The project coordinated from the Canary Islands and unique in Europe that links offshore wind energy and aquaculture production on a floating platform leaves great expectations at the Andalusian Conference Center, both in the field of fish farming and renewable energy and blue growth, strategic lines of the event.

Thursday, 24th November 2022.- Under the slogan “Aquaculture: seas and rivers of opportunities” of the XVIII National Aquaculture Congress, AquaWind has been presented at the Palacio de Congresos de Cádiz, a pioneering project in Europe by linking offshore wind energy and the aquaculture production of marine fish in the same floating platform. An innovative initiative that promises to bring real development opportunities at the national level, both in the field of fish farming, renewable energy and blue growth, as well as being an example of entrepreneurship and a potential source for job creation.

The coordinator of the project, Javier Roo, head of R+D+i projects at the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society of the Government of the Canary Islands (ACIISI), focused his speech at the congress on the research and development of prototypes, with the presentation of the AquaWind platform. “We must remember that it is the only European initiative that combines the production of renewable energy on the high seas and fish farming in the first floating wind platform in Spain, capable of jointly producing wind energy and high-quality fish,” said Roo, who also represents the University Institute for Research in Sustainable Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems (IU-ECOAQUA) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC).

During his speech at the Palacio de Congresos in Cadiz, the AquaWind coordinator clarified that one of the main innovations of the project will be to be able to “evaluate in a real environment the combination of production and use of renewable energy in fish aquaculture”. In addition, during the project, work will be done with two species of fish of enormous aquaculture interest, such as sea bream, and a new species for the diversification of marine aquaculture, such as seriola, (better known as amberjack) characterized by its high value and culinary interest, particularly in the Japanese cuisine. Another advantage of combining various activities is that the occupation of marine space and the visual impact on the coast are simultaneously reduced.

Although AquaWind has just started, the project features the pioneering W2Power prototype offshore wind generator, developed by EnerOcean. As the company based in Andalusia and the Canary Islands clarifies, the W2Power concept seeks to be the most profitable floating wind solution and reduce the overall cost of energy, thanks to the novelty of incorporating two large-capacity wind turbines. Due to its size and stability, the platform can accommodate additional functions such as energy storage or harnessing wave energy, as well as aquaculture.

An important part of AquaWind is understanding the commitment of the various stakeholders that the project may affect, so different actions are contemplated during the project to assess its impact and how it would affect the interested stakeholders. “We have taken this opportunity to share a survey that has been prepared to collect the expert vision of representatives of the entities participating in the congress, as well as the scientific community interested in the aquaculture sector”, concluded the coordinator. AquaWind has been 80% co-financed with more than one million euros by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, thanks to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, the remaining 20% ​​corresponding to own funds from the partners of the Project. The project, led from the Canary Islands by ACIISI, has strategic partners in France, Portugal and Spain. In the Canary Islands, the consortium has key entities such as PLOCAN, the ULPGC or the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster, as well as companies specialized in aquaculture production and marketing such as Canexmar S.L. or in the management and communication of European projects such as Consulta Europa Projects & Innovation. Other strategic partners are the Portuguese company WAVEC, experts in marine renewable energy solutions, offshore aquaculture and ocean engineering, or the French company Innosea, specialists in multidisciplinary engineering, strategic advice and R&D consultancy in marine renewable energies, especially offshore wind.

The latest edition of the EU regional gender equality monitor is the first to capture aspects of gender equality at the regional level for almost all EU regions.

The regional gender equality monitor consists of two composite indices: the Female Achievement Index (FemAI) and the Female Disadvantage Index (FemDI). FemAI measures the level of female achievement compared to the best regional female performance, while FemDI assesses the level of female disadvantage by measuring if women are doing worse than men in the same region.

Results from the 2021 edition of the monitor show that the highest level of female achievement is seen in Nordic regions, with the highest score in the capital region of Helsinki-Uusimaa. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the lowest index score is observed in the regions Sud-Est in Romania. The French region of Auvergne has the smallest disadvantage, while the Greek region of Sterea Ellada has the biggest disadvantage.

A dedicated website within the JRC Urban data Platform offers a rich set of interactive maps and charts for a complete overview of how a region compares to the EU average, to a different region in the EU, or to the average region in more developed, transition and less developed regions in the EU.

Results are also available as INTERACTIVE DATA STORY in the European Commission Open Data Portal for the European Structural Investment Fund.

