Blue Innovation Challenge
Young talent for the Blue Economy and Sustainable Tourism
The Interreg Multi-program Mediterranean Mechanism (MMM), the University of Almería and the City Council of Almería are organizing the Blue Innovation Challenge during Sun&Blue Congress 2025 with the aim of activating youth talent for the benefit of the Mediterranean blue economy.
The Blue Innovation Challenge will focus both on urgent issues related to the Mediterranean blue and on solutions to these issues that can be implemented through Interreg projects.
To ensure the success of the Blue Innovation Challenge, a training course will be delivered to the selected students, and mentors will prepare them for specific questions, one of which will be understanding how Interreg projects work.
Exclusive project for students from universities in Andalusia.
Calendar
September 2025
Launch of the Challenge in Andalusian universities and selection of students
October and November 2025
Online preparation course
November 19
Working sessions, ideation and prototyping of the Blue Innovation Challenge
November 20
Pitch, evaluation and awards ceremony of the Blue Innovation Challenge
Objectives and participation
- Activate real solutions to the challenges of the Blue Economy and sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean through young talent and entrepreneurship.
- Promote entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial culture among university students (especially in the fields of tourism and the blue economy).
- Promote knowledge transfer between universities, local entities and European programs.
- Provide a visibility platform for projects aligned with the objectives of Interreg NEXT MED and blue territorial innovation.
- Strengthen the positioning of Sun&Blue as a reference hub for tourism, the blue economy and Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.
- Up to 40–50 undergraduate, master’s and PhD students from Andalusian universities (in fields such as tourism, engineering, biotechnology, environment…). Exclusive project for students from universities in Andalusia.
- Participants will be divided into teams of up to 4–5 participants with multidisciplinary profiles as far as possible.
Challenges
The challenges will be detailed in greater depth during the training course and mentoring.
Awards
All works will be disseminated on MMM Interreg social networks.
