Sea-ports and shipping allow Europe to benefit from the rapid growth of international trade and to play a leading role in the global economy, while the exploitation of mineral resources, aquaculture, blue biotech and emerging sub-sea technologies represent increasingly important business opportunities.

‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel equipped for commercial exploitation of marine biological resources;

Innovation can help develop the blue economy in a way that not only fuels EU growth and job creation but also maintains public support for the commercial use of marine resources while ensuring the protection of the marine environment.

Access to international markets for Europe's maritime industries and services, sustainable scientific and commercial exploitation of the deep seas, protection of global marine biodiversity, improvement of maritime safety and security, working conditions, reduced ship pollution and the fight against illegal activities in international waters will be the external priorities for the Union's Integrated Maritime Policy.

Innovative approaches in areas such as public transport, the organization of public space and the protection of borders can be envisaged. Space, offers great scope for high technology innovation over time (in particular public investors in the application of Galileo [17] and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), the Commission's flagship space programmes. These need to share their knowledge of the system and its scope for business with potential downstream users in the space and non-space sectors, to raise their awareness of potential space-based solutions). Transport, where the demand for energy efficiency provides great opportunities. Marine technolog ...[+++]ies and products allowing for new uses of the sea such as deep sea drilling, blue biotech exploitation, offshore mariculture and renewable energies, ocean space monitoring and surveillance technologies offer promising scope. Health, which has a huge growth potential for innovative products and services (including in particular e-Health, and the provision of customized solutions to allow elderly people to continue to live independently, pharmaceuticals and medical devices where innovation can bring direct benefits to patients and improve competitiveness), or well-being and culture (for instance creative content services, which gain a new dimension with the rollout of broadband networks, allowing citizens and businesses to access all kind of creative contents such as audiovisual, games, cultural information at home and in mobility) are examples of markets where the public sector has a role to play.

Innovative approaches in areas such as public transport, the organization of public space and the protection of borders can be envisaged. Space, offers great scope for high technology innovation over time (in particular public investors in the application of Galileo [17] and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), the Commission's flagship space programmes. These need to share their knowledge of the system and its scope for business with potential downstream users in the space and non-space sectors, to raise their awareness of potential space-based solutions). Transport, where the demand for energy efficiency provides great opportunities. Marine technolog ...[+++]ies and products allowing for new uses of the sea such as deep sea drilling, blue biotech exploitation, offshore mariculture and renewable energies, ocean space monitoring and surveillance technologies offer promising scope. Health, which has a huge growth potential for innovative products and services (including in particular e-Health, and the provision of customized solutions to allow elderly people to continue to live independently, pharmaceuticals and medical devices where innovation can bring direct benefits to patients and improve competitiveness), or well-being and culture (for instance creative content services, which gain a new dimension with the rollout of broadband networks, allowing citizens and businesses to access all kind of creative contents such as audiovisual, games, cultural information at home and in mobility) are examples of markets where the public sector has a role to play.