BlueMissionDBS2030 project logo

Key facts

  • Full title: Supporting Cross-Border Dialogue, Scaling Solutions and Mobilising Finance in the Danube-Black Sea Lighthouse for Mission Ocean 2030
  • Programme: Horizon Europe, EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters
  • Call topic: HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-07, Mission lighthouses coordination and support activities
  • Type of action: Coordination and Support Action
  • Duration: 36 months, from 2026
  • Coordinator: National Institute for Research and Development on Marine Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcoMar), Romania
  • Consortium: 17 partners from 13 countries
  • EuroMarine role: leader of the tasks on coordination with the other Mission lighthouses and cross-basin synergies
  • Grant agreement: 101295309

Context of the call

BlueMissionDBS2030 responds to the 2025 call of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters on coordination and support activities for the Mission lighthouses. The Danube-Black Sea lighthouse is one of the Mission's four lighthouses, alongside the Atlantic and Arctic, the Baltic and North Sea, and the Mediterranean. Each lighthouse acts as a hub to demonstrate, deploy and scale up solutions towards the Mission's 2030 objectives.

Objectives

  • Strengthen and operationalise governance structures across the Danube and Black Sea, enabling cross-sector and cross-scale coordination aligned with the Mission Charter.
  • Replicate and scale up high-impact, Mission-aligned nature-based and technological solutions through demonstrators and capacity building.
  • Mobilise public and private funding and enable innovation procurement to support the long-term adoption of solutions.
  • Support structured and consistent monitoring of the Mission's implementation progress and impact in the Danube and Black Sea region.
  • Enhance digital knowledge integration and interoperability to strengthen collaboration between stakeholders and data-driven decision-making.

Consortium

BlueMissionDBS2030 brings together research institutions, universities, public bodies, NGOs and innovation companies from 13 countries across the Danube and Black Sea region and beyond.

  • National Institute for Research and Development on Marine Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcoMar), Romania, coordinator
  • Steinbeis 2i, Germany
  • Middle East Technical University (METU), Türkiye
  • BOKU University, Austria
  • BAW Research, Federal Agency for Water Management (BAW-R), Austria
  • WWF Hungary, Hungary
  • University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (UZ-FSB), Croatia
  • Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vojvodina (CCIV), Serbia
  • Association of Danube River Municipalities "Danube" (ADRM), Bulgaria
  • Complex Delta, Romania
  • Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES), Ukraine
  • Burgas Free University (BFU), Bulgaria
  • Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG), Georgia
  • BIOEAST Hub CR, Czechia
  • INOVA+, Portugal
  • ACTeon, France
  • EuroMarine Association, France

EuroMarine's contribution

The EuroMarine Secretariat leads the project's coordination with the other Mission lighthouses and its work on cross-basin synergies, in two phases covering the full duration of the project. This work builds mechanisms for regular collaboration and knowledge transfer between the Danube-Black Sea lighthouse and the Atlantic and Arctic, Baltic and North Sea, and Mediterranean lighthouses. EuroMarine also contributes to the replication of nature-based solutions, capacity building, communication and stakeholder engagement, drawing on its network and communication channels and on its experience of the Mission gained in PREP4BLUE.

Relevance for EuroMarine members

Researchers from EuroMarine member organisations can contribute scientific expertise to the project's consultations and training activities, and benefit from exchanges across the Mission lighthouses.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the granting authority, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Grant agreement: 101295309.

EU emblem: Funded by the European Union (card)