The WestMED Hackathon 2024 took place on October 3rd, 2024 at the Pestana Vila Sol Vilamoura Hotel in Algarve, Portugal, bringing together key stakeholders in the Blue Economy of the western Mediterranean. Organized by the WestMED Assistance Mechanism in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Maritime Policy, CINEA, and DG MARE, the event facilitated the exchange of innovative project ideas to support the sustainable development of the region.

Among the projects featured during the plenary session, one of the standout initiatives was CallMeBLUE (Cluster Alliance Med Blue). Lidia Rossi, Managing Director of ForMARE and Coordinator of the project, presented it as an inspiring initiative designed to strengthen inter-regional cooperation, particularly between northern and southern Mediterranean Sea basin countries. By encouraging the establishment of maritime clusters in North Africa, CallMeBLUE aims to promote a sustainable, green, and innovative Blue Economy across the region.

The Goals and Impact of CallMeBLUE

The CallMeBLUE project seeks to accelerate North-South and South-South cooperation by building alliances among existing maritime clusters. These alliances are critical for fostering sustainable Blue Economy policies, particularly in the southern Mediterranean, where the potential for maritime cluster development remains untapped.

The project’s broader goal is to:

Enhance regional cooperation by promoting dialogue and collaboration across Mediterranean clusters.
Support the creation of new maritime clusters in the southern Mediterranean through the transfer of knowledge and best practices from the northern region.
Develop a transferable training toolkit aimed at preparing future maritime clusters with the necessary legal, structural, and administrative expertise for their successful establishment.

CallMeBLUE also positions itself as an accelerator for regional policy goals, aligning with key initiatives such as the UfM Ministerial Declaration for Sustainable Blue Economy and the WestMED Initiative.

CallMeBLUE’s Role in the Maritime Clusters Lab Session

In the Hackathon’s Project Labs Session, facilitated by Matteo Bocci - Deputy Project Manager WestMED Assistance Mechanism and Lorella Ciuti - Blue Project Manager at Forum Oceano, consortium partner of CallMeBLUE, the project took center stage in the discussions on maritime clusters. This session focused on fostering valuable partnerships to scale up emerging clusters, particularly on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The project was highlighted as an important contributor to the vision of an interconnected WestMED Alliance+, which seeks to further integrate clusters from the eastern Mediterranean into the sustainable Blue Economy framework. This session also explored potential project ideas and identified future funding opportunities to drive innovation and sustainable practices within the region. The session has been attended by  relevant stakeholders, in particular the Project Officer of Cinea Anja Detant, Alessandra Sensi Head of Sector - Environment, Green and Blue Economy at Union for the Mediterranean, Mohamed Lemine Abdel Hamid,  WestMED National Hub Contact of Mauritania.