Mission Lighthouses coordination and support activities

The ‘lighthouse’ basin approach designed for the first phase of the Mission will be enhanced, through the support to basin-specific activities implementing all Mission objectives and developing further solutions needed for replication and scale-up during the second phase, and thus strengthening basin-scale cooperation and governance. Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Structuring effect to advance and/or consolidate the national and regional hubs supporting the implementation of all Mission Ocean and waters’ objectives at basin level and to ensure coherence and alignment of policies, initiatives and actions at EU, national and local level;
• Well-coordinated activities underpinned by a consistent monitoring framework to assess the implementation and achievement of the Mission objectives;
• Effective provision to local stakeholders of technical services, governance and business models to support and guarantee a sustainable socio-economic development of the basins;
• A well-functioning basin scale innovation ecosystem attractive to investors and businesses;
• Increased and effective awareness about the Mission and involvement of citizens in its implementation at sea/river basin scale;
• Increased coordination and collaboration between the various lighthouses (sea/ river basins);
• Greater involvement from public procurement bodies in the innovation cycle and accelerated uptake of innovative solutions;
• The regional implementation of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-30 is strengthened.

In the context of the Mission Ocean and waters, 'lighthouses' are defined as "hubs and platforms supporting the development and deployment of transformative innovative solutions in all forms – technological, social, business, governance, ensuring fast progress towards the achievement of Mission objectives and important impact on society in the river and sea basins through science and technology”.

The Mission supports regional engagement and cooperation through four area-based 'lighthouses' in the major basins, the Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube River-Black Sea basins, and applies a systemic approach addressing the inland waters-sea continuum.

Proposals under this topic are expected to bring together complementary public and/or private organisations and networks, and integrate heterogeneous expertise to support the continuity of the four existing Lighthouses, expanding their scope to all mission objectives to facilitate the implementation of the second phase of the mission.

Actions should provide a broad portfolio of support measures to relevant stakeholders at basin level, ensuring the replication and upscale of innovative solutions addressing all objectives of the Mission Ocean and waters in a given lighthouse area.

Due to the transboundary nature of waters, basin-scale coordination and cooperation across regions is required for solutions to be effectively implemented and to resolve shared problems.

Proposals are expected to show how their activities and results will achieve the Mission’s objectives, in line with the timeframe of the Mission phases, i.e. by 2030 for the ‘deployment and upscaling phase’. Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, cooperation with European research infrastructures^[1].

Building on and bringing together existing governance structures and networks and relevant existing activities, proposals are expected to address all following activities:

• Support the replication and upscale of innovative solutions in the specific basin lighthouse:
  • disseminate and raise awareness about suitable, impactful innovative and transformative solutions to progress towards the objectives of the mission;
  • organise demonstration and testing activities for the innovative solutions;
  • support access to finance and mobilise suitable investors, through e.g.: pitching events, networks of investors, venture capital funds, local Entrepreneurial Discovery processes, etc.;
  • support knowledge and technology transfer, including through training and skill development;
  • support the involvement and cooperation of ‘associated regions’, essential actors for the implementation of the mission objectives at basin scale;
• Design and carry out at basin scale relevant actions to promote Mission ocean and waters and its activities targeting different stakeholders and the general public, both at basin scale and at the regional/local level: disseminate information, exchange knowledge and good practices on the deployment of innovative solutions, on European and national procurement processes as well as on regulatory issues;
• Support the mobilisation of national and regional funds as well as private financing around common objectives:
  • design joint initiatives under the Mission Ocean and waters, such as joint programmes or calls for R&I actions between the national and the EU level (based on the current programme co-fund actions) to address priorities of common interest at trans-regional/national level and ensure critical mass and effective use of resources;
  • support the alignment and test synergies between Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies and other relevant European programmes;
  • target relevant funding organisations such as investment funds, banks and philanthropists at national/regional levels to facilitate mobilisation of the funding;
  • support Pre-Commercial Procurements (PCP) and/or Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI) by bringing together procurement agencies or departments in charge of the acquisition of innovative solutions at European, national, regional or local level to share investment plans and/or to plan common procurements of research services or of innovative solutions or products in the domains covered by Mission ocean and waters.
• Contribute to the overall monitoring of the Mission implementation by providing relevant information in relation to each basin lighthouse area and liaising with Mission projects to collect relevant data and information;
• Strengthen lighthouse governance and networking:
  • liaise with the Mission secretariat to ensure a coherent and timely implementation of the Mission deployment and upscaling phase in the lighthouse basin;
  • bring relevant new actions and initiatives under the Mission charter to promote their visibility and possible replication/uptake, including by connecting with other relevant initiatives in the basin such as Ocean Decade Actions and partners;
  • support an effective and participatory governance structure for the basins lighthouse involving key multi-sectoral stakeholders at sea/river basin level covering both marine and inland waters as well as the land-sea continuum and ensure cooperation and networking for achieving the three objectives of the Mission Ocean and waters by 2030;
  • liaise with the UN Ocean Decade actions and initiatives and promote international cooperation (e.g.: UN ECOP, OECD, etc.);
  • consolidate existing national and regional mission hubs or support their set up if not in place already, to provide the framework for coordinating and aligning policies, initiatives and actions at EU, national and local level, including cooperation with the National Contact Points (NCPs) and Mission Board members, where relevant;
  • Organise regular exchanges of best practices between hubs of this Mission and of the other four EU Missions, e.g. in the area of stakeholder and citizen engagement, long-term sustainability of mission hubs, and building of synergies..

The proposals should build on and enhance the outcomes stemming from the actions implemented in previous Mission work programmes such as Prep4Blue^[2], BlueMissionAA^[3], BlueMissionMed^[4], BlueMissionBANOS^[5] and EcoDaLLi^[6] or actions supporting networking and engagement.

This topic supports the follow up to the July 2023 Communication on EU Missions assessment^[7].

[1] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/

[2] https://prep4blue.eu

[3] https://bluemissionaa.eu/

[4] https://bluemissionmed.eu/

[5] https://bluemissionbanos.eu/

[6] https://ecodalli.eu/

[7] COM(2023) 457 final and SWD(2023) 260 final