CIESM did join MARCOM+ http://www.marinemaritimescienceforum.eu/Pages/default.aspx to inject the Mediterranean specificities and experience into the work of the Consortium, with a view to develop new instruments enhancing effective scientific collaboration between the EU and neighbouring countries.
CIESM does contribute to this process with two main objectives:
- Promote innovative, focused research/ industry dialogue leading to joint international R&D projects.
- Implement cross-sector training and capacity building on how to exploit marine resources in a sustainable manner, so as to help prepare the next generation of world-class marine/ maritime specialists in a competitive global environment.
From the onset, CIESM selected a pragmatic approach, focused on concrete partnerships between the marine research sector and key stakeholders in the maritime sector. Specifically, three thematic targets have been selected from within the numerous recommendations of the 40 CIESM Workshop Monographs:
Task 1: Marine science and Maritime transport industry;
Task 2: Multiple, sustainable use of marine resources - a platform associating industry, aquaculture, research and fishermen;
Task 3: Joint ventures for blue biotechnology research with potential industrial and medical applications.
In the end, CIESM will review the lessons of the three test cases so as to help identify links with related policy issues and hence feed/enrich the conclusions that will emerge from the other work packages. This will provide the ground for future thorough analysis of articulations between the regional scene and overall governance at EU level.
