The Multi-Actor Forums (MAFs) pull in stakeholders from a range of backgrounds and provide the DOORS project with a systematic approach to identify the main areas that should be addressed in the Black Sea (BS). Two rounds of workshops have been organised and realised in four Black Sea countries, namely, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, and Turkey. The first round of workshops aimed at mapping the national context of the blue economy sectors and reviewing and prioritising these needs in the context of blue economy development using the pentagonal tool. The second round focused on reviewing the working vision for the BS and preliminary innovation pathways, as well as setting milestones for achieving the vision in each relevant sector using the Future Radars tool to map relevant innovations from the BGA onto each of these milestones. This process not only drives awareness but also enhances the development of SoS and capacity-building initiatives essential for the blue economy’s sustainable advancement. The 2nd MAF was realised in all six Black Sea countries and ran from February to May 2024.
Georgia
Date: 2 February 2024
Venue: Hotel Radisson Blu, Batumi, Georgia & online
On February 2, 2024, Thursday, from 11:00 to 15:00 CET, Hotel Radisson Blu in Batumi, Georgia hosted the 2nd Multi-Actor Forum in Georgia as a hybrid event. Participation was excellent, with 35 in-person attendees and 29 online, for a total of 64 participants, including regional guests from the DOORS consortium who observed the MAF-2 proceedings online. The event greatly benefited from presentations on DOORS Black Sea System of Systems (DOORS SoS), Black Sea Accelerator (BSA), and Knowledge Transfer and Training (KTT) by partners from IO-BAS, Brockmann Consult, Kantor Group, and Mare Nostrum, respectively. During the event, we conducted the Black Sea SoS stakeholder survey both online and in person, collecting all results in real-time.
Figure 1 – 2nd MAF in Georgia – group photo
Prior to the event, we created innovation pathway milestones for four Blue Economy sectors, shared them with stakeholders ahead of time, and finished them during the event through a collaborative design process. At the DOORS Stakeholder Conference “Black Sea Futures” on April 23-24, 2024, we presented the preliminary findings of MAF-1 and MAF-2 in Georgia.
Figure 2 – Poster for the MAF in Georgia reflecting these results of the joint work during stakeholder events, in both Georgian and English, presented during the 1st DOORS Stakeholder Conference in Bucharest, Romania
Figure 3 – Representative from Georgia’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture delivering the opening remarks.
Regional media with national outreach covered the Blue Economy stakeholder workshop, which you can view at https://ajaratv.ge/article/127430. As the event coincided with World Wetlands Day on February 2, 2024, the same TV media broadcast a reportage from the Ispani-2 Ramsar Site. One of the Georgian stakeholders, Poseidon’s World Company, kindly produced an informative video of the event, promoting their submarine wine cellar innovation. We used recordings to produce this short video reporting on the MAF-2 event in Georgia.
Figure 4 – Participants tasing innovative undersea cellar wine served by the Diving Centre Poseidon’s World
Romania
Date: 13 February 2024
Venue: GeoEcoMar Constanța, Romania
On February 13, 2024, the second MAF took place in Constanța, Romania, at GeoEcoMar office with the participation of 29 stakeholders from various domains: national and regional authorities and administrations, universities, research institutes, NGO’s, fishing sector representatives and administration.
Figure 5 – 2nd MAF in Romania
Ocean Observation, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Marine Tourism, Blue Biotechnology, Renewable Energy represented the 5 key sectors that were the topic of the discussions, to review the working vision and preliminary innovation pathways, identifying relevant milestones for achieving the vision in each relevant sector and mapping relevant innovations to each of these milestones.
Milestones as “Networking and Collaboration Initiatives” (by 2025), “Promotion of Lifelong Learning and Continuous Professional Development” (by 2025), “Develop innovation and technology transfer hubs” (by 2028), “Functional MSP” (by 2028), “Establishment of Training Programs and Partnerships” (by 2028) for short term and “Take ambitious measures to mitigate climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems to climate impacts” (by 2035), “Creating, Monitoring and Evaluation of Educational Programs” (by 2035) for medium-term are the ones identified to be suitable for all 5 key sectors discussed during the second MAF in Romania.
Figure 6 – 2nd MAF in Romania
Turkey
Date: 14 February 2024
Venue: Prof. Dr. Osman Turan Culture and Congress Center – Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Türkiye
The 2nd Trabzon Multi-Actor Forum (MAF2) on February 14, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Prof. Dr. Osman Turan Culture and Congress Center, situated within the premises of Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon, Türkiye. Stakeholders from various sectors participated in discussions. The highlighted discussions encompassed a wide array of topics, ranging from the development of multi-modal transportation and infrastructure enhancements in ports to the sustainable growth of fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy, and marine tourism. Key focal points included regulatory reforms, technological advancements, environmental sustainability, and the promotion of community engagement initiatives to foster responsible and inclusive maritime practices. The MAF provided a venue for cooperative dialogue and strategic planning to tackle the dynamic challenges and prospects within the Black Sea region.
