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Blue growth

Water covers over 70% of the earth’s surface, yet its potential to contribute to economic and regional development remains relatively under explored. The European Union is attempting to address this through Blue Growth, a long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole (European Union 2014). The strategy takes a broad definition of the blue economy, and identifies the following five value chains as having the greatest potential to deliver sustainable growth and jobs: blue energy, aquaculture, maritime, costal and cruise tourism, marine mineral resources, and blue biotechnology (European Union 2012).  For the purposes of this publication, it is important to acknowledge that not all activities that make up the blue economy can automatically be considered to contribute to green growth. 

The cases selected for inclusion here mostly fall under the categories of aquaculture (e.g. Case 29. Sybimar Ltd.'s closed circulation concept for aquaculture), biotechnology (e.g.  Case 27. BioTech North makes Tromsø “the hot spot for cold biotech”; Case 24. Legasea Biomarine Cluster) or a combination of the two (e.g. Case 26. The Swedish Algae Factory). Examples of blue energy initiatives can be found in the section on clean tech and renewable energy.      

All blue growth cases: