The Biomarine Business Convention took place on 2- 4 October in Cascais, Portugal.

The Biomarine Business Convention took place on 2- 4 Oct. 2018 in Cascais, Portugal. SUBMARINER members and project partners attended this great event. 

Thanks to Pierre Erwes and the brilliant team, the 3-day event was filled with innovative idea pitches, cutting-edge discussions and debates. 

The event drew on an excellent selection of panel discussions and moderators to elaborate on all the “hot topics” of blue bioeconomy development and innovation, from technical matters (e.g. blue biomaterials) to regulations (e.g. innovative food and private investment).

Delegations from 19 countries attended the convention. Portugal showed its strong commitment to marine bioeconomy: a high number of delegations represented the country. The Portuguese Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino, held a vibrant opening speech on the importance of the blue economy to the country. She highlighted the efforts to attract blue economy investments to Portugal by developing a national Blue Fund (Fundo Azul) scheme aimed at supporting research, development and innovation in blue economy.

Angela Schultz Zehden, managing director of the SUBMARINER Network for Blue Growth EEIG, participated in the first panel discussion titled “Blue Regions: how to design an attractive sustainable blue vision”, together with Ilaria Nardello, executive director of EMBRC. Tony Haymet, Director & Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California moderated the session. Angela presented the SUBMARINER Network and elaborated on her experience in building up and developing a transnational network.

The SUBMARINER Network was represented by a strong delegation, including 4 SME cases from Baltic Blue Biotech Alliance project and 2 SUBMARINER members, Tartu Biotechnology Park and s.Pro. We had the opportunity to present our innovative initiatives in the Baltic Sea Region and to represent SUBMARINER members' interests and activities. Finally, we had the opportunity to set up numerous, fruitful one-to-one meetings with representatives from the industry, both SMEs and large manufacturers such as L’Oreal and Cargill Beauty, as well as investors and other blue neworks and clusters.