Figure 7 – 2nd MAF in Turkey – group photo
Figure 8 – 2nd MAF in Turkey
Bulgaria
Date: 23 February 2024
Venue: Burgas Free University, Bulgaria & Online
The second round of MAF workshops in Bulgaria facilitated the active exchange between stakeholders from Burgas region who had high participatory expectations prior to the event. The MAF workshop on 23 February 2024 brought together researchers, high profiled marine experts from IO-BAS, Varna, stakeholders from tourism, ports, industry, fisheries, NGOs, local government and master students majoring in Maritime Law and Coastal Territories. The MAF workshops represented the first of its kind in Bulgaria and was conducted in hybrid format with participants in-person and online via the MS Teams platform. The event was co-facilitated by DOORS Lydia Papadaki, Eleni Manousadi, Tonio Finche. During the backcasting the national stakeholders generated genuine ideas related to key milestones in the relevant sectors: Ports and transport, Blue Biotechnology, Fisheries and aquaculture, Ocean Observation and Sea Tourism. The stakeholders expressed their desire for further similar workshops – more practically oriented, in particular how to use the SoS tools.
Figure 9 – 2nd MAF in Bulgaria
Moldova
Date: 11 April 2024
Venue: „Ion Creanga” State Pedagogical University, Ion Creangă Str., Nr. 1, Building 1, Floor 6, Hall 601, Chisinau, Moldova & Online
The Republic of Moldova identified safety and surveillance as a key area for the blue economy, which thus comes before marine and coastal tourism, offshore wind energy, marine transport and shipping/port activities, as well as capture fisheries, according to the opinion of experts and stakeholders in the marine and maritime area. The impact of the war in Ukraine, which is in its third year, could not help but change the perception of the security situation in the region, putting safety and surveillance and the need for observations and monitoring in the Black Sea region in the foreground.
On April 11, 2024, at the “Ion Creangă” State Pedagogical University (UPSC), in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, the National Multi-Actor Forum (MAF) was held, a workshop within the Horizon 2020 DOORS project “Developing Optimal and Open Research Support” for the Black Sea. Approximately 30 stakeholders from various fields attended the MAF workshop in Chisinau, representing fields such as tourism, research and academia, industry, civil society, and local government, thus providing the opportunity for a range of opinions to be heard. During the workshop, emphasis was placed on the validation and elaboration of the Black Sea Innovation Pathways and on obtaining feedback for the System of Systems (SoS), developed within the DOORS project, as well as on the validation of needs and identified priority sectors, etc.
Figure 10 – MAF in Moldova
Ukraine
Date: April-May 2024
Venue: Online
Due to the continuing war in Ukraine, organising a workshop in the country proved challenging. Thus, following a detailed stakeholder mapping, DOORS Partners from the Odessa State Environmental University organised a series of bilateral meetings with key stakeholders to carry out the activities outlined in the 2nd MAF, namely the validation of the Black Sea vision and the elaboration of the Black Sea Innovation Pathways, between April and May 2024.
Figure 11 – MAF in Ukraine
DOORS Stakeholder Conference on ‘Black Sea Futures: Science, Prosperity, and People’
During the 1st DOORS Stakeholder Conference on ‘Black Sea Futures: Science, Prosperity, and People’ that took place in Bucharest, Romania and was held from Tuesday, April 23rd, until Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, there was a poster with the title “Multi-Stakeholder Forums to Promote a Sustainable Blue Economy During Blue Transitions in the Black Sea,” co-authored by Dr. Ebun Akinsete, Mrs. Lydia Papadaki, and Prof. Phoebe Koundouri. The poster showcased the key results coming from the 1st and 2nd MAF workshops.
Group photo with all DOORS Country Leaders and ATHENA RC team representative. From the left to the right: Mamuka Gvilava (Georgia), Prof. Kadir Seyhan (Turkey), Prof. Milen Baltov (Bulgaria), Assoc. Prof. Tudor Castravet (Moldova), Romulus-Marian Paiu (Romania), Lydia Papadaki (Greece) and Prof. Nikolai Berlinsky (Ukraine)
This article was written for the DOORS Black Sea newsletter. You can view the rest of the newsletter here in your web browser.
