These vectors are intrinsically interconnected, as many aspects of the ecosystem services have strong implications for the performance and growth of sectors belonging to the Blue Economy.
In terms of future performance, we can predict several driving forces that influence the corresponding economic sectors associated with the Blue Economy, with three of them playing a significant role:
World population:
World population growth pushes for several other demands. The continuous growth of the world's population and the increasing intensity of the impact of human activities have exposed the finite capacity of the ocean to “accommodate and mitigate” the damage caused. On the other hand, the importance of the ocean health in valuing the associated industrial activities, has also been uncovered. The continuous migration towards the coastline, with unprecedent coastal developments, creates an extra pressure on coastal ecosystems, influencing the growth of ocean industries.
The limit of ocean resources:
Predominant lifestyle:
An important constraint for the Blue Economy is the impact of human activity on the Ocean, where pollution begins to threaten the habitats of marine life, fish stocks, molluscs, etc. - which, combined with climate changes and overfishing, limits the capacity of the ocean to recover from the low stocks of living resources. The international community has been taking measures to protect stocks of the main species with relevant commercial value. Consequently, the numbers of authorised wild fish caught is likely to remain stable until 2030, pushing for a significant expansion of aquaculture, especially marine aquaculture, to supply the increasing demand for marine-sourced proteins. This increase will bring new challenges, mainly due to the necessary mitigation of the environmental impact of aquaculture and the intense search for available sites with suitable conditions to accommodate the new investments. Furthermore, climate change and the gradual change in the acidity of the ocean, combined with the greater frequency and severity of climate and oceanic events, will limit the quality and location for marine living resources. Long-, short-term and mission-oriented solutions to collect data, monitor, support the development/improvement of models and prediction of a multitude of oceanic events shall be developed and shall play a crucial role in the future.
Geopolitical changes and sovereignty:
The geopolitical developments towards this multipolar world, creating international tensions and conflicts is another major driving force. Sovereignty will increasingly be imposed to protect the territory, and the resources, and to ensure that value chains are not affected, either by accidents (man-made or nature) or by illegal or irregular actions. In the case of Portugal, national sovereignty in the maritime environment will move to another level with the (expected) extension of the continental shelf. New technologies and new systems, cheaper, autonomous, and potentially disposable (or easily reproduced within national installations) will be fundamental for the exercise of sovereignty in a new robotic, electronic, and digitalised world.
INESC TEC's contribution to the Blue Economy
The extensive importance of the Oceans was perceived by INESC TEC several years ago, when the institution embraced different challenges, implying different areas of knowledge and targeting different sectors of activity.
Since then, the activity has been growing and plays a significant role in the institution’s activity and overall budget. The following figure presents the last half a dozen years of execution of R&D projects for different Blue Economy sectors, demonstrating INESC TEC R&D+I commitment to Blue Economy.
In addition to the more traditional sectors such as fishing, aquaculture, ports, and maritime transport, INESC TEC has been strongly contributing to increase the knowledge and developing competencies in emerging sectors such as:
These emerging sectors have an enormous potential; and although they may take time to gain relevance in the global economic framework, they must be addressed immediately. INESC TEC's contribution is based on a holistic approach that tries to address different social challenges through the combination of development vectors and their interaction with i) different industries, ii) the ecosystem services, and iii) climate changes. Said challenges, which we aim to address through our R&D competencies, are dominated by five social forces, and can transform and stimulate ocean industries - which, associated with the universal urgency to preserve the health of the oceans, are the driving force behind our R&D&I. These societal forces, with the same level of urgency, will have a different kind of impact, at different periods. Nonetheless, preserving the value of ecosystem services has, by nature, a more structural effect.
The main social forces are:
Since 2018, INESC TEC has been involved in more than 100 development projects for the blue economy sectors, accounting for more than €16M. Along this journey, made side by side with national and international industrial partners, associations, academic institutions, and other R&D centres, more than 45 patent applications have been submitted, demonstrating the institution drive towards the scientific, economic, and social impact.
- world population growth;
- the predominant lifestyle in developed countries serving as role model for underdeveloped countries;
- geopolitics changes and a multipolar word.
- Food supply: even before 2030 at least another 1 billion people will need to be fed, considerably increasing the demand for food. Relying on current methods will not be a solution as Ocean’s health is increasingly affected by the cumulative sources of pollution on land, namely contamination by agricultural fertilisers and micro-plastics that are constantly transported by rivers. To environmentally balance this expected increase in protein demand, marine based sources shall increase more significantly than land-based ones. This production shift towards the Ocean harsh environment will demand for new and increasingly intelligent autonomous systems and sensors.
- Energy demand: the increase in the world's population will certainly push for increased energy consumption, as well as other blue economy sectors: maritime cargo and passenger traffic; shipbuilding; offshore platforms and maritime infrastructures; among others. Additionally, if the increase in the demand for goods and energy leads to an increase in the demand for mineral products - considering that no alternative materials to those currently used are found -, or if the capacity for extraction on land is exhausted, extraction in the sea floor is being considered as the next alternative.
While the energy transition initially had a negative impact on the marine equipment manufacturing industries and on the industrialisation of autonomous systems (due to the downturn in offshore oil and gas exploration), it is an essential element to advance the implementation of oceanic renewable energies, as well as to the development of algae biofuels based on multi-trophic aquaculture. Offshore renewable energy (wind, solar, waves and tides) will likely continue to grow, reducing production and operating costs, becoming more resilient to oil price fluctuations, and strongly contributing to an increase in the energy market.
- ocean renewable energies;
- technologies for ocean biotechnology;
- marine robotics;
- sustainable use of ocean natural resources (living and non-living);
- environmental monitoring and ecosystem protection;
- deep-sea R&D and education;
1. Contribute to preserve the value of the ecosystem services (challenge - Protect the environment and territory, maintaining territorial integrity, and preserve the value chains of the various ocean industries. Contribute unequivocally to the “Health of the Oceans”);
2. Address the increased demand for proteins (challenge - External pressures on ocean industries that contribute to protein production will pose two related sub challenges: a) how to keep the per capita consumption of fish in the world at values that are accessible to the general population; and b) how to increase the value produced by the fisheries and aquaculture industries).
3. Contribute to change the profile of energy vectors extracted from the ocean (challenge - Consolidate world's capacity to: a) produce energy from renewable sources; b) develop technologies and strengthen the supply chains to produce energy from renewable sources [wind, solar, waves and tides].
4. Contribute with solutions to increase our knowledge on the ocean, from its interaction with the atmosphere to the deep sea (challenge - Develop a wide and thorough understanding of the ocean and its phenomena to the point they can be mapped in digital solutions; b) develop technological solutions that help to identify, assess/monitor living and non-living resources important for improving human health conditions and support a sustainable progress);
5. Change the Maritime transport profile (challenge - How ports accommodate: a) the profile change of goods; b) the reconfiguration of maritime transport; c) the transformation process of energy vectors in the maritime transport)