"Business Cooperation on Blue Growth in Europe" - event summary

On May 10-11, 2022, the Entrepreneurship Support Department of PARP co-organized, together with Innovation Norway, the "Business Cooperation on Blue Growth in Europe" event in Athens, Greece. The event was attended by Polish companies and institutions and the representatives of PARP: Anastazja Kaczmarek (Entrepreneurship Support Department ), Dominika Wieczorek and Monika Karwat-Bury (Innovation Implementation in Enterprises Department).

The conference lasted two days (May 10-11, 2022) and included a plenary session, 4 thematic panels and a business mixer. The event in Greece allowed representatives of the maritime sector from 12 countries such as Norway, Iceland, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia to exchange the latest knowledge, opportunities and ideas regarding business innovations, ecological solutions, new technologies and alternative energy sources for blue growth.

As many as 350 participants registered and took part in the event, 76 of them from Poland. The event was a hybrid event and it was possible to watch thematic panels online and meet participants (also on-site) via the b2match platform.

During the thematic panels, the invited experts shared with the participants their knowledge and experience in the field of sustainable development and exploitation of seas and oceans, development of offshore wind energy, solutions used in ports and blue bioeconomy. In turn, during the business mixer, the companies had the opportunity to get to know each other, establish contacts and talk about potential business cooperation in nearly 12 national markets related to blue growth. The DWP representative also presented information on the next planned events in 2022-23 and the support for economic missions related to these events (the so-called "travel grants").

Polish entrepreneurs present at the site agreed that the event was one of the key events for the Blue industry. >>As River Point Sp. z o.o., we are very pleased to participate in the "Business Cooperation on Blue Growth in Europe" event. The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development played a key role in presenting to us the advantages of joining the group of participants and took professional care during our stay in Athens<< - emphasizes Kornelia Bargielska, President of River Point. >>Participation in the conference gave us the opportunity to present our own project "Marina and Hotel on the Water" enriched with an innovative system for monitoring the quality of inland waters. We had the opportunity to see innovative solutions presented by participants from all over Europe who operate under the aegis of Innovation Norway. We left Athens richer in knowledge, personal contacts and the conviction that various competencies and interactions between European companies and clusters around the Blue Ocean area give a synergy effect. This will enable the implementation of many innovative solutions. In our opinion, the transfer of knowledge between European companies operating in the field of water is an invaluable value and we intend to be an active participant in this process<< - adds President Bargielska.

Jakub Budzyński, who acts as the vice-president of the Polish Maritime Wind Energy Society, delivered a speech during the Offshore Wind session on "Growth perspective and business opportunities on Polish offshore wind energy market". >>The opportunity to speak during the session on offshore wind energy was a great opportunity for me to establish completely new business relations not only with players in the Mediterranean region but also with Norwegian, Baltic and even national ones<< - sums up Jakub Budzyński. >>The extensive discussion after the series of presentations will allow us to compare views on topics important for the construction of the offshore wind energy sector, such as grid development or local content creation strategy. We also got a lot of information about the future of offshore wind energy, especially floating wind technologies under development or testing.<<

Polish companies also had the opportunity to provide promotional films, which were broadcasted during the event. One of the companies that took advantage of this opportunity was 3Bird Krzysztof Gajko Jacek Ksepko Spółka Jawna. PARP's contribution to the organization of the event has been financed by the Bilateral Cooperation Fund (Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-21 and the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2014-21).