INTERREG ATLANTIC AREA PROJECT, ATLIC, LAUNCHES KICK OFF MEETING TO FOSTER YOUTH INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE BLUE ECONOMY.
ATLIC, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at creating a new approach to youth innovation and entrepreneurship in the Atlantic Area’s blue economy, held its kick off meeting on December 6th and 7th, 2023, in Santo Tirso, Portugal. This meeting marked the beginning of a collaborative effort to build a pilot Atlantic Innovation Blue Community, fostering open innovation labs, knowledge-transfer, capacity building, and supporting networks to address common challenges faced in the region.
Utilizing the four-helix model, ATLIC will bring together young people, academic institutions, SMEs, and public and private institutions, actively involving them in the development of the community. Transnational cooperation is key in addressing shared challenges, promoting connection, knowledge exchange, and ensuring access to necessary resources to facilitate the creation of spin-off communities.
“We are thrilled to kick off this project and bring together various stakeholders to foster youth innovation and entrepreneurship in the blue economy of the Atlantic Area,” said Dr. Vera Araujo, project coordinator of ATLIC. “By promoting active involvement and transnational collaboration, we believe that young people will take an even bigger role in the sustainable economic development of the region, increasing not only their innovation capacities but also employment opportunities.”
ATLIC has gathered an impressive lineup of partners, including Blue Lab (Saint Nazaire-France), L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique (France), Donegal Youth Service (Ireland), Institute for Methods Innovation (Ireland), Associaçao Comercial e Industrial do Funchal (Madeira-Portugal), Associaçao para o Centro Incubaçao Base Tecnológica do Minho (Portugal), Incubadora de Empresas de Base Tecnológica da Universidade dos Açores (Portugal), Município de Santo Tirso – lead partner – (Portugal), Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria, Servizos e Navigación de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Vida Lactea (Spain). These partners will bring their expertise and resources to contribute to the success of the project.
During the kick off meeting, participants engaged in discussions, workshops, and networking sessions to lay the foundation for this innovative Atlantic Innovation Blue Community. The event served as a platform for partners and stakeholders to share their vision and contribute to the development of this important project. One of the partners delivering ATLIC in Ireland is Donegal Youth Service, with the project being rolled out in County Donegal. Staff from Donegal Youth Service, including Regional Director Lorraine Thompson, attended the two day launch event in Santo Tirso which included several planning meetings with the other partner organisations and INTERREG, visits to local start-ups run by young local entrepreneurs, as well as a public launch event attended by young people from Portugal, and which included a public roundtable discussion that Donegal Youth Service staff took part in.
“The ATLIC project will be a great opportunity for young people in Donegal to explore the potential for growth in the blue economy sector through innovation and collaboration” said Frankie McGreevy, manager with Donegal Youth Service.
“There is a wealth of untapped ideas in the young people of Donegal that with support and direction could develop entrepreneurship and social enterprise to make their communities sustainable for the future. We’re very excited to see what the project will bring forth as we deliver it in Donegal over the next three years and we look forward to working with INTERREG and our partners in Portugal, France and Spain in that time also.”
Speaking of the young people that Donegal Youth Service plan to recruit for the project with a local launch of ATLIC in the New Year, Mr McGreevy said, “The ATLIC project will be a great opportunity for our young people in Donegal to have a tangible input in tackling sustainability issues in the Atlantic Area and to also build international relationships with project participants and create a community of future change makers. We are really looking forward to starting the process of bringing young people onboard very soon and seeing them develop their ideas as the project unfolds.”
For more information about ATLIC and its mission to foster youth innovation and entrepreneurship in the blue economy, please visit www.ATLICproject.com.
About ATLIC:
ATLIC is a pioneering project aimed at creating a new approach to youth innovation and entrepreneurship in the development of the Atlantic Area’s blue economy. The project aims to build a pilot Atlantic Innovation Blue Community based on open innovation labs, knowledge-transfer, capacity building, and supporting networks to develop market solutions to common challenges faced in the Region. By bringing together young people, academic institutions, SMEs, and public and private institutions, ATLIC seeks to foster active involvement and transnational cooperation to drive sustainable economic development.
ATLIC is a project co-funded by the European Union within the framework of the Interreg Atlantic Area programme.
