Our latest deliverables, approved by the EU Commission, are now online!
You can access and download any FORWARD public deliverables from our website and Zenodo project community.
On these open-access repositories, you will find the latest reports of Work Package 3 and 4.
D3.2 Thematic Action Plans includes the action plans – and their implementation guidelines – for each of the 8 thematic working groups (TWGs). TWGs are communities of interest built around 8 specific thematics of relevance for the ORs, such as marine sciences, energy, biodiversity, and space.
D4.3 A common training programme for ORs’ R&I officers provides a common basis for the training of Officer teams in ORs, for an enhanced support to local R&I communities.
We are glad to announce that our recently developed videos have been featured on the website of the EU Commission (DG Regio)!
You can read the news on the EU website here.
And… Do not forget to watch the two videos:
- the first video introduces the FORWARD project and its objectives;
- the second video provides examples of key research infrastructure in the 9 outermost regions (ORs).
Thanks to these assets, the ORs play a strategic role for a knowledge-based Europe. FORWARD contributes to optimising ORs’ research and innovation by developing distinctive expertise and connecting with international networks.
Check out the videos and be inspired by the outstanding research infrastructure and ecosystems in place in our regions!
FORWARD is part of the results of the ERA-CHAIR ECOAQUA project, and more specifically to the project Guidelines on sustainable aquaculture in ORs and other overseas territories (OCTs).
Given the relevance of ORs and OCTs in the European maritime policy context, with their intrinsic huge marine biodiversity and its potential for Blue Growth, the ECOAQUA project addressed the issue of aquaculture as part of the European Blue Economy Strategy and Maritime Spatial Planning Policy.
The ECOAQUA guidelines can be consulted here.
The guidelines provide an overview of the environmental, social and economic characteristics of ORs and OCTs, describe the main bottlenecks encountered in each thematic area and provides information on the state of the art for each of them.
Finally, the document provides a set of recommendations, based on robust scientific information, to promote Sustainable Aquaculture practices in the EU Overseas.
DESAL+ LIVING LAB Platform has been created to become the ideal public-private ecosystem to continue advancing innovation in desalination from the Canary Islands.
It is a space open to research where tests, experimentation and demonstration can be carried out in order to enhance and mature the commercial potential of a technology, product and/or service linked to desalination.
DESAL+ LIVING LAB has its own research resources, field equipment, water analysis laboratories, and infrastructures for pilots with seawater, brine, renewable energies, desalination plants and plots (on-shore/off-shore), all for experimental and demonstrative use.
From the Canary Islands, it offers, with its available resources, the following opportunities for entities and companies that perform R&D&I in desalination:
- Experimental areas (testbed land) with technical and logistical support for the installation and testing of prototypes and new devices focused on desalination, desalination by renewable energies and other related fields.
- Technical support and consulting for the development, expansion and demonstration under real conditions of innovative solutions using the local open desalination infrastructure at all scales for R&D purposes.
- Training activities, educational programs, knowledge transfer, etc. in desalination technologies and the use of renewable energies.
DESAL+ LIVING LAB has been officially running since 2017 and there are several number of R&D&I projects and services done or in progress, the main ones being:
DESAL+ Project: The project has the general objective of creating and consolidating a joint R&D&i platform in the Macaronesian region. The aim of this platform is to have an excellent, internationally recognised, research and infrastructure standards in the area of desalination, the water-energy nexus and the exclusive use of renewable energies.
EERES4WATER Project: The EERES4WATER project aims to optimize the energy management of the integral water cycle in addition to implement technological innovations and articulate common policies -at institutional, technical and social levels- to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources in processes and resources related to the integral water cycle, through the involvement of the public administration, universities, research centres, SMEs and business associations from the participating regions and beyond.
E5DES Project: The E5DES project will allow to increase and strengthen the R&D+i of international excellence, in a coordinated manner from the DESAL+ LIVING LAB Platform, in the search for projects and solutions in desalination. To this end, continuous improvement actions of technological and scientific capacities and external visibility will be carried out, supporting entrepreneurial ideas (startups) and providing innovative solutions in the strategic and priority research lines identified for the Macaronesian area.
Desalination Technological Challenges: This initiative aims to attract and provide knowledge applicable to desalination processes with remarkable international outreach on the desalination. A pre-commercial technology tender will be publish soon for emerging technologies on seawater desalination.
