Closing of the conference 'Opportunities for innovation and investment in the fishing and aquaculture sectors'. (Photo: Mapama)
EUR 17 million allocated to support innovation in fisheries and aquaculture sector
SPAIN
Friday, February 23, 2018, 02:50 (GMT + 9)
The Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs and the Center for Industrial Technological Development presented a line of support for innovation for the fisheries and aquaculture sector, under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
These grants will be managed by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) as intermediate management body of the EMFF and are part of the Center's portfolio of instruments as a national innovation agency attached to the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.
The CDTI will have EUR 17 million - of which 12.75 million correspond to the EMFF - to develop this specific line for the fisheries and aquaculture sector, aimed at supporting investment and innovation.
The presentation of the support line was made within the framework of the conference "Opportunities for innovation and investment in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors", held in Madrid.
CDTI technicians explained the financial instruments (loans with a non-reimbursable tranche) that will be available to companies in the sector for specific innovation and investment activities. The projects will have to be presented by companies, and their character may be individual, although the collaborative projects take precedence.
Due to the EMFF nature, innovation activities that increase the fishing capacity of a vessel or its capacity to detect fish, or the construction of new fishing vessels will be excluded.
At the closing of the day, the Secretary General of Fisheries, Alberto López-Asenjo, stressed that innovation is a key factor of competitiveness. In this regard, he pointed out that without innovation a sector does not prosper, it does not generate employment or exports, nor does it respond to the social role of respecting the environment and preserving the oceans represented by the fishing sector.
He also acknowledged the challenge for CDTI to be an intermediate management body of the EMFF, designing specific instruments to support innovation and investment in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, while at the same time assessing very positively the complementary role of the transversal approach that offer the other CDTI programs.
For this reason, he highlighted the importance of the alliance announced with the presentation of the CDTI-EMFF line, which will be built as one of the key elements of the Ministry's aquaculture aquaculture innovation strategy, so that all its instruments are incorporated adding to those of the General Secretariat of Fisheries.
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