Project platforms: capitalising on projects’ results for a wider impact

BSR WATER and SuMaNu platforms helped develop the new Baltic Sea Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, known as HELCOM. The list of measures in the Strategy included valuable experience and synthesis from these two platforms. The coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Nutri, Bioeconomy and Hazards worked intensely with the platform partners.

The Capacity4MSP platform helped shape the Regional Maritime Spatial Planning Roadmap 2021-2030 adopted by HELCOM and VASAB. The platform led by the EUSBSR policy area coordinator Spatial Planning used the projects’ results to help define the Roadmap objective: Implementation of maritime spatial plans builds the knowledge base for a new maritime spatial planning cycle.

The Blue Platform together with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Bioeconomy and Innovation developed the roadmap that drives the development of the blue bioeconomy in the region beyond 2021.

The BSR Access platform joined forces with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Transport and Spatial Planning. Together, they contributed to the European TEN-T policy review before the new funding period. They focused on how to plan transport corridors in a more coherent, cross-sectoral and adaptive way to support sustainable regional growth.

The SuMaNu platform compiled the thirteen-year-long experience of transnational cooperation in agriculture and sustainable manure and nutrient management. The partners synthesised best practices along the entire manure handling chain: phosphorus regulation, nutrient-balanced fertilisation and nutrient accounting, on-farm manure handling and utilisation. More than 200 national and regional authorities, farmers, and their advisories learned about these practices and started using them.

In the Blue Platform, policy-makers and public agencies, companies, and researchers learned about practical achievements in blue bioeconomy, which a few years ago were merely theoretical concepts. For example, blue mussels and various native algae species could be cultivated in the Baltic Sea Proper, an area with lower salinity levels. Using this knowledge, a working group in the platform succeeded in a transnational investment under the new Interregional Innovation Investment Stream. This brought EUR 7.3 million into the mussel cultivation market within the Baltic Sea region.

The CSHIPP platform synthesised promising technologies and policy measures that help reduce harmful emissions and decarbonise the maritime industry. The shipping industry, policy-makers, and national authorities learned about alternative fuels and energy sources as viable options for decreasing emissions. New technologies and digital solutions made it possible to monitor vessel performance, discover inefficiencies and streamline processes to reduce energy consumption, emissions and waste.

The ResQU2 platform helped hundreds of rescue professionals to increase their preparedness for emergency situations in the Baltic Sea. It combined guidelines and procedures developed in different projects and increased the knowledge exchange among national rescue authorities around the Baltic and North Sea areas. Through peer-to-peer learning, staff exchanges, and joint training sessions, the platform partners shared best practices on safety and security management in ports, risk and crisis communication, rescue operations at sea and in ports. Emergency, fire and rescue services, border and coast guards, police, ministries of interior, and agencies dealing with safety and security learned from these joint exercises.