EU – Baltic States, Forum, Innovations, Technology

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 08:01

Accelerator for Blue Growth is looking for blue startups

BC, Riga, 19.05.2020.Print version
Awareness is rising that the quality of life and the future of societies are inseparable from the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources. Today's challenges also open up great opportunities for Blue Growth startups, active in different sectors such as aquaculture, blue biotechnology or related topics.

Accelerator for Blue Growth, connecting more than 1,000 experts and over 70 scientific institutions, is giving a significant boost for unlocking this potential in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) – with its help innovative ideas are turned into new products or services.

 

In the European context, Blue Growth and the Blue Economy are becoming increasingly important concepts that influence many economic and social mechanisms and receive a great attention from policy makers on national and regional level. Regulatory mechanisms seek to prevent the reckless exploitation of natural resources, but at the same time, the region seeks to stimulate industries that might identify new business niches, create high value and new jobs.

 

 The Baltic Sea Region has a unique opportunity to become a platform for significant changes. Societies here already understood the importance of a sustainable economy and industries are hungry for biobased innovations, opening new avenues for blue bioeconomy while contributing at the same time to improvement of environmental conditions of the Baltic Sea.

 

The foundation for positive processes has already been laid. Founders of the Accelerator for Blue Growth took into account that BSR countries have accumulated knowledge, competencies and developed infrastructure that is crucial for the breakthrough – universities, modern laboratories and research centers are valuable resources for the Blue Growth startups and SMEs as well as business development support. Partners joined forces to make all of these human and infrastructural potential accessible to promising businesses.

 

Accelerator for Blue Growth is operated by SUBMARINER Network, a hub promoting sustainable use of marine resources. The platform is coordinated by partners from the Baltic Sea Region countries (Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark), who have an extensive network of contacts with all BSR universities, research institutes and laboratories, working in the fields related to Blue Growth. A pool of mentors ecompasses scientific and commercial experts.

 

“Over the last years we have accompanied more than 30 Blue Growth ideas and mentored over 15 startups, offering a range of support services such as research, infrastructure and equipment, biological resources, business development, communication, promotion and legal advice. Startups are welcome to join and give a boost for their success story. Accelerator accepts participants in different stages of their development – from biodiscovery, R&D, upscaling to product development and commercialization. With our transnational approach we have proved to be able to achieve at least one step further in the value chain for each startup attending our mentoring programme“, says Angela Schultz-Zehden, Managing Director at SUBMARINER Network.

 

In addition to the well-developed scientific research bases, the Baltic Sea Region has an extensive network of business support institutions. It is much easier to access important financial assistance mechanisms and potential investors through the Accelerator for Blue Growth, so the outreach of the involved startups is more efficient – from Berlin to Klaipeda, from Stockholm – to Hamburg, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga or Copenhagen.

 

"By engaging in the activities of the Accelerator for Blue Growth and together with Klaipeda University representing Lithuania on this platform, we offer our experience and resources, and at the same time we get a lot of value back. Lithuania has a limited market, so the opportunity for start-ups to look up to several countries at once is very important and gives a big boost to their growth”, emphasized Andrius Sutnikas, Development Manager at Klaipeda Science and Technology Park.

 






Search site