Innovation Platform Sustainable Sea and Ocean Solutions (ISSS)

European seas and coastal systems face increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, and expanding industrial use. At the same time, they are critical for energy, food production, transport, and resource supply. This creates a persistent tension between protection and utilisation.

To address this, leading European RTOs established a structured collaboration to reduce fragmentation and strengthen coordination across the blue economy. The platform connects research infrastructures, aligns priorities, and supports the transfer of knowledge and technologies into real-world applications.

A central mechanism is a set of thematic working groups, where experts from partner organisations collaborate across key domains, including ocean energy, aquaculture, maritime transport, and marine environmental monitoring. These groups enable continuous exchange of data, methods, and best practices, while also identifying joint opportunities for research, demonstration, and funding.

SINTEF contributes with expertise in marine systems, environmental impact assessment, and innovation governance. This includes linking technological development with system-level perspectives, supporting stakeholder engagement, and ensuring that research outputs are relevant for industry uptake and policy development.

Activities include joint R&D, field trials, shared use of test sites and infrastructures, and coordinated project development, particularly within European funding frameworks.