- The Agricultural University of Athens (Greece) hosted the consortium of this project, which has a budget of over €6,200,000, funded by the Horizon Europe program.
- Finnova also co-organized an intersectoral meeting, inviting local stakeholders to exchange views on various topics related to ONE-BLUE.
12/02/2025, Brussels. Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, and Jon Larrachea, Head of Communication at the Foundation, attended the second in-person meeting of the European project ONE-BLUE on January 28 and 29, held at the Agricultural University of Athens (Greece). The event brought together all the partners of this European project, which investigates the impact of emerging pollutants and climate change on marine biodiversity, as well as various local stakeholders interested in preserving aquatic ecosystems.
These sessions, organized by project partners Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) and Venthic, began on Tuesday, January 28, with a meeting where each of the leading partners of different work packages presented their conclusions from the first year of project activities and discussed the plans for the upcoming year. The Italian National Research Council (CNR-IRSA) outlined the future sampling campaigns to be carried out, HCMR explained the progress of mesocosm studies, and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), along with leaders of Work Package 3 tasks, provided updates on new tools and protocols to support the monitoring of emerging pollutants in the ocean. Venthic presented data collection activities, while IDAEA-CSIC reviewed the status of the work packages.
In this regard, Finnova reviewed the communication and dissemination activities conducted in 2024 and planned the activity schedule for 2025. Jon Larrachea, the project’s communication officer, led this review and explained to the partners the proposed communication strategy for 2025.
Finnova Engages with Local Stakeholders
On Wednesday, January 29, Finnova co-organized, along with HCMR, Venthic, and IDAEA-CSIC, an intersectoral technical meeting to introduce Greek stakeholders to the project. Attendees included representatives from EU funded projects, universities, and research centers who discussed aspects related to ocean protection and learned more about ONE-BLUE. During the meeting, participants were introduced to the project’s main action lines by CNR-IRSA, which presented the project’s sampling campaigns, while TU Delft and INL showcased new developments in the CEC protocol and antibiotic detection systems. Additionally, representatives from the CONTRAST project, a sister initiative to ONE-BLUE, shared updates on their efforts to enhance marine ecosystem protection and biodiversity preservation against harmful chemicals in our oceans.
The session also featured local actors who presented their ocean protection initiatives. Triantafyllos Kaloudis, a researcher at the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company, discussed his approach to non-targeted environmental sample analysis, linking it to the need for developing quality assurance practices that lead to laboratory accreditation for such analyses. Following this, Ioannis Sitaras, director of the Hellenic Accreditation System, outlined the organization’s key activities.
Later, attendees had the opportunity to exchange experiences and opinions with project partners through four roundtable discussions focusing on different aspects of the project. IDAEA-CSIC led the discussion on antibiotic resistance in nature and its effects on humans. Finnova chaired a roundtable on European funding, Venthic addressed emerging pollutant classification systems, and HCMR explained the benefits of using mesocosms to study the effects of pollutants on the environment. The session concluded with a visit to HCMR’s facilities.
About ONE-BLUE
ONE-BLUE is a research initiative funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program. With a budget exceeding €6,200,000, ONE-BLUE focuses on researching the impact of emerging pollutants and climate change on marine biodiversity, contributing to a better understanding and preservation of aquatic ecosystems. Led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), along with the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) and the Institute of Physical and Information Technologies (ITEFI), all part of CSIC, the consortium includes 18 entities (21 if CSIC-affiliated institutes are included) from 11 EU countries.
The consortium members include the Italian Water Research Institute, the University of Milan, the University of Padua, and the Regional Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany (Italy); Venthic Technologies and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece); the Association for Research and Development of Sciences and the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal); Delft University of Technology, Micronit, and Microlife Solutions (Netherlands); Dublin City University (Ireland); the Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany); the University of Dubrovnik (Croatia); Örebro University (Sweden); the Cyprus Research and Innovation Centre (CYRIC); and FINNOVA (Belgium). The project is set to last for three and a half years.
About Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe is the EU’s new research and innovation framework program (2021-2027), succeeding Horizon 2020, with a budget of over €95 billion. Its objectives include combating climate change, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and fostering the EU’s competitiveness. The program aims to achieve scientific, technological, economic, and social impact by strengthening the scientific and technological foundations and competitiveness of EU Member States. The European Commission sees Europe’s future as reliant on its leadership in research and innovation, with Horizon Europe tackling global challenges such as health, aging, security, pollution, and climate change.
About FINNOVA
FINNOVA is a Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation headquartered in Brussels and Spain, dedicated to promoting and developing innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU. FINNOVA has extensive experience leading communication and dissemination activities for European projects, coupled with a strong track record in business creation programs and entrepreneurship support through accelerators, incubators, and events. The foundation is also committed to training and youth employability.