We invite you to visit our website to see the DESAL+ Living Lab presentation video:
https://www.desalinationlab.com/desal-living-lab-releases-its-presentation-video/
Our FORWARD project has created its own profile on Zenodo – the official EU open-access repository for Horizon 2020 funded projects.
You can check our community here. There, we have published, and will continue to publish, all FORWARD public data.
You also will find our approved deliverables, including the 9 Outermost Regions’ diagnoses and the Capacity Building & Training Plans for R&I actors.
Have a look at the results achieved so far!
In several Outermost Regions, events have been organized by Forward partners targeting policy makers during 2020.
First of all, FRCT (Azores) presented the Forward project as well as WP2 results and regional diagnostic at the European Commissioner of Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas.
Moreover, regarding RIS3, their evaluation and workshop were organized by NEXA at La Réunion, Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique, ARDITI from Madeira, FRCT from Azores.
Various conferences were also held :
-Conference on digital mediation (funding sources, tools, strategy) by CTM ;
-Conference “H2020 and the next Horizon Europe framework program funding opportunities in the European Framework Programs for Research & Innovation by ARDITI and University of Madeira.
Additionally, an ERA ROAD MAP workshop at La Réunion mutualized with Forward Work Packages 2, 4 and 5 has been held with local State representative for R&I, Outermost Regions bureau, Economic and social council, university and researchers.
All these events aimed to sensitize decision-makers to the importance of the Forward project and Horizon Europe opportunities.
In Person events and workshops are the best ways to increase networking.
Due to the health crisis, Forward staff have to adapt and create digital event such as the “Canarias en el Horizonte” one in December 2020.
The meeting “The Canary Islands on the Horizon” is an initiative of the Government of the Canary Islands organized by the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI) as a management center responsible for carrying out the responsibilities related to public policies and programs in research, technological development, business innovation and deployment of the information society.
The aim of this second meeting “The Canary Islands on the Horizon” is to bring together all the agents of the Quadruple regional helix (research, companies, administrations and society) in order to share the evaluation of the results of the Intelligent Specialization Strategy of the Canary Islands (RIS3) for the period of 2014-2020, as well as to discuss proposals for improvement, adaptation of the priorities and fields of specialization in the preparation of the new S3 for the period of 2021-2017.
Likewise, given our status as an Outermost Region, representatives of all the ORs have been invited to participate in this event, with which we will be able to discuss and propose new regulations and joint policies that will strengthening and support R+D+I ecosystems in the ORs, in a differentiated manner within the new multiannual financial framework.
This second meeting took place on December 4th, 2020 from 9:00 to 12:30 at the Fuerteventura Technology Park, with live transmission through internet
Resources of interest:
– Program of the conference / Event program
https://www3.gobiernodecanarias.org/aciisi/ris3/jornadas-canarias-horizonte
The implementation of the Thematic Working Groups (TWG) should enable ORs to increase their networks and promote Research and Innovation.
Indeed, within the TWG1 related to “health, applied medical technologies, diagnostics and therapies for example, each member has to :
- Elaborate a list of European institutions that might be interested in exploring the tropical disease research in ORs
- Elaborate a list of main EU, USA and LATAM collaborators with group members
- Organize an event to raise awareness on tropical diseases research within these targeted institutions
Thanks to the Forward project, ORs’ experts can gain visibility, with the help of multidisciplinary collaborations, trainings, networking and information about project opportunities.
These precious elements brought to the TWG to thematic working groups members are key factors to improve the quality and number of their future answer to European proposals.
Work package 8 is focused on dissemination and communication activities led by French Guiana Territorial Collectivity. WP8 activities are transversal and essential for Forward visibility with the creation of communication tools.
3 promotional videos of Forward are scheduled to showcase ORs assets in research and innovation.
Video #1 : Introducing FORWARD
Video #2 : Discover research infrastructure in ORs
This First one linked below introduces the Forward project, key aspects of Forward’s activities and financing.
It highlights Research and innovation excellence in the ORs.
The second one is more focused on each OR’s Research and Innovation potential by introducing their infrastructure, projects or innovative solutions. The third video will showcase Forward’s results and Outermost Regions as added value for EU and Third countries.