The local authority has already established partnerships for new projects with the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, the Infante D. Henrique Nautical College and the Navy. The aim is to utilise the ecosystem of 25,000 companies and various research institutions located in the municipality.
Oeiras has around ten kilometres of coastline, several scientific and research institutions and companies linked to the sea, such as the Infante D. Henrique Nautical College, the Instituto Superior Técnico and the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, as well as 25,000 companies that generate around 26 billion in annual revenue, not counting the financial sector, to launch its blue economy hub. Partnerships already exist, some of them long-standing, such as with the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) and the Navy, with new projects, and the local authority is also consulting companies based in the municipality to create projects for this hub.
“Today it is clear to everyone that water is a resource to which we must pay increasing attention, that it is a strategic asset that the country must rely on, and as we are a municipality with an available coastline, with this scientific and technological capacity and this entrepreneurial strength, this investment capacity already in place in the municipality, it would be a huge loss of opportunity if Oeiras did not draw up an action plan for the blue economy and thereby send a signal to the companies that are here and those that may want to come and invest in our territory, and to the scientific institutions and science centres that are here, as well as to cultural agents, sports agents, and other sectors involved in the development of the blue economy,” Pedro Patacho, Oeiras City Councillor for Science and Technology, told DN.
Establishment of a European school of blue economy
One of the projects of this blue hub that is already established is a partnership between the Oeiras City Council and IPMA to set up Oeiras Mar, a collaborative centre in Algés for research and innovation in the blue economy. “The IPMA campus will have an Ocean Engineering unit, which will be closely linked to issues of ocean robotics and unmanned marine vehicles, a liquid sample unit, which will be a structure to serve not only the IPMA, but also the University of Lisbon, the New University of Lisbon, among others, an interface unit with the economic sector, specialising in monitoring the process of patent registration, contracting with industry and technology transfer to the economy,‘ lists the mayor, adding that the local authority will channel its investment ’into improvements to buildings, reorganisation and refurbishment of outdoor spaces and reorganisation of accesses and the entire surrounding area”. This project represents an investment of around five million euros resulting from an IPMA application to the PRR and a further 3.5 to four million from Oeiras Municipal Council.
A memorandum of understanding has also been established with the Infante D. Henrique Nautical College, in which the Oeiras City Council undertakes to support the school in the renovation of all its buildings – including the swimming pool, diving tank, rowing training area and university residences. The planned investment for this project is €20 million: €15 million from PRR funds and €5 million from the local authority.
“What we are seeking to do, with the help of Fórum Oceano, the nautical school, FOR-MAR and the Directorate-General for Marine Resources, is to concentrate projects from institutions with approved PRR programmes on the nautical school’s campus, so that we have a world-class school in terms of maritime training, whether national, European and international certifications, short-term specialised technical training, whether vocational training equivalent to 12th grade, higher education at undergraduate and postgraduate level, or research and then research and development dynamics,‘ explains Pedro Patacho, emphasising that the goal is ’to make that campus what we could call the European School of the Blue Economy, a European benchmark in the training of seafarers and maritime professions.”
Full article published in Diário de Notícias: https://www.dn.pt/local/oeiras-esta-a-criar-hub-azul-com-grande-aposta-em-parceria-com-a-marinha-14830365.html