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The consortium represents a strong and diverse community from the relevant European marine and maritime research stakeholders, capable of addressing the requirements for the development and implementation of the European Strategy and Programme on Marine and Maritime Research, and to support future EU Maritime Policy. What is more, the consortium, assisted by the Steering Committee is likely to have the capacity to establish and sustain the envisaged “European Marine and Maritime Partnership Forum”. Representation by partners is diverse although not exclusive across a wide range of stakeholders and provides interaction and opportunities for synergies among and between them:

• Member States through the intergovernmental organizations (CIESM, ICES), representing EU Members plus neighbourhood states, e.g. Turkey, Norway or Iceland;
• Regional Authorities through the EUCC, standing for the “Venice Platform” which actively involves the CPMR “Aquamarina” Initiative, currently chaired by Brittany, and various other regional initiatives, e.g. by NGO’s;
• The maritime industry sector through CESA and ECMAR, representing Waterborne TP;
• The marine industry sector represented by EATIP and EFARO;
• The marine research community through various partners of the consortium, covering a vast field of disciplines in research and technology development, both basic and applied, e.g. though MB-ESF, MARS and EuroGOOS,

 

The consortium also has the potential for developing a critical mass in order to tackle certain categories of research, e.g., integrated research on climate change impacts. The “international” scientific cooperation beyond the pure remits of the European Union has been mentioned as a powerful vehicle for the coordinated and integrated management of maritime activities in shared seas. ICES (US and Canada) and CIESM (Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Maghreb, Middle East) both offer unique opportunities to start such a process of basin-wide cooperation on common issues. The consortium is also complementary both in geographical as well as in disciplinary terms by linking basic and academic research, operational (EuroGOOS) as well as exploratory systems (ESONET, represented by ICES).

 

Letters of Support have been received from other initiatives outside the consortium such as the Maritime Industry Forum (MIF), and efforts will be made to widen the scope by, e.g. including the energy sector or by enhancing active involvement of the academic research communities. Through the role and open nature of the Task Force (including KDM) for the recruitment of the Steering Committee such capacities and knowledge communities can be added in the course of the project.