ISMF Third Annual Conference – “Blue Growth”

Wednesday 2nd July 2014, Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool

The Irish Sea Maritime Forum’s Third Annual Conference on the theme of Blue Growth took place on Wednesday 2nd July at the Liner Hotel, Liverpool as part of the International Festival for Business . Over 70 delegates gathered to hear presentations on the European Union’s Blue Growth agenda and what this might mean in terms of economic development opportunities for the Irish Sea region.

In the afternoon session delegates were able to participate in workshops related to key Blue Growth areas: Commercial Shipping; Blue Energy; Fisheries and Aquaculture; Blue Biotechnology; Marine and Coastal Recreation and Tourism; Environmental and Coastal Protection and Monitoring and Surveillance. The outcomes of these workshop sessions will feed into an Irish Sea Blue Growth Report which is to be produced by early Autumn this year and will be followed up with a meeting in early 2015 to plan how we can capitalise on the most significant Blue Growth opportunities.

The ISMF Secretariat would like to thank all those who took part in this year’s conference and contributed to interesting and lively discussions during the afternoon workshops.

Conference presentations can be downloaded below (PDF files)

Conference Programme
Matthew King, European Commission, DG MARE – the EU’s Blue Growth Agenda
Walter Foley, Dublin Regional Authority – Dublin Bay: Governance and Value
Phil Leigh, University of Central Lancashire – the Irish Sea Rim Economic, Research and Innovation Zone
Stuart Anderson, ISMF Vice Chair – North Wales 2015, Here We Come
Sue Kidd, University of Liverpool – ISMF Update