The conference Sharing Knowledge and Cultivating Sustainability: aquaponics between Italy and Slovenia was held on Thursday 1 February 2024 in Mestre, the launch event of the BeBlue project, financed by the Interreg VI-A Italy Slovenia programme, to which we offer technical support services – administrative for project management activities, management of relationships with the partnership and support for communication activities.
The BeBlue – Beyond Bluegrass project was born in the wake of the Bluegrass project, which aimed to spread aquaponics in the Italian-Slovenian cross-border area.
BeBlue starting from the results obtained during the previous project. aims to propose solutions to simplify the management of plants, thanks to digitalisation, to diversify production by including profitable species and plants such as salicornia, macroalgae and to facilitate the preparation of business plans and increase the ability to attract investments. Cross-border collaboration is essential for the success of the project, providing complementary skills and allowing for a broad information campaign thanks to the active involvement of all partners.
The launch event was awaited by the project partners and saw the participation of illustrious guests and researchers from the aquaponics and sustainable agriculture sector. Roberto Pastres of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, leader of the project, started the day together with Elena Semenzin, Delegate for Sustainability of the Ca’ Foscari University. They underlined the importance of sustainability and the crucial role of the Interreg VI-A Italy Slovenia Program in this context. Then the following spoke: Claudia Ferluga from the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg VI-A Italia Slovenia programme; Luca Tenderini from the Veneto Region and Renato Palazzi from Veneto Agricoltura shared perspectives on the opportunities offered by aquaponics in the agricultural sector.
Daniele Brigolin from IUAV University presented the results of the BLUEGRASS project, while Roberto Pastres from UNIVE outlined the future objectives of the BeBlue project and the planning for the development of aquaponics.
Enric Gisbert from IRTA then spoke, introducing the participants to marine aquaponics and the combined production of halophytic plants and fish; Baldassare Fronte and Lorenzo Rossi. Alberto Pardossi and Carlo Bibbiani from the University of Pisa who spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of multitrophic aquaponics, sharing insights derived from the SIMTAP project.
The afternoon session, led by Marco Francese of Shoreline, was dedicated to stakeholders in the agri-food sector. Through plenary sessions and group work, participants discussed and proposed innovative ideas to improve practices in monitoring techniques, building common perspectives for the sustainable future of aquaponics between Italy and Slovenia.
