Capacity Building of BLUE Economy Stakeholders to Effectively use CROWDFUNDING.
Blue economy innovation in Mediterranean could be significantly improved, if more investment funds would be available. One possible solution is use of Crowdfunding (CF) but in MED area knowledge and capacities for CF are still low in comparison to North EU. Project general objective is to improve innovation capacities in blue growth sector by mainstreaming use of crowdfunding.Methodology will be adapted from Interreg Central CROWD-FUND-PORT project and Interreg MED - FINMED by LP and PP6 who were coordinator/partner in those projects.Project will deliver: 

1.) Capacity building of blue economy SMEs on how to use CF;

2.) Transnational blue-crowdfunding cluster with developed CF services;

3.) Mainstreaming the international CF trainings in business support institutions;

4.) Mainstreaming policy change and recognition of using civic crowdfunding in regions.Results will be delivered by mix of 13 partners from 8 MED countries including 4 blue economy clusters/chambers, 3 crowdfunding experts, 2 academia and 4 regions. Following blue economy sectors will be reached: blue energy, maritime safety, maritime transport, maritime tourism, fisheries and aquaculture.Project ambition is to trigger change from using public funds for innovation to use crowdfunding and crowdsourcing to fund, test and validate innovative blue economy products and services. Consequently blue-economy SMEs will get better access to funding and will be able to deliver better and more innovative solutions.