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In the Saaremaa region of Estonia, the BlueRev project is helping unlock the potential of macroalgae and other blue bioresources as drivers for circular, high-value innovation in the blue bioeconomy. Through stakeholder collaboration and research-driven methodologies, the EU-funded initiative has been laying the groundwork for blue biobased innovation while addressing environmental and regulatory challenges unique to the Baltic Sea.
In the last three years, the Estonian hub of BlueRev has focused on co-developing new sustainable business models for the cultivation and processing of macroalgae. Furcellaria lumbricalis, a red algae has been historically used to produce furcellaran, a natural gelling agent. Today, local enterprises are advancing its applications by transforming furcellaran into powdered form for cosmetic and biotech uses, while also exploring the potential of red seaweed as a biostimulant and the use of processing byproducts as alternatives to plastic.
Collaboration across academia, SMEs, the public sector and civil society helped identify key obstacles to innovation. These including the environmental constraints stemming from the low salinity and the environmental condition of the Baltic Sea, lengthy permit procedures, and limited investment access. In response, BlueRev partners proposed exploration of social innovation opportunities and new models that utilise integrated approaches, such as combining macroalgae cultivation with offshore wind farms and further developing integrated multitrophic aquaculture systems.
The Estonia pilot also outlined specific “to-dos” for regulators, educators, industry, and consumers to help scale algae-based value chains. These include updating vocational and university based training, supporting fair resource access, simplifying regulatory procedures, and raising awareness about the ecological and cultural significance of local blue bioresources.
These efforts are now informing a broader strategy to build circular marine economies based on blue bioresource valorization. A short video explains the rationale of this initiative and captures Estonia´s best practice identified
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LB_56aWaAQ
All the knowledge generated in BlueRev including business models, governance recommendations, social innovation cases, and communication guidelines, are publicly available and free to access, and can be accessed on the project’s website in the page https://www.bluerevproject.eu/results/. Moreover, the project’s online Support Tool https://support-tool.bluerevproject.eu/ offers webinars, training content, and self-paced courses for stakeholders interested in replicating these approaches in their own regions.
The BlueRev consortium invites other coastal regions and industry players to build on these insights and collaborate in making Europe’s blue bioeconomy more circular, inclusive, and resilient.
About BlueRev
BlueRev is a Horizon Europe funded project aiming to revitalise local communities through innovative bio-based business models and social innovation in the blue economy. By working with pilot regions in Denmark & Greenland, Italy, and Estonia, the project promotes sustainable use of aquatic biomass, supports circular value chains, and fosters collaboration across sectors.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101060537. The content of this press release reflects only the authors’ views. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Media Contact:
BlueRev Communications Team
📧 info@bluerevproject.eu
🔗 www.bluerevproject.eu
🔗 LinkedIn
Fish processing side-streams such as heads, bones, and intestines often discarded as waste, could hold the key to a more sustainable and profitable blue economy. The EU-funded BlueRev project has been working with stakeholders in Denmark and Greenland to transform these side-streams into valuable products while strengthening regional cooperation.
Both regions face distinct challenges: Greenland deals with limited infrastructure, logistical constraints, and labour shortages, while Denmark’s focus is on optimising already advanced side-stream processing for higher-value applications. BlueRev facilitated collaboration among public authorities, industry leaders, researchers, and SMEs to co-develop targeted, actionable strategies.
The project introduced practical tools such as the Sustainable Business Model Canvas, governance recommendations adapted for Arctic and Nordic contexts, and social innovation frameworks based on success stories from other EU coastal regions. Case studies, such as dog food from fish processing side-streams, and Omega-3 functional beverages were explored to inspire local entrepreneurship and policy support.
These efforts are now informing new initiatives across the value chain. A short video highlights some of these best cases emerging from the project work: youtu.be/XhIR_AaQIJo
All the knowledge generated in BlueRev including business models, governance recommendations, social innovation cases, and communication guidelines, are publicly available and free to access, and can be accessed on the project’s website in the page https://www.bluerevproject.eu/results/. Moreover, the project’s online Support Tool https://support-tool.bluerevproject.eu/ offers webinars, training content, and self-paced courses for stakeholders interested in replicating these approaches in their own regions.
Key recommendations from the Denmark-Greenland hub include showcasing innovation in action, simplifying rules for small businesses, improving collaboration before market entry, and supporting skills development in the blue bioeconomy.
The BlueRev consortium invites other coastal regions and industry players to build on these insights and collaborate in making Europe’s blue bioeconomy more circular, inclusive, and resilient.
About BlueRev
BlueRev is a Horizon Europe funded project aiming to revitalise local communities through innovative bio-based business models and social innovation in the blue economy. By working with pilot regions in Denmark & Greenland, Italy, and Estonia, the project promotes sustainable use of aquatic biomass, supports circular value chains, and fosters collaboration across sectors.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101060537. The content of this press release reflects only the authors’ views. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Media Contact:
BlueRev Communications Team
📧 info@bluerevproject.eu
🔗 www.bluerevproject.eu
🔗 LinkedIn
The EU funded project BLUEREV is proud to announce the new e-learning platform. This support tool is a collaborative Open Space where users can interact with each other and have access to exclusive material and webinars created under the framework of BlueRev and the blue bio economy sector.
