At the EuroMediterranean Conference on Research and Innovation held in Barcelona on 3 April 2012, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Ms. Maria Damanaki, highlighted the importance of the PERSEUS research project in helping to provide new insight and contribute to economic development and sustainable exploitation along Mediterranean coasts.

In her speech on “Boosting maritime innovation in the Mediterranean” she presented the PERSEUS project and its unique scope of assessing and predicting the combined effects of natural and man-made pressures on the sea.

Ms. Damanaki further highlighted the importance attached to supporting scientific communities and fostering collaborative research and data collection, especially for developing standardized methods for data gathering in cooperation with non-EU countries. PERSEUS will have a key
role to play in this respect.

She concluded that “through research and innovation, we can unlock the untapped potential of maritime sectors.”