A European vision for the oceans and seas COM (2006). Its starting point, therefore, is a holistic approach towards the various problems presented by conservation and utilization of Atlantic nautical heritage. From this necessarily global approach, the DORNA project is centred on development of the Atlantic regions included in it from a perspective of sustainable economic growth and cultural diversity, achieved by encouraging and diversifying traditional naval carpentry.

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5) Implementation To implement the activities, DORNA has proposed an integral, open, participative results-orientated approach. The working methodology for methodology aspects DORNA is valid for all regions participating in the project, which means it can easily be transferred to other regions in the future. An approach attained has been designed based on a participatory working method, which sets up panels, working groups and periodic meetings in which shared use of information and working tools is encouraged. In the design of the work methodology, the partenariat starts from the need to direct working methods towards achieving tangible results, with added value at a cross border level. In equal measure, it tries to maximize diffusion throughout territories and sustainability of project results, with a final result of perpetuating any positive effects. The integral approach means that, starting from a specific aim such as conservation and utilization of Atlantic Area nautical heritage, various actions are set up aimed, on the one hand, at reassessing a heritage common to Atlantic citizens and, on the other hand, economic diversification in the regions involved in the project, from a point of view stemming from protection and respect for the Atlantic coastal environment. 6) Innovative aspects of the “Innovation spaces in traditional naval carpentry”: Develop a management structure to facilitate the introduction of permanent and continual project achieved innovation criteria in traditional vessel construction. “Traditional boatyard infrastructure improvement plan”: Created an improvement plan for the physical infrastructures of traditional boatyards that can be recovered in Atlantic regions included in the project, cataloguing intervention needs for conservation, and possible infrastructure diversification. Operation management

1) Management and Over the Project extension, from his approbation in October 2013 to July 2014, four coordination meetings for activities on execution process coordination activities have been celebrated, in which have always been represented the three entities with budget implementation tasks and activities (Diputación organized in the period de A Coruña, Consellería do Medio Rural e do Mar y FUAC) Vigo (Cetmar): 28/01/2014 A Coruña (Diputación de A Coruña): 2/04/2014 Marín (A Ixola): 21/05/2014 A Coruña (Diputación de coruña): 30/06/2014 2) Monitoring and Not applicable evaluation activities organized in the period

3) Main problems found Activity 10. Inability of the Partner No. 11, representing the Rural Environment and Sea Department, finishing the activity number 10, "Design and solutions adopted of prototype ship" before June 30, 2013. . In addition to the issues mentioned above, the delays occurred due to the internally difficulties that during the period credit are creating. Activities 9 and 11. Because the formal approval of the project coincided with the end of the financial year, these results in a delay in the generation of internal credit institutions involved, the completion of these activities cannot be executed as originally planned. Since this activity may not be completed before the end of June 2014, an extension of three months is required.

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Activity 12. Difficulties of participating in an international event given the time of year when the project is being developed considering its theme. However, we have identified a series of events and conferences of interest to the Dorna Project to be held in June 2014. 4) Majors impacts of In order to support financially the new reprogramming, it was required a budget amendment, which it is provide by the transfer of the annual eventual project revisions Budget 2013, to 2014 This change NOT imply any modification level of the total budget per partner, activities or budget lines. during the period

Communication achievements

1)Main project ACTIVITY 12. Project and Atlantic Area Programme promotional activity and transnational dissemination. Project webpage: During the communication extension period the main engine of the Project communication and dissemination has been the DORNA project website achievements (www.proyectodorna.eu). The website, in which the events have been promoted, has actually an average of more than 18.900 successful monthly visits. Publications

2014 - Documents (studies, Following the primary aim of DORNA project and in order to improve its final results, Diputación de A Coruña has been taking part in all the handbooks, guides…) activities executed during the project extension period, and has directly carried out the following ones: published on any format, as ACTIVITY 11. Marketing of the tourist product “Atlantic maritime culture” well as all promotional The Diputación de A Coruña redesigned the actual webpage to make it more flexible, dynamic and attractive to the user: material produced in the Reorganization of each route’s information, available in the webpage, and extension of this information. framework of the Project. New presentation of the information associated with each route: Sheet, marketing and Memorabilia. Time required to complete the route on foot, by bike or by car. Integration of interest’s points to the geo-referenced routes, grouped by offered type of service. The introduction of contents has been established in 5 languages: Spanish, Galician, Basque, English and Portuguese and has been established the connection with the main social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare. The application supports the creation of customized routes based on some origin and destination points established by the user. It provides points of interest across the route considering the available time, location and user’s interests, showing the estimated time to ride the established route. The webpage supports the introduction of new attractions, news and events, links to websites, contents in different languages. In addition fact sheets describing the new points of interest show: name, description, contact details, photos etc and info graphics with the aim to promote the 22 tourist routes. App development An App for iOS and Android devices, available for download in the corresponding app stores, was designed. The application supports the online and offline routes displayed on the webpage as well as those created by the user, the option to send messages to the applications’ users, to read and decode QR codes referring to shipyards.

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Newsletters: In addition to advocacy and dissemination of the project and of maritime culture developed through the web platform, the Diputación of A Coruña has been responsible for the drafting, layout and editing of four newsletters of the project (four in Spanish and four in English). See newsletters en: http://www.proyectoDORNA.eu/index.php?idMenu=1109&idIdioma=1 Future documents (studies, Not applicable handbooks, guides…) to be published on any format, as well as all promotional material to be produced, until the end of the Project.

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