Blue Economy a way of acknowledging the potential of marine and coastal ecosystems and addresses one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development developed in 2015, referred as conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. On top of that, it is extremely relevant to the EU to achieve the ambitions of the European Green Deal.
Blue economy includes key sectors such as: Aquaculture, Blue Biotechnology, Blue Renewable Energy, Blue Tech & Ocean Observation, Coastal & Maritime Tourism, Environmental Protection and Regeneration, Fisheries, Shipbuilding & Refit, Shipping & Ports and Water Management. Each sector can offer different solutions of blue technology, like autonomous solar-powered boats and ships that clean up ocean plastic or 3D printed coral reefs to promote biodiversity and protect our coasts.
It is an emerging and fast-growing trend of considerable interest to the European Union, which publishes every year the “Blue Economy Report”, reporting the scope and size of the Blue Economy in the European Union.
Blue economy has a double benefit of marine and economic sustainability for operators and investors. According to recent figures, in 2019 sectors that contribute to the EU Blue Economy directly employed close to 4.5M people and generated around Euro 667B in turnover (plus 15% from Euro 578B in 2009) and Euro 184B in gross value added (an increase of ~20% compared to 2009).
In the last 5 years (2018 – 2022), deals in the Blue Economy have been on the rise, with 200% increase in the number of financial transactions. Seed rounds represent 20% of all deals, followed by acquisitions (16%).
The European Union not only enables policies and initiatives, but also allocates public funding, also through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF).
Furthermore, European Commission in 2019 launched the ‘BlueInvest’ investment platform, to support related innovative SMEs and start-ups, by engaging investors in the space and providing resources through a BlueInvest Fund.
These projections indicate a growing recognition of the potential of the blue economy as a source of sustainable and impactful investment opportunities.
