A recap of Centrum Balticum's year 2020
The year 2020 has been everything but what we first expected – both better and worse. As the year is coming to an end, we at Centrum Balticum wanted to take a look back at how this exceptional year turned out and at what achievements we’ve made.
How are our projects doing?
Usually Centrum Balticum gets at least one new project approved over the course of a year. This year luck was on our side, as two of our applications were accepted:
- The clean shipping project ECOPRODIGI was extended with the new project EXOPRODIGI, which intends to continue the development of digital solutions for the needs of the maritime industry, particularly in cooperation with companies.
- The other approved project is, in turn, related to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). Centrum Balticum will strengthen its position when the Let’s Communicate! -project, which is responsible for the communication of the strategy, is expanded to include actions related to climate, cooperation with neighbours, and capacity building.
By the end of this year, some of our projects will reach that point in their life cycle where they are moved to our “Concluded projects” -folder:
- Three years of ambitious work within the ECOPRODIGI -project will be finalized. The project has furthered eco-efficiency in the maritime industry by developing and piloting digital solutions in close cooperation with companies. You can read more about the results of the project here.
- Since 2013, Centrum Balticum has coordinated the EUSBSR horizontal action Neighbours, furthering cooperation with neighbouring countries of EU within the Baltic Sea region. With the new EUSBSR Action Plan entering into force, the actions of HA Neighbours will be mainstreamed into all operations of the strategy. The task of mainstreaming the actions will, in turn, be given to the expanded Let’s communicate! -project, coordinated by Centrum Balticum.
- Centrum Balticum is also concluding a one-year communication project, which is supported by state subsidies for Europe Information. The purpose of the project has been to communicate the role of EU climate policy in the Baltic Sea region, in order to increase awareness and promote discussion in Finland.
Researching wrecks and maritime automation
During 2020, the legal competence cluster BALEX has conducted topical research relating to the law of the sea.
- The Publication “Wrecks as Environmental Risks: Legal Perspectives” deals with legal issues surrounding wrecks that are threatening the environment of the Baltic Sea.
- In addition, BALEX has conducted a report on the development of maritime automation, commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The report supports legislation planning on both national and international levels.
Projects supported by the Protection Fund for the Archipelago Sea
During 2020, projects supported by the Protection Fund for the Archipelago Sea did exemplary work to reduce the nutrient load to the Archipelago Sea. The concrete actions include building composting toilets in the archipelago, planting buckthorn in the buffer zones of agricultural fields, and furthering the practice of cutting and utilizing common reed.
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Virtual events
We can consider ourselves fortunate, as the corona pandemic has had a relatively small influence on our core operations. While the Baltic Sea Region Forum had to be moved to 2021, many other events were possible to arrange virtually.
In August, Centrum Balticum and BALEX participated in the Europe Forum Turku and the Baltic Sea Day by organizing a panel discussion themed “The Baltic Sea and EU Climate Policy”.
In October, the EUSBSR Annual Forum was for the first time organized virtually, as a live broadcast from Logomo in Turku. Centrum Balticum was actively involved in the communication and content production of the event.
Centrum Balticum was also involved in organizing an online seminar where Finnish experts discussed the trends and future outlook of world trade and trade policy. Centrum Balticum was responsible for the marketing of the event.
Wide array of publications
Our weekly column (available in Finnish) discussing the development of the Baltic Sea region presented many different expert perspectives again this year. In addition, the BSR Policy Briefing series, published this spring, brought forth a collection of articles studying the forest industry. This autumn, a new article series was started, focusing on the impact of corona on the economic development of the Baltic Sea region.