Europe, January 2024. BLUEREV announces the launch of its new e-learning support tool. Featuring an intuitive and user-friendly interface, the BLUEREV support tool offers a seamless and interactive experience that caters both beginners and experts in the blue bio-based sector and facilitate cross-sector collaborations among stakeholders. The platform is designed to both showcase the different type of content that will be developed within the projects lifespan, as well as allow users to participate in courses, webinars, discussion forums about the blue bio-based sector throughout Europe, more specifically in the three different pilot regions: Denmark, Italy, and Estonia.
The support tool provides the following intuitive and engaging features:
- Register and Profile creation: the users can register in the platform, create their profile and choose and customise specific settings. The users will have access to the homepage, calendar the scheduled tasks, and see the upcoming webinars and training courses.
- Community feed: this feature allows users to interact with each other, send direct messages, choose discussion topics, and even share documents within the discussion forums.
- E-library: an online library where users will be able to access exclusive materials like factsheets, infographics, best practices, multimedia content, and much more.
- Training courses and webinars: users will be able to register and attend live training courses and webinars, or watch and download them in streaming. Each module will give access to a discussion forum where the participants may interact with other participants and the lecturer, asking questions, cross-examine facts and opinions.
“BlueRev Support Tool will be a digital bridge connecting innovation and collaboration, housing the collective wisdom of our journey. It’s more than a space; it’s a beacon illuminating the path of progress in the blue bio-based economy. Here, we unite, we educate, and we empower, as we unlock the doors to shared knowledge and cross-sector collaborations, ensuring that the brilliance of our new solutions shines brightly for all”, says Ilaria Bientinesi, from BlueRev coordination team.
ABOUT BLUEREV
The BlueRev project is an EU Horizon Europe programme that started in September 2022. Its main mission is to define a new paradigm for revitalising the blue economy in local communities, declined into three dimensions: social innovation, business models and governance models.
BlueRev’s new paradigm will be piloted in 3 different pilot regions throughout Europe, i.e., Denmark-Greenland, Italy, and Estonia, to tailor value chains, from valorisation of co-products as feedstock to processing/conversion to final products, in order to revitalize local communities, both in a territorial and social sense and contribute to positive environmental and social impacts.
The project will analyse these value chains according to the three above mentioned dimensions, as well as environmental barriers and potentialities, local capacities such as feedstocks, infrastructure, human skills, innovation actors, including community knowledge and marginalised groups, by using existing or improved monitoring system and indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the value chains.
BLUEREV CONTACT INFORMATION
Info email: info@bluerevproject.eu
Website: www.bluerevproject.eu
Support Tool: https://support-tool.bluerevproject.eu/
Social media channels: @BlueRevEU
After three years of collaboration, community engagement and cross-border experimentation, the Horizon Europe-funded project BlueRev has officially come to an end. The project concluded its journey with a symbolic and inspiring moment: the Sustainable Futures Conference, co-organised with fellow Horizon Europe initiatives Engage4Bio, BlueBioClusters, and SKILLBILL.
Held in Brussels in June, the conference brought together 80 stakeholders from across Europe, including researchers, regional and local authorities, small and medium-sized enterprises, NGOs and civil society organisations. The event served as an engaging and dynamic space to reflect not only on the achievements of the participating projects, but on the shared challenges and opportunities they collectively address.
Throughout the conference, participants explored how Horizon Europe projects, each working in distinct yet complementary areas, can act as powerful enablers of local transformation. Common themes emerged, particularly the importance of resource autonomy, inclusive governance, social innovation and citizen engagement. It became clear that these issues are best tackled through integrated, cross-sectoral collaboration, with projects learning from each other and co-developing tools, methods and policy insights.
BlueRev’s contributions to the discussion stemmed from its work with three pilot regions, Denmark and Greenland, Estonia and Italy (Sicily), where it supported the creation of blue bioeconomy value chains rooted in local potential. By connecting marine by-products to high-value markets, developing inclusive social innovation and governance models, and delivering targeted training to students and businesses, BlueRev demonstrated how innovation can be both sustainable and community-led.
At the conference, the project partners shared practical lessons and success stories from the field, emphasising the importance of empowering regional actors, including marginalised communities, to shape their own sustainable pathways.The event provided valuable insights and facilitated exchanges with key stakeholders, which later helped shape a set of joint policy recommendations. These included the need to foster skills development through local training ecosystems, ensure the long-term sustainability of project tools, integrate art and culture into sustainability strategies, and build the institutional capacity of local authorities.
As the BlueRev project draws to a close, it leaves behind more than a portfolio of deliverables. It leaves a growing network of actors committed to a shared vision: a Europe where sustainable change is driven from the ground up, and where local innovation, supported by European collaboration, plays a central role in the green and just transition.
About BlueRev
BlueRev is an initiative funded by the Horizon Europe programme, focused on breathing new life into coastal and regional communities through socially driven innovation and sustainable, bio-based business strategies within the blue economy. Through its pilot activities in Denmark & Greenland, Italy, and Estonia, the project champions the responsible use of aquatic resources, encourages circular economic practices, and strengthens cross-sectoral collaboration.
All insights and resources developed through the BlueRev project, including innovative business models, governance strategies, examples of social innovation, and communication guidance, are openly accessible to the public via the project website at: https://www.bluerevproject.eu/results/. In addition, stakeholders looking to apply these approaches in their own regions can explore the BlueRev Support Tool at https://support-tool.bluerevproject.eu/, which hosts a variety of webinars, training materials, and on-demand courses designed to support replication and local action.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101060537. The views expressed in this press release are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission, which is not liable for any use made of the information provided.
Media Contact:
BlueRev Communications Team
📧 info@bluerevproject.eu
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!