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The AquaSphere Project— “Empowering Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Capabilities for Water and Maritime Innovation and Entrepreneurship” — has officially launched under the EIT HEI Initiative Call for Proposals 2024, contributing to a transformative vision for Europe’s water and maritime sectors. Coordination of the AquaSphere project is led by the Technical University of Crete.
Funded under the action D7.1 HEI Capacity Building (Project Number 24487), the AquaSphere Project brings together a consortium of six partners — including four leading higher education institutions and two entrepreneurship-focused organizations — to foster a robust and dynamic innovation ecosystem. This ecosystem aims to position HEIs as central agents of change in delivering sustainable, cross-sectoral solutions to water and maritime challenges across Europe and beyond.
Spanning a period of two years, AquaSphere is strategically designed to build capacity within HEIs to better integrate innovation, research, and entrepreneurial practices in the maritime and water domains. By strengthening institutional capabilities and cross-border collaboration, the project will help to bridge the gap between academic excellence and market-driven solutions, thereby contributing directly to the EU’s green and blue growth agendas.
Key objectives of the AquaSphere Project include:
Enhancing institutional support structures for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Facilitating knowledge exchange and joint ventures between academia, industry, and society.
Promoting sustainable water management and maritime technologies through education and research.
Creating a collaborative platform for long-term impact in water-related sectors.
Upon completion, the AquaSphere Project will deliver practical, scalable outputs designed to serve the broader EU community, contributing to policy, education, and innovation strategies in the blue economy and water sustainability fields.
AquaSphere Consortium: Technical University of Crete (Greece), Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK), IZMIR Institute of Technology (Turkey), University of Antilles (France), Envolve Entrepreneurship (Greece), TechTour (Bulgaria)
For more information about the AquaSphere Project, please contact:
Dr. Marios Antonakakis, Technical University of Crete, mantonakakis<at>tuc.gr
About the EIT HEI Initiative
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) HEI Initiative supports higher education institutions with resources and tools to enhance their innovation and entrepreneurial capacity, in alignment with Europe’s strategic priorities for education, industry, and sustainability.
