BluAct is a network of 7 European port cities including Piraeus (Greece), Matosinhos (Portugal), Burgas (Bulgaria), Mataro (Spain), Ostend (Belgium), Galati (Romania), and Salerno (Italy) aiming to share good practices in Blue Economy entrepreneurship. The project is funded under the EU’s URBACT III programme, which helps cities to develop sustainable, pragmatic solutions, integrating economic, social and environmental urban topics.

The BluAct project follows the success of Piraeus’ BlueGrowth Initiative, an awarded entrepreneurship competition that offers incubation services to local businesses boosting innovation and job creation. BluAct aims to inspire the respective partner cities to transfer the experience of BlueGrowth and implement blue economy entrepreneurship competitions. Through an approach of creating URBACT Local Support Groups and engaging local stakeholders and other interested parties, the ultimate aim of the BluAct network is to “start up the blue economy” in European cities.

After the completion of the 1st phase of the project in August 2018, with the participation of three cities, the network was expanded to include seven port cities, and the 2nd phase kicked off in February 2019 in Piraeus, Greece. All cities presented their plans for activating the local stakeholders, inviting blue economy entrepreneurs to participate in the competition and incubating the best initiatives, while they set their targets for December 2020, when the project will be completed.

You can learn more in BluAct’s website: bluact.eu or follow our facebook or twitter account.