On October 6 and 7, the Techera project “made landfall” in Bari where the fifth edition of the Adriatic Sea Forum- Cruise, Ferry, Sail & Yacht was held.

The forum, conceived and organized by Risposte Turismo, offered the Secretariat of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion the opportunity to give visibility to the Techera cluster, to meet with operators, companies, associations and organizations representing the most important figures involved in maritime tourism in the Adriatic, to interact with them, with stakeholders of blue economy and nautical sector and to explain them the background and objectives of the project, including through the distribution of promotional materials.

The TECHERA project is co-funded by the Interreg Italy-Croatia Cooperation Program 2014-2020 under Cluster 1 “Connectivity from the sea: data driven solution in the sea economy” and stems from the capitalization of 6 previous projects ADRIREEF, BLUE KEP, FAIRSEA, ITACA, PRIZEFISH and SUSHIDROP  that have experimented with innovative data-driven practices and approaches in the context of the blue economy.

The novel interfaces, data analysis procedures and acquisition methods developed in these projects will be pooled to showcase how they can converge in a unique “Infosphere” to compensate for the lack of marine data and improve the blue economy by ensuring cost-savings and sustainability.

TECHERA’s main goal is to pave the ground to the reduction of the carbon footprint of fishing fleets and seafood markets by data-driven optimization of fishing pressures and development of sustainable productions.

This international event, which was attended by participants from 7 nations overlooking the Adriatic Sea (Albania, BosniaHerzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Italy and Slovenia) was a consistent chance for the Techera project to strengthen its positioning, visibility and dissemination, an opportunity to meet new stakeholders, interact with stakeholders, present and distribute materials and other content to them, and to establish a new networking, create new synergies and initiate future collaborations, as well as to generate additional opportunities.

It was an excellent opportunity for an intense debate – in the context of which the importance of the blue economy as a decisive element for a sustainable future was reiterated – and for a close look at other important issues for the future of the Adriatic.