Thanos Smanis

Blue Economy expert

Thanos Smanis is an Environmental / Blue Economy Expert. He is a PhD candidate in Conservation and Restoration of Ecosystems and holds a MSc in Economic and Regional Development and a MSc in Agriculture Science and Engineering. After his involvement in various environmental research projects collaborating with different institutes worldwide, he became an evaluator for the EU LIFE projects for Nature and Environment. The last 15 years, he has worked on the technical implementation of EU and other IFI’s funded projects in a number of areas including governance and public policy - always providing an environmental and climate change approach. He works closely with financial institutions and national governments on their institutional design, capacity building and strategic approach to channelling environmental and climate change issues in economy. Specialized on capacity building, stakeholder engagement and development of policy frameworks in the field of Integrated Marine and Maritime Policy. In the last years involved in multiple international, multidisciplinary projects to provide support to different Sea Basins and countries to frame and implement their sustainable Blue Economy strategies and Maritime Spatial Plans. He is Greek, speaks English and Spanish fluently and has a basic understanding of French and German.

Thanos has been member of Core Teams in charge of strategic studies, funding/programme analysis/engagement, evaluations and impact assessment for the EU Institutions (Commission, Parliament), identification of opportunities and challenges for sustainable financing (public/private), as well as concrete support to project development and successful submission for EU and global funds in a variety of policy fields. Amongst those: sustainable blue economy (marine-based/marine-related activities) and maritime sustainable development (clustering, planning, skills, knowledge and innovation communities), sustainable financing, investments and business/SMEs/Start-Ups acceleration, clustering and innovation, circular economy and food, regional development, urban and rural development, renewable energy and sustainability, employment policy, information society and digital agenda, energy efficiency and sustainability and good governance. Thanos has also reviewed good practices in a variety of EU policies and assessed such practices by interviewing and consulting a variety of EU stakeholders. He has also organised, chaired and moderated focus groups, discussion panels and workshops with EU practitioners in Brussels, across EU Member States, ENI countries and globally, so to promote exchanges of practices.

One of his main activities is to identify and analyze blue economy funding opportunities on climate change and sustainable blue economy of different financing mechanisms, providing them as tools for project development in the respective regions and stakeholder engagement. Additionally, through his long engagement in the sector and with the stakeholders he holds the key position of Synergies and Networking for the DGMARE Assistance Mechanism for the three Sea Basins (Atlantic, WestMed and Black Sea) but also coordinating the experts of the MSP Platform and the recently established European Blue Forum. Finally, he is leading the stakeholder engagement for MPA Europe Horizon Europe project that supports the Ocean Mission’s objectives