On 15 and 16 June, the Institute for Sustainable Development participated in the Oeiras Bluetech Ocean Forum 2026 that was organized in collaboration with Fórum Oceano, the Câmara Municipal de Oeiras, the Oeiras Valley Investment Agency, IPMA, Oeiras Viva E.M., aicep Portugal Global.
Organised as part of the Global Oeiras Ocean Days 2026, the Forum created an important platform for discussing how Portugal—and the wider international blue economy ecosystem—can transform scientific knowledge, maritime capabilities and emerging technologies into competitive, scalable and investable solutions.
Spyros Kouvelis, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development – EPLO and a member of the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” Board, participated in the session on innovation and investments in the Blue Economy and the Hub Azul Dealroom with Ruben Eiras, Secretary-General of Fórum Oceano. Drawing on his extensive experience in sustainability policy, international cooperation and blue-economy development, Spyros Kouvelis highlighted the need to connect capital with credible environmental, social and economic outcomes and underscored the importance of the European Ocean Pact, a policy initiative of the European Commission of which he is a lead co-author.
On the second day, Christina Deligianni, Policy and Programs Director at the Institute for Sustainable Development – EPLO, contributed to the panel on “Blue Catalytic Finance: Public-Private Partnerships for Investing in Times of Risk and Uncertainty.” She underscored that the blue economy has become a strategic investment frontier where climate resilience, food security, the energy transition, biodiversity, maritime innovation and coastal livelihoods meet and elaborated on derisking investments through measuring impact and data collection mechanisms. The role of ocean literacy and capacity building as regards implementation of blue investments has been equally important as manifested through projects such as CoastalPro, an EU-funded project where ISD EPLO participates as a partner.
