GALICIA AND PORTUGAL WILL BOOST COMPETITIVENESS AND BUSINESS SPIRIT IN THE MARITIME AND MARITIME SECTOR

A sector that represents 2.3% of Galician GDP and 2.4% of total employment in the community.

The Euroregion is once again the scene of a research project promoted by the University of Vigo and included in the POCTEP 2019. Called Sherpa do Mar and directed by the REDE group, Campus do Mar and the R&D Office, the objective is accompany and advise companies in the maritime and maritime sectors to improve their competitiveness and entrepreneurial spirit to consolidate their business ideas in areas such as fishing and processing, the maritime transport industry or the transport of goods or people.

The project, which began this summer with a total budget of € 997,184 and will end in December 2021, held a workshop this week at the Vigo campus in which agents from the marine-maritime sector related to the venture and all partners met. that accompany the University of Vigo in this initiative: Consortium of the Vigo Free Zone, the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN), the universities of Santiago and A Coruña, the Asprela Technology Transfer Association (UPTEC), the University of Porto Inovation (UPorto-UPIN), the Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) and the Ocean Forum-Association of the Sea Economy. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the needs of this sector in the field of entrepreneurship based on the results of the diagnosis of the maritime-maritime sector of the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion, prepared within the framework of the project and presented this day.

At the opening of the meeting, the director of Campus del Mar and the CIM, Daniel Rey, emphasized the importance of developing initiatives that could be added to the Blue Growth strategy, while the Vice-Rector for Research, Belén Rubio, highlighted this initiative that "By bringing together the different agents working in the field of maritime and maritime entrepreneurship, it can help to go much further", making Sherpa do Mar the center of a broader project that involves many more European partners through calls H2020. The professor and coordinator of the REDE group, Xosé Henrique Vázquez, explained that the purpose of Sherpa do Mar is to coordinate all the initiatives that are already in operation, thus taking advantage of the synergies in the field of entrepreneurship in the Euroregion in the maritime sector -Maritime. To this end, the different partners are working on the development of various elements, such as a methodology to monitor and promote innovative bas and technology (Sherpa Journeys) or a scientific-technical support program to promote knowledge transfer.

First Euroregional platform to promote competitiveness in the marine environment.
Andrea Ogando, a researcher at the REDE group, explained in this conference how the project establishes three main objectives. On the one hand, work is being done on the "improvement and consolidation of a network of agents in the marine and maritime environment", while another objective is the creation of companies in the marine environment with high added value and, finally, the generation of employment and self-employment, providing special attention to youth. To achieve these goals, the first cross-border platform in this field will be developed, among other proposals, as well as a scientific advice program, an initiative coordination system or a guided and personalized itinerary for business initiatives to improve their competitiveness. It is expected that a catalog will be developed throughout the project to give visibility to 90 technology-based business projects; 24 new business projects are evaluated through Sherpas or mentors; make a personalized diagnosis of 120 companies, selecting 20 of them to design an itinerary to improve R + D + i capabilities and, finally, assess 12 new business projects to accompany them in the entrepreneurship process.

A sector in solid growth.

One of the main starting points of the project is the realization of a diagnosis that quantifies the importance of the maritime-maritime sector in the entire Euroregion and in the economies of Galicia and the north of Portugal, both in relation to GDP and to the number of companies or employees, The productive structure and its profitability. The first conclusions of this study, made by the SPI consultant, in collaboration with the REDE group and Campus do Mar, were also presented as part of this day by the specialist André Novas.

The study shows that in 2017, the maritime maritime sector produced 1.6 billion euros of gross added value, which represents 1.4% of its GDP, employing 33,385 people, or 1.24% of total employment in the Euroregion . For the expert, it is important to note that all the sectors he covers show a trend of "solid growth in the period 2015-2017, increasing the GVA produced by the entire maritime-maritime sector in the Euroregion by 18.9%. "The productivity of the maritime-maritime sector is, in general terms, high, but with great differences between sectors, types of activities and regions Thus, while in Galicia the activities with the highest productivity correspond to the "primary activities of the fishing sector", in the north of Portugal the maritime transport sector stands out. These are also activities with a higher operating margin within each region .

In terms of business opportunities, the diagnosis identified, for the Euroregion as a whole, "the maritime transport sector and, in particular, its ancillary activities, as a very important business possibility, based on its relatively modest and relatively small size. very positive productivity and profitability, especially in the north of Portugal. ”Other business niches have also been identified in this region, such as extractive fishing, the retail sale of shellfish, and the construction and repair of ships. especially the "provision of technological services to companies, to take advantage of the great importance of primary and secondary activities in the sector and contribute to an increase in productivity, guiding the sector towards more innovative and high-technology intensive activities".