MedCities being a Partner of the BlueMissionMed project, it is our pleasure to invite you to a special event, tailor-made for MedCities member coastal cities: the Policy4Med Designathon, Transferring Innovative Solutions for local authorities to abate land-based sources of marine pollution in the Mediterranean.

What is it about?

BlueMissionMed is a European project financed by Horizon Europe that focuses on establishing, structuring, and strengthening an innovation ecosystem for the Mediterranean basin to ensure the Mission Ocean objective: “Restore our oceans and waters by 2030.” Specifically, the project supports the development and deployment of Transformative Innovative Solutions in the fields of technology, society, business, and governance to reduce macro- and microplastic pollution. 

To do so, the project organises events for the dissemination of examples of identified solutions, discussing upscaling and implementation, and inspiring further actions in the Mediterranean basin. Aimed at policymakers and public authorities among other, the Policy4MED Designathon is one of these events: it is a workshop tailor-made by MedCities for its members that focuses on Innovative and Transformative Solutions to tackling key challenges associated with plastic and micro-plastic pollution in the Mediterranean.

Why participate ?

Participants in the Policy4Med Designathon for Local Authorities will be able to:

• Receive a presentation of the BlueMissionMed catalogue of innovative solutions to abate marine pollution with a focus on those relevant to local authorities.

• Listen to a pitch of 2-3 solutions from dedicated providers (e.g. individual techs, social or governance methodologies, context-specific projects) showing different strategies for dealing with pollution (e.g. monitoring, tracking, litter reduction strategies, collection or purification systems, etc.)

• Participate in a collaborative session to discuss barriers and opportunities to transfer and scale up solutions

• Know about the most recent opportunities for the scale-up and implementation of solutions provided by the EU Mission and the Charter, as well as the BlueMissionMed Support Programme.

Where and when?

The Policy4Med Designathon will take place online via ZOOM on Wednesday, 16^th of July 2025, from 10:00 until 12:30 (CET). A more detailed programme will be sent soon.

▶️ If you are interested, please register using the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qMf-JwFETGiS3MvjgQaikw