For more information, please visit: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/maps/gender-equality-monitor

Last Thursday, October 27, took place the Workshop ‘Gender Equality, Research and Transfer at the ULPGC’, in which our EU project manager Marlene Santacruz presented ATHENA, a project coordinated by Consulta Europa.

The seminar, organised by the Equality Unit of the ULPGC and hosted by the Institutional Headquarters of the university, focused on the II Equality Plan of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which is part of the European project Horizon 2020.

Carmen Grau Pineda, Director of Teaching Staff, highlighted in her speech the importance of equality plans as a way to achieve effective equality in research. Carolina Mesa, Director of Equality, discussed the measures envisaged for the new plan, which recently began its implementation phase.

Finally, the seminar included a round table with the participation of female university researchers who enriched the workshop by sharing their experiences regarding the barriers they have encountered in their academic and professional careers. In addition, they contributed with ideas and possible measures that could be carried out within the different research fields.

Currently, the ATHENA project is in the implementation phase of the equality plans entrusted to the project partners, with the aim of generating a cultural change that avoids barriers and discriminatory practices in research institutions. All this has taken place in a week in which the European Gender Equality Week is also celebrated.

The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules, a €500 million Spanish programme under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM) to support the deployment of broadband backhaul infrastructure in rural areas. The aid programme is part of Spain’s strategy to meet the needs of citizens and businesses in the context of the digitisation of the country. It also contributes to the EU’s strategic objectives regarding the digital transition.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said: “This €500 million Spanish funding scheme […] will help consumers and businesses in rural areas to access high quality mobile services, which will contribute to Spain’s economic growth and to the achievement of the EU’s strategic objectives regarding the digital transition“.

Under the scheme, aid will take the form of direct grants to electronic telecommunications providers and infrastructure companies. Beneficiaries will be chosen on the basis of an open, competitive, transparent and non-discriminatory selection procedure. The measure will finance the deployment of fibre broadband backhaul networks to connect selected base stations located in municipalities with less than 10 000 inhabitants and which, by the 31st December 2025, would, in the absence of support, not have a satisfactorily functioning infrastructure.

The programme aims to ensure the widespread availability of high performance mobile networks, capable of providing end-users with high quality and reliable electronic communications access services that meet their current and future needs.

For more information, please visit: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/es/ip_22_6171

The public world champions of tango pista will take part in the first Archipiélago Tango festival, which will take place this weekend at the Real Club Náutico de Gran Canaria, where around 100 participants are expected.

The Real Club Náutico de Gran Canaria is hosting this weekend the first edition of the Archipiélago Tango Festival with the presence of two great tango masters, Dana Zampieri and Carlos Estigarribia. Both come directly from Buenos Aires, where the World Tango Championship is held every year and where they have been elected the best couple by popular vote. “We are very happy that they are coming to the islands for the first time, we will have a very close and special exhibition”, declared Michelle Perello and David Prieto, heads of the Escuela Tango Argentino Las Palmas and organisers of the event.

Estigarribia and Zampieri are currently one of the most successful couples on the tango pista scene. In the words of the organisers, their dance highlights the fluidity of the walk, the taste for the musical rhythm, the elegance of the embrace, the flexibility of the turns and the couple’s technical dialogue, as “they communicate in an exquisite way”, explained Perello. 

In this sense, “Archipiélago Tango” also intends to host the best international couples in the coming editions, as well as proposing a new concept of a travelling tango festival. In this way, the initiative will reach the entire Canary Islands archipelago, help the tango community of the eight islands grow and bring the islands even closer to this discipline, which was declared a World Heritage by UNESCO in 2009.

The festival programme will include group classes, milongas – the social dance of tango – and an exhibition of world champions. It is estimated that around 100 people from all over the Canary Islands, Spain and Europe will attend. Archipiélago Tango also aims to contribute to the diversification of the tourist-cultural offer of the Canary Islands with an innovative and high quality programme. Specifically, the event is organised by the Escuela Tango Argentino Las Palmas, directed by the teachers David Prieto and Michelle Perello.

More information about the event on the official website: https://archipielagotango.com/#

ACIISI presents the only European initiative that combines offshore renewable energy production and fish farming in Spain’s first floating wind platform, capable of jointly producing wind energy and high quality fish, thus reducing the occupation of marine space, at the Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias.

