On Friday 21 July, Colruyt Group proudly presented the first mussel harvest from Westdiep Sea Farm in the city of Ostend. This wonderful achievement is in part due to the success of the SYMAPA research project.

Solar panels on the Belgian North Sea have never been so close! On 19 July, a first SeaVolt pilot installation was presented in the port of Ostend. This is an important step towards even more sustainable renewable energy.

Are you a small or medium-sized enterprise active in offshore renewable energy and would you like to join Blue Cluster on a trade mission to South Korea from 26 to 30 November? If so, you can apply for financial support (€2000 per SME) via ELBE Eurocluster.

Are you an innovative SME that can provide a (partial) solution for an innovation challenge from a large company in Offshore Renewable Energy? Collaborate with an SME from another EU country and receive up to €60K in financial support for your solution.

Are you an SME and do you have an idea to address specific challenges in the field of naval defence? Are you interested in working together with other European SMEs and looking for additional funding? Then submit your project proposal by 4 September 2023.

Major challenges such as biodiversity loss and climate change can largely be linked to ecosystems and the impact of human activities. Companies are increasingly aware of this and want to take action. Several projects have been initiated that deal with this topic.

The partners in the eMSP NBSR project strive for a more thoughtful form of maritime spatial planning. During the fifth CoP meeting in Helsinki, Blue Cluster opened the discussion on Nature Inclusive Design (NID) for large marine infrastructures.

Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT) launched the Startup.Flanders platform on Friday 16 June. This service platform puts Flanders on the international map as an innovative hub for start-up businesses.

On the occasion of Ostend at Anchor and our fifth anniversary, Blue Cluster organised a drawing competition for pupils of the 5th and 6th year of primary education in Flanders. We received a lot of fantastic drawings, and we are happy to announce the winners.

Do you have experience in marine defence or are you just good at organising workshops and online collaboration sessions? Then seize this unique opportunity to support SMEs and create a more robust marine defense value chain.