In Trapani, a coastal area in Western Sicily, where fisheries, aquaculture and processing have long been central to the local economy and culture, the BlueRev project is transforming the blue value-chain through innovation, sustainability, and regional resilience. 

Funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, BlueRev aims to revitalise European local communities through innovative businesses, new governance models, and social innovations within the blue bioeconomy sector. Focusing on three pilot regions (Denmark/Greenland, Italy and Estonia), the project identifies and implements solutions tailored to the blue bio-based sector. These regions serve as testing grounds for the development of tailor-made value chains, from the valorisation of co-products to their processing and transformation into final products. By stimulating local economic growth, strengthening social cohesion, and fostering positive environmental and social impacts, BlueRev supports the sustainable development of coastal communities. The new business, governance, and social innovation models developed within BlueRev are carefully tailored to their specific regional assets of the pilot regions, such as aquatic resources, infrastructure, and human capital. These models are co-created through collaboration with diverse innovation actors, such as local communities, research institutions, and marginalised groups. 

The Italian Pilot Case Study in Trapani, Western Sicily 

The Italian pilot case study- coordinated by the laboratory of marine biochemistry of the department of Earth and Marine Science of the University of Palermo- is based in Trapani, a historic maritime city on the western coast of Sicily, renowned for its long-standing traditions in fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood processing. With rich marine biodiversity, well-developed infrastructure, and a consolidated scientific background on blue biotechnology, the region offers an ideal environment to implement and validate sustainable value chain models that combine technological innovation, community engagement, and circular economy strategies. 

The main goal of the Italian pilot was to develop and validate a replicable and scalable value chain model, based on sustainability, technological innovation, and local participation. A key element of this strategy involved the valorization of fishery and aquaculture side-streams and by-products, considered as waste in linear economy processes, by transforming them into high-value products through circular economy approaches and innovative bio-based technologies. These include the production of marine biobased ingredients and food products, the extraction of bioactive compounds from fish by-products for applications in nutraceuticals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other industries, with a biorefinery approach. 

By fostering local entrepreneurship and promoting inclusive governance frameworks, the pilot has demonstrated how an integrated and community-driven approach can strengthen the socio-economic resilience of coastal territories. The Trapani case study represents a reference model for the dissemination of blue bioeconomy solutions across other Mediterranean and European coastal regions. 

The Italian team co-developed an integrated and replicable value chain model based on the following key pillars:  

• Valorising fisheries and aquaculture by-products through innovative bio-based technologies, such as the extraction of bioactive compounds for application in diverse industrial sectors. 

• Promoting a circular economy practice by transforming waste into valuable, marketable resources. 

• Establishing inclusive governance models involving a wide range of local stakeholders, including SMEs, research institutions and policymakers, targeting also marginalized groups. 

• Supporting local entrepreneurship and fostering skills development, while encouraging youth participation and gender balance in the blue economy. 

The Italian pilot region successfully demonstrated how technological innovation and community-led governance can promote sustainable development by: 

• creating new business opportunities in the bioeconomy sector; 

• increasing local innovation capacity through training programmes, demonstration workshops, and collaborative networks; 

• providing a scalable and transferable model for other coastal areas in the Mediterranean and Europe that wish to transition to a sustainable blue economy. 

As BlueRev moves towards the end, the next phase will focus on the exploitation of these results, scaling up best practices, enhancing knowledge exchange, and deepening cross-regional collaboration. 

The BlueRev consortium invites researchers, entrepreneurs, local authorities and citizens to contribute to this collective effort. Your ideas, skills and local knowledge are essential to co-creating a resilient, inclusive and sustainable blue economy. 

To find out more about the project, to join upcoming events or to collaborate on regional initiatives, please visit www.bluerevproject.eu/results 

The project’s online Support Tool also makes available webinars, practical guides, and self-paced courses to support the replication of BlueRev’s approaches across regions: support-tool.bluerevproject.eu  

Let’s build the future of the blue bioeconomy together!