Tuesday, 11th October 2022.- The coast of Gran Canaria will witness the development of the first innovative prototype at European level that will merge wind energy production and aquaculture production of marine fish on a floating platform thanks to the European AquaWind project, whose official presentation took place this Monday and Tuesday at the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN). The validation tests of the new prototype will be carried out more than two miles off the coast and will promote the optimisation of the use of marine space through the combination of two activities on a single platform. “It is the first floating wind platform, built and installed in Spain, which has two wind turbines and which has reached this level of technological development in the world. In addition, it will be a pioneering prototype in developing real tests of the viability of marine fish production in a combined system,” said Javier Roo, head of R&D&I projects at the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society (ACIISI) and coordinator of the project.

AquaWind has been 80% co-financed with more than 1M€ by the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment, thanks to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. The remaining 20% corresponds to funds from the project partners themselves, where it should be noted that more than 50% are SMEs, which is a good indicator of the effort being made in the Canary Islands through ACIISI to promote projects and activities of public-private collaboration and knowledge transfer in the field of regional R+D+I. 

The pioneering prototype of an offshore wind generator, called W2Power and developed by the company EnerOcean, will generate offshore wind energy on a full scale with which it could supply more than 10,000 people per installed platform. “The W2Power concept seeks to be the most profitable floating wind solution and reduce the global cost of energy, thanks to the novelty of incorporating two high-capacity wind turbines and the possibility of housing additional functions due to the size and stability of the platform, such as the aquaculture, energy storage or harnessing wave energy” explained Pedro Mayorga, CEO of EnerOcean.

The European AquaWind project is coordinated from the Canary Islands by ACIISI, but has strategic partners from France, Portugal and Spain. The consortium also has key entities such as PLOCAN, which will lead the work of obtaining the necessary licences and permits, and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), responsible for the aquaculture system through the ECO-Aqua Institute, which will also have the support of Canexmar, a company dedicated to the commercialisation of fish. Likewise, the Fundación Canaria Parque Científico Tecnológico of the ULPGC will also support the management of the project, while the Clúster Marítimo de Canarias will be the meeting and dialogue place for all the agents related to the sea. Other strategic partners are WAVEC, experts in marine renewable energy solutions, offshore aquaculture and ocean engineering, and Innosea, specialists in multidisciplinary engineering, strategic advice and R&D consultancy in marine renewable energies, especially offshore wind.

AquaWind contributes to meeting the European Union’s strategic priorities in the Atlantic Ocean and, more specifically, in the outermost regions. In essence, the project contributes to the reduction of Europe’s carbon footprint by harnessing the potential of marine renewable energy resources to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and contribute to the economies of the Atlantic Member States, as well as contributing to the sustainable exploitation of the natural resources of the Atlantic seabed. The initiative also aims to improve maritime safety, reacting effectively to natural disasters and contributing to energy and food sovereignty, and is an example that is likely to be replicated in other areas.

The European project led by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will bridge the gap between university and private sector in the Canary Islands and Azores by bringing knowledge transfer opportunities, as well as enhancing scientific excellence and innovation capacity of the partnering universities and their role as drivers of economic and social transformation in their territories.

EXPER project partners already met in Gran Canaria to kick-off this Horizon Europe project led by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). The initiative, titled “Excellent Peripheries for a strong European Research Area”, is funded under the Widening programme, which aims at enhancing research and innovation capacity of Member States, Associated Countries and Outermost Regions (ORs) that underperform in terms of research and innovation. “EXPER will bring many opportunities related to knowledge transfer to the Canary Islands, dealing also with the connection between university and private sector, as well as intellectual property rights issues or the creation of spin-off base companies, something really important to us”, explained Sebastián López, director of Innovation and Technology Transfer of the ULPGC and coordinator of the project.

In this sense, the project will enhance scientific excellence and innovation capacity of the partnering universities and their role as drivers of economic and social transformation in their territories with a focus on research fields, addressing challenges and opportunities offered by the blue economy and circular economy. Cooperation between universities is also “very important”, as stated Arturo Gil, vice-rector of the Azores University for Science, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer. “We are implementing our knowledge transfer center and thanks to this project we can benefit from universities in Germany or Italy”, added Gil.

