Since March 2019 the EMPORIA4KT project has been developing tools and methodologies, and conducting workshops and training to forge links between academia, business and government stakeholders within the European Blue Economy. The European Union’s INTERREG Atlantic Area funding programme has now awarded EMPORIA4KT a 16 month extension as part of their 3rd Call, allowing the project to run until 30 June, 2023.
EMPORIA4KT is one of only 17 projects funded out of the 71 that applied to this funding programme, demonstrating the value of the project to a European sector which includes industries such as fishing, shipbuilding, tourism and ocean energy and currently provides jobs for nearly 3.5 million people. The EU has also recognised the importance of EMPORIA4KT by selecting the project’s Academia Innovation Enhancer training tool as one of their best practice highlights on the EU Knowledge Valorisation platform.
In January 2022 EMPORIA4KT celebrated a highly successful conclusion to the Blue Economy Technology Transfer (BETT) programme, a pilot training exercise that demonstrated how the project’s methodologies can help researchers plan impactful paths to commercialisation for early-stage technologies. With the extension EMPORIA4KT will now apply this training programme in the Canary Islands through cooperation with a new project partner, La Palma Research Centre (LPRC).
Speaking at the extension kick-off meeting, LPRC projects manager Laia d’Armengol expressed her excitement for how the EMPORIA4KT knowledge transfer methodology can help research and early-stage technologies renew the islands’ Blue Economy: “We are very happy to join EMPORIA4KT as we believe there’s a lot of potential to apply the learnings of the project so far to La Palma, where the volcanic event has also provided a window of opportunity.”
The EMPORIA4KT BETT programme in La Palma will launch in early Spring 2022 and provide training to early career researchers from the Canary Islands. As well as further refinements of the project’s training tool, EMPORIA4KT is producing recommendations for how the project’s outputs may be replicated across the Atlantic Area through innovative public policies and funding initiatives.
The Academic Innovation Enhancer learning tool will be featured on the EU Knowledge Valorisation event page during their showcase week, from 29 March to 1 April 2022. Further updates and information on the project can also be found at the project’s homepage, emporia4kt.com.
