In a time when the health of our aquatic ecosystems is under increasing pressure, the European Union continues to prove that cooperation, innovation, and shared knowledge are the keys to sustainable progress. The wrap up conference, featuring the results of the Interreg BLUE GROWTH COLLABs took place in Edirne, Türkiye on 16 May 2025.
Empowering Blue Growth: how Cohesion Policy Interreg Bulgaria - Türkiye supports a healthier, more sustainable aquatic future
- 16 May 2025
BLUE GROWTH COLLABs, a flagship initiative under the Interreg Bulgaria–Turkey Programme 2014-2020, forged a partnership between universities and schools in Burgas, Bulgaria, and Edirne, Türkiye, to address the urgent challenges facing our shared aquatic environments.
Over three years, this cross-border alliance built state-of-the-art Blue Growth Research Centres, conducted four-season pilot studies across six ecosystems, and laid the groundwork for long-term sustainability through education and capacity-building.
Tangible Impact Through Scientific Infrastructure
Each research centre now hosts three specialized laboratories focusing on water pollution, aquatic ecosystem analysis and modelling, aquaculture, and biotechnology. These labs, equipped with high-tech instruments and supported by research vessels, developed and applied a joint monitoring methodology — an essential foundation for consistent, reliable environmental data. This cooperation marks a significant leap toward the EU’s Blue Economy, which seeks to harness the potential of our seas, lakes, and rivers sustainably and innovatively.
Through this shared scientific effort, BLUE GROWTH COLLABs contributes directly to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, by improving our understanding of freshwater and marine ecosystems and helping protect them from pollution and degradation. This aligns with the broader goals of the European Green Deal, where ecosystem health is central to climate resilience and sustainable development.
From Labs to Classrooms: Building a Culture of Responsibility
But beyond science, this project has made a strong mark in education, linking universities with secondary schools via virtual classrooms, which transformed abstract concepts into hands-on learning, nurturing the next generation of scientists, policymakers, and environmentally conscious citizens.
Initiatives such as the Blue Scientific Café, hackathons, and study visits to research institutions in Croatia and Bulgaria fostered an exchange of ideas across borders, academic levels, and disciplines. In doing so, the project enhanced environmental literacy while strengthening local networks. This was an example of capacity building in action: cultivating the next generation of ecologically minded citizens and professionals and a proof that the European Union funds bring new quality, new skills and new opportunities for the region on the Bulgarian – Turkish border.
A Model for European Territorial Cooperation
BLUE GROWTH COLLABs was funded by the European Union with cohesion policy contribution of nearly € 2.84 million. It proved to be more than a research initiative; it is a living example of how Interreg programmes translate European solidarity into concrete action. The indirect success of this project under the Interreg Bulgaria – Türkiye programme is that by promoting cooperation between EU Member States and neighbouring countries it has built partnerships, strengthened local stake-holder networks and enriched regional resilience by fostering trust, dialogue, and joint action.