WP 4: Socio-economic trends and EU policy in offshore economy: Chapter 6 – Offshore Oil and Gas

MARIBE is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to unlock the potential of multi-use of space in the
offshore economy (also referred to as Blue Economy). This forms part of the long-term Blue Growth
(BG) strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole;
something which is at the heart of the Integrated Maritime Policy, the EU Innovation Union, and the
Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable growth.
Within the Blue Economy, there are new and emerging sectors comprising technologies that are
early stage and novel. These are referred to as Blue Growth sectors and they have developed
independently for the most part without pursuing cooperation opportunities with other sectors.
MARIBE investigates cooperation opportunities (partnerships, joint ventures etc.) for companies
within the four key BG sectors in order to develop these companies and their sectors and to
promote the multi-use of space in the offshore economy. The sectors are Marine Renewable Energy,
Aquaculture, Marine Biotechnology and Seabed Mining. MARIBE links and cross-cuts with the
Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance and the Galway Statement by reviewing the three European
basins (Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Baltic) as well as the Caribbean Basin.