RECOMMENDATIONS to the Atlantic and Arctic Regional Authorities on smarter alignment of Smart Specialisation Strategies with Ocean Mission objectives

This policy brief from the BlueMissionAA project offers seven practical recommendations to regional authorities in the Atlantic and Arctic basins to better align their Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) with the EU Mission “Restore Our Ocean and Waters.” The guidance encourages regions to explicitly reference Mission Ocean objectives in their S3 documents and to upgrade environmental priorities to include marine and freshwater restoration. It promotes interregional exchanges to share best practices, strengthen stakeholder cooperation, and enhance citizen engagement in innovation governance. The recommendations also highlight the value of leveraging results from BlueMissionAA and CLIMAREST to inspire innovation transfer and replication of nature-based solutions. Finally, the brief calls for increased transnational collaboration, particularly in areas like water management and wetland restoration, to amplify regional impact and accelerate progress toward Mission goals.