The two universities will work in close collaboration with all actors of the innovation ecosystems in each of the two outermost regions. “This project will give us the opportunity to explore how to improve communication channels, so that companies can access all the research activity carried out at the university”, said Alma Cruz, head of ITC’s Innovation Department. “We want to give voice to the small companies that have come out of the university, bringing ideas from universities to the market”, commented Alice Gervasoni, coordinator of the R+D+i Department of the EMERGE Association. Innovation actors involved from the Canary Islands are the Scientific and Technology Park of the University, the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands (ITC), Canary Islands Society for Economic Promotion, EMERGE and Consulta Europa. In the case of Azores, the Science and Technology Park will represent the business community.

The participation of the business sector is key in EXPER, since the project will put in place a series of capacity building and supporting activities for knowledge transfer and the creation of spin-offs. In doing so, ATRINEO, a German SME specialized in knowledge transfer and exploitation, will play a key role in commercialization and innovation activities. “We will support the universities with capacity-building activities and individual cases related to topics such as IP, patterns or market research, helping them with spin-up creation too”, explained Néstor Rodríguez, managing director from the German-based company.

At the same time, the project aims at involving the non-profit sector and the civil society to ensure that the knowledge produced in the universities will help territories in addressing current and future societal challenges. To achieve this, social innovation will be fostered in the project along with technological innovation, and specific awareness raising, and communication activities will be deployed to reach the society. To do so, the project counts with a budget of 1,95M€, funded 100% by the European Commission. EXPER counts also with an Advisory Board composed of experts in research and innovation from the countries participating in the consortium.

During the kick-off meeting, partners have agreed in the steps to be taken in the next two years. The first year will be devoted to performing an assessment of the innovation performance of the two outermost regional innovation ecosystems. Based on that, at the beginning of the second year of activity, an Action Plan will be developed per each region to enhance innovation and foster international cooperation in sectors related to the Blue Economy and Circular Economy. The activities foreseen in the Action Plan will be then implemented during more than one year with the support of the partners from Italy and Germany, also involving the quadruple helix representatives from Azores and the Canary Islands.

The EISMEA online workshop, which took place on September 29, gathered all the representatives of the projects funded by EISMEA under the call “Boosting sustainable tourism development and capacity of tourism SMEs through transnational cooperation”.

The TOURISME’s Project Coordinator, Consulta Europa, attended the online workshop organised by EISMEA to share the best practices of TOURISME and the lessons learnt with the experience of SME beneficiaries involved in the project. The event was attended by other sister projects funded under the same call for proposals. The online workshop had the objective to share the best practices about third party financing support with the EC.

A representative of the TOURISME beneficiaries – the travel agency Turiart from Spain – was present at the workshop and shared its experience and feedback on the third party financing support received by the EC through the project. Finally, the project’s Coordinator also showed a video testimony from our SME beneficiaries, Genuine Spain and Saracen Hotel from Italy.

You can re-watch the testimonies on TOURISME’s YouTube channel here.

Consulta Europa is excited to announce the appointment of Beatrice Avagnina as Managing Director of the company. With an academic background in EU studies, Beatrice has an extensive experience on a wide range of European programmes such as Horizon 2020, European Innovation Council, and Erasmus+. With her incorporation, she will bring thus not only her experience but also her wide network of organizations in Europe. 

She has last week stepped into this exciting role which will see her lead the firm with the founder and Chief Executive, Michelle Perello, to shape the next chapter of the company. 

“My incorporation will bring further developments and expansion of Consulta Europa, so stay tuned for newexciting projects and initiatives!”– Beatrice Avagnina.  

Feel free to reach out to her at beatrice.avagnina@consulta-europa.com

The pandemic, climate change and the war between Russia and Ukraine have had serious consequences for Europe’s energy system, which is going through an unprecedented crisis. One answer to the global energy challenge is being devised at the local and regional level through clean-energy communities.

This idea consists of the creation of a renewable energy system under new community ownership structures. Its aim is to develop cheap, clean and safe energy that brings energy generation closer to the people who will use it. These renewable energy communities are made up of groups of people who pool their resources to jointly produce, store or distribute energy. Most of them take the legal form of a cooperative, although they can also take the form of associations or foundations.

The vision is the evolution from an energy system based on large centralized power plants to a citizen-driven energy production model based on renewable energy sources.

Moreover, for energy communities to succeed, civic engagement is critical. For this reason, some of them have developed specific approaches to include marginalized groups and people living in energy poverty. W4RES is also including a gender perspective in this area so that women, as agents of change, can make a difference in the energy transition. 

Although this is a relatively new innovation, it does have an enormous potential, and its development is expected to have a major impact on the energy transition and the everyday lives of European citizens.