Commissioner Costas Kadis (Mission Ocean and Waters Forum 2026)

European Ocean Days 2026: Preparing for Research & Innovation Strategies

Further to our previous article on the European Ocean Days, this piece focuses on the two consultation events that are of relevance to ERRIN members and on the Mission Ocean and Waters Forum that took place within the same week.

Upcoming consultations: Ocean and Water Resilience R&I Strategies

On 3 and 4 March, stakeholders had the opportunity to contribute to the development of the European Ocean Research and Innovation Strategy and the European Water Resilience Research and Innovation Strategy in two separate stakeholder consultation sessions. These were announced under the European Ocean Pact and the Water Resilience Strategy last year.

Ocean R&I Strategy Consultation

Discussions centred on three core questions: how to deepen knowledge of ocean systems and develop sustainable solutions; how to structure cooperation between public and private actors; and how to strengthen the EU's global positioning in ocean technologies.

Panellists stressed the importance of co-design experience, intergenerational research opportunities, and attracting and retaining young talent in ocean sciences and technologies and across sectors. On the governance side, the need to align calls to support market entry for innovative companies and help businesses become more agile was raised. Research infrastructures were highlighted as an area where closer public-private cooperation is particularly needed.

Better alignment with other policy files was recommended, including the potential to incorporate maritime technologies within the scope of the drone regulatory framework and adopting a source-to-sea approach, ensuring strategic coherence with the parallel Water Resilience Research and Innovation Strategy.

From a global positioning perspective, the EU's digital twin infrastructure and the Ocean Eye observation initiative were highlighted as scaling opportunities. 

In his concluding remarks, James Morrison (Director for Healthy Planet at DG RTD) highlighted the growing relevance of dual-use and defence applications as an opportunity. 

Water Resilience R&I Strategy Consultation

Jessika Roswall framed water as a complex cross-sectoral issue for regional security, underscoring the need to move beyond isolated interventions towards systemic transformation.

The regional ecosystem was identified as the level at which many of these solutions should be implemented, with demonstration projects and innovation hubs as key bridges from research to deployment and replication. Place-based, community-led approaches, like Water4All Living Labs) were cited as effective models for connecting innovation with end-users at the local level.

Breaking silos (between policymakers and researchers, between water basin management and agricultural planning and across administrative levels) was noted as a key condition for progress. Participants stressed the importance of multi-level governance collaboration and called for water to be more explicitly linked to competitiveness within the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The skills gap was another concern, particularly with regard to SMEs and the ageing of the water sector workforce.

Nature-based solutions (including shifting from grey to green infrastructure), the source-to-sea approach and the need to better understand the co-benefits of nature restoration for both regenerative agriculture and the water cycle were mentioned. PFAS contamination was highlighted as an area requiring dedicated funding, with participants calling for increased investment in deep-tech solutions to fill critical gaps.

On innovation and deployment, a clear gap was identified between Europe's capacity to generate research and its ability to scale solutions beyond project lifecycles, due to the lack of resources for spin-off initiatives, for instance. The EIC Accelerator, or the formulation of de-risking pathways to attract investors, was cited as a potential solution. Separately, EIT Water was highlighted for its role in building talent pipelines and supporting start-ups, while the EIB water programme was noted as key for financing blue innovation at scale. Public procurement was also flagged as an underused but powerful tool – one that practitioners are not yet sufficiently equipped to deploy.

Mission Ocean and Waters: Moving towards deployment

Concrete, innovative solutions developed under the Mission took centre stage on 5 March, during the 4th Annual Mission Ocean and Waters Forum. The Forum's central theme was the transition to full-scale deployment, with Commissioner Costas Kadisp opening, calling for a shift from promising demonstrations to widespread replication and systemic transformation. 

The event took stock of the Mission's progress since its launch in 2021: 81 active projects across more than 345 demonstration sites, over 600 million EUR invested through Horizon Europe and more than 80 associated regions. As Mission Manager Kestutis Sadauskas noted, the Mission has built a pipeline of restoration actions and investments expected to deliver benefits well beyond 2030. Other examples can be consulted in the database of over 1.000 actions that have endorsed the Mission Charter so far, or in a recent study showcasing the learnings and recommendations from technical assistance services provided to support communities of actors to achieve the Mission objectives.

Mission Lighthouse projects were spotlighted as models of integrated governance, bringing together policy, funding, science and local stakeholders through co-creation. Speakers stressed the importance of aligning funding streams across governance levels. A recently published study on technical assistance services provided further concrete guidance on how communities of actors can be supported in meeting Mission objectives, offering lessons applicable well beyond 2030.

A waterfront Coalition launched within the EU Ocean Days

As a reminder, the EU Ocean Days also hosted the launch of the Coalition of cities, regions, islands and ports for the Mission Ocean and Waters. This is an initiative of CO-WATERS, one of the flagship projects of the Mission, where ERRIN is a partner. The Coalition brings together waterfront authorities and their local partners committed to the Mission objectives and CO-WATERS supports their blue transition through different services. To stay up to date with upcoming news and opportunities, ERRIN members are encouraged to join the Coalition (it takes less than 5 minutes to complete the form) and forward it to relevant actors in their territories.

NEXT STEPS: ERRIN's Blue Economy Working Group is actively monitoring developments across both the Ocean and the Water Resilience R&I strategies. As this is a key moment to shape the EU's R&I policy for the coming years, members are encouraged to start preparing to contribute to these consultations. Make sure to activate notifications on the EU Have Your Say Portal ahead of the formal consultations launch, when ERRIN is considering coordinating a joint regional response. For more information, get in touch with Ana Nava (ana.nava@errin.eu)