“Scaling Up Innovations to Market and Job Creation in Blue Economy” Workshop hosted by the Lower Danube DEMO

June 2025 – On June 18th and 19th, the Association of Danube Municipalities “Danube” (ADRM), in collaboration with the Municipality of Tutrakan and international partners, hosted a successful two-day workshop on “Scaling Up Innovations to Market and Job Creation in Blue Economy”. The event took place in Tutrakan, Bulgaria, as part of the DaWetRest project.

Opening remarks were made by Dr. Dimitar Stefanov – Mayor of Tutrakan Municipality and Deputy Chairman of ADRM Management Board, and Mr. Milen Dulev – Mayor of Belene Municipality and Chairman of ADRM Management Board. The keynote speech was given by Ms. Andreea Strachinescu, Head of Unit “Maritime Innovation, Marine Knowledge and Investment”, DG MARE, European Commission. She outlined the achievements of Mission Ocean and pointed out the existing opportunities for funding and synergies, such as BlueInvest.

This event addressed the existing knowledge on Mission Ocean projects’ outcomes and emphasized on the potential of scaling up some of the identified innovations towards the welfare of local communities & growth of regional businesses. The focus is on the Lower Danube, due to the existing potential to engage several stakeholders along the Danube. The initiative originated from local SMEs and was gradually growing to a multi-stakeholder cooperation aimed at unlocking the existing potential of the Lower Danube area.

The workshop was structured in two thematic sessions. The first session showcased local and regional success stories from Mission Ocean Projects, while the second one was dedicated to new business models in the blue economy. All presentations included in the workshop agenda tried to explore pathways to scale up innovations to market and job creation and set the following objectives:

To identify innovations and assess their potential for implementation in the DRB – focus on the Lower Danube.
To investigate and analyse outcomes from DaWetRest & sister projects, with reference to Danube Lighthouse/EcoDaLLI.
To explore the stakeholders’ potential, with a focus on the business community.
To support the local community potential through practical examples.
To evaluate the current state and potential of the blue and circular economy in the region through practical case studies.

Over 40 participants contributed to the success of the forum, among them partners in the Mission Ocean projects, municipalities and policy-makers alongside the Lower Danube from both Bulgaria and Romania, local & regional businesses, local communities & NGOs.

The event hosted a Living Lab on Business Models organized by the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests of Romania. Two specific business approaches were presented to boost discussions and contribute to the formulation of policy recommendations. Complex Delta shared the experience of getting from business to research at the Danube Delta Demo (Caraorman). The Lower Danube put a business model for cross-border cooperation between Srebarna Lake in Bulgaria (LD Demo pilot site) and Mostistea Lake in Romania (LD Demo sibling site) on the agenda.