Engaging stakeholders to co-create innovative solutions

The Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre) is a networked, long-term consultation and dialog infrastructure that enables governments, multilateral organizations, academia, and industry to work together with civil society to co-create solutions to cross-sectorial, transnational, interdependent problems. It mainly addresses the ocean-climate nexus, integrating several disciplines and promoting cooperation to address national and regional priorities and global challenges such as those defined by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), and the All-Atlantic Ocean & Innovation Research Alliance (AAORIA).

The existing network builds on and expands the abilities of individual organizations, and it advances selected scientific and technological domains and their key actors towards shared targets. For that, it recruits and orchestrates a complex web of organizations and individuals to deliver change and social impact through concrete actions. This complexity stems from the AIR Centre’s unique multidimensional mission-oriented, demand-driven, and problem-solving approach. Under the AIR Centre umbrella, a large range of relevant stakeholders from very diverse geographies and cultures (American, African, European countries and small island states or overseas territories in the Atlantic rand the Caribbean) find an open platform for effective collaboration, capacity building and stakeholder engagement.

The AIR Centre participates in several initiatives that are directly or indirectly linked to the objectives of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030. As an example, the AIR Centre a) coordinates the BlueMissionAA CSA that supports the implementation of the Mission in the Atlantic and Arctic basins with focus on restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience; b) participates in A-AGORA Innovation Action, which is also part of the Atlantic-Arctic Lighthouse; c) participates in the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership that can be described as Horizon Europe’s blue arm of the Green Deal, uniting research and innovation efforts to aid the transition to a sustainable blue economy; d) coordinates the MarBioME study, which will provide an overview and assessment of the current state of Marine Biodiversity Monitoring in the European Union and adjacent marine waters, and e) participate in several H2020, HE Europe and JPI Ocean projects that are relevant to achieve the Mission objectives and targets, such as the ASTRAL project, MISSION ATLANTIC project and CE2COAST project, among several others. The AIR Centre also organises multiple in-person, hybrid or virtual meetings, workshops, conferences, or training session that reach thousands of people all over the world.

The AIR Centre also contributes to the objectives of the EU Mission beyond European waters, since it co-leads the All-Atlantic Marine Research Infrastructure Network (AA-MARINET), and promotes or participates in several projects and initiatives in South Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and, now, the Arctic.

The AIR Centre fully supports the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030 and commits its vast
networked resources to engage stakeholders and citizens to co-create and co-deploy solutions to achieve the Mission's objectives and targets