Translating participation principles into participatory practice in the Belgian blue innovation landscape

In today’s research and innovation landscape, international frameworks such as the United Nations and the European Union promote stakeholder participation as a cornerstone of a sustainable development. While these policies highlight the need for structured approaches, empirical evidence on best practices remains limited, and concrete methodologies are scarce. This challenge is particularly relevant in the Belgian Blue Economy, where competing activities must share a confined marine space, creating pressure for processes that can mitigate conflict and enhance sustainability. This study examines participation processes within initiatives operating in the Belgian part of the North Sea and coastal area, using a mixed-method design combining a landscape analysis of 60 projects with semi-structured interviews (n = 16) from 14 shortlisted cases. Findings reveal uneven participation levels with higher involvement in projects where participation is required by design or rooted in local communities, and weaker in market-driven or privately led Blue Economy initiatives. Interviews highlight barriers to implementing participatory approaches and include resource constraints (budget, time, staff), lack of preparatory steps, and compressed timelines. Identified best practices include early stakeholder mapping, bilateral consultations, and scenario thinking are identified as best practices to support alignment and adaptive design, alongside systematic documentation, monitoring, and evaluation strategies to enhance transparency and engagement. These insights underscore the need for policy frameworks and funding programs to embed participation criteria, allocate resources for facilitation and capacity building, and institutionalise iterative monitoring to strengthen stakeholder participation under practical constraints.