reinforcing SustainablE Actions, resilience, cooperation and harmonisation across and by the SEA-EU Alliance

To many Europeans, the sea is a bridge and border, resource pool and playground.

Coastal regions account for almost half the EU’s gross domestic product; and the Blue Economy beckons, with exciting growth prospects.

Coasts suffer from a high dependence on few economic activities (e.g. tourism and shiprepair); they must also somehow manage the many recreational, social and industrial activities that cause unprecedented environmental stress.

We have learned from the current pandemic scenario that knowledge is a key investment to combat such fragility and non-sustainability.

In this context, the 6 coastal universities of the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU) alliance are pooling their complementary expertise to develop the reSEArch-EU project.

Its aim is to bolster the research and innovation capacity of SEA-EU, in step with our shared, integrated and long-term strategy, by: building an anti-fragile (beyond resilient and robust) and innovative pan-European Alliance; aligning our expertise and resources with the needs of the production system;co-designing, co-creating and co-delivering knowledge with and for stakeholders and citizens;establishing a common Open Science and Open Research Data Policy;crafting and developing a common multi/ inter/ and trans/disciplinary research agenda that contributes to sustainable development and growth;sharing our critical analyses and best practices for the successful implementation of our research and innovation strategies with other ‘European University’ Alliances.Herein, we propose to craft a solid, reliable and trustworthy research structure for the SEA-EU Alliance.

This will be visible to, and active with, main societal actors (citizens, entrepreneurs, corporate bodies, administrators) in order to grow together, galvanise our institutions, reinvigorate our economic landscapes, and help address societal and environmental challenges locally and beyond.