On the 15th of December 2020, the European Commissions Directorate-General for Research and Innovation decided to finance the biggest research and innovation project in the Black Sea up to date, with a stated value of EUR 9,795,350, of which EUR 9,245,350 Euro grants. The topic of the project is " Developing Optimal and Open Research Support for the Black Sea – DOORS”, and its duration is 4 years - from 2021 to 2025. The unique thing is that the grant, in addition to the European Union (amount of 9 million Euros under the Horizon 2020 Program), will be provided by the Russian Federation (amount of 245 thousand euros).

The project has 35 participants from 12 countries, and from Bulgaria the leading role will be for Burgas Free University with coordinator Prof. Dr. Milen Baltov, Vice-Rector of BSU. The main activities of the project will be related to monitoring the condition of marine and coastal areas, identifying the nature and dynamics of pollutants in the Black Sea and creating a system for harmonization and access to data. The part in which BSU will contribute is in exploring the potential for generating energy from sea waves and creating an accelerator for Blue Growth to support entrepreneurship in the sectors of the blue economy.

In 2018, when the Municipality of Burgas hosted the European Maritime Day, which was held at BSU, the current project manager Dr. Adrian Stanitsa from GEOCOMAR (Romania) was the plenary speaker of the first such conference organized by the Burgas Free University in Bulgaria - "Blue economy and blue growth."

/2020-12-21/