Maritime Economy in Portugal: growth potential and investment opportunities (EN)

Ruben Eiras is the of Secretary General of Forum Oceano. In the last year and a half, he served as Coordinator for the Blue Economy, Innovation, Investment and Financing of Forum Oceano.  He is the mentor of the Ocean Stream start-up program at the Canadian-based Creative   Destruction Lab, as well as mentor of the Sustainable  Ocean  Accelerator and coacher of European Commission's Blue  Invest Platform. He served as Director-General of Maritime Policy of the Ministry of the Sea of Portugal, promoting an innovative and sustainable blue economy and as Advisor for Industry, Innovation and Energy of the Minister of the Sea of Portugal. Prior to his career on the route of blue economy, he wasa Science and Technology Manager at Galp Energia  and  Director of the Energy Security Program of the Luso-American Foundation for Development. He holds a PhD in Energy Security Policy in the area of History, Defense and International Relations, from the Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e Empresa - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa and the Military Academy. He also holds the Executive Master's degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from the MIT-Portugal Program. He was a member of the Natural Gas Expert Group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and  d the  SAS Working Group  on  Energy Security of the NATO Science and Technology Organization. Forum Oceano is a collective public utility that manages the Cluster of the Portuguese Sea, cluster of competitiveness recognized by the Government of Portugal. Maritime activities are dynamic and competitive segments of the economy, capable of valuing the Sea and its resources, generating value and creating qualified jobs, contributing to the strengthening of Portugal's position in the global economy. Forum Oceano's mission is to strengthen strategic cooperation between actors - companies, RT&D centres, higher education institutions, public administration bodies - and to promote the competitiveness of the main value chains that use the Sea and marine resources as central elements of their activity in order to contribute sustainably to economic growth, exports and employment. Forum Oceano represents 50% of the Blue GDP in Portugal, with 125 associates from the various sectors of the activity of the Sea economy, as well as consolidated activities such as Fisheries and Aquaculture, Conservation, Fish Processing and Commercialization, Marine Industries, Ports, Maritime Transport and Logistics and Nautical Tourism, as well as emerging activities such as Ocean Renewable Energies,Marine Biotechnologies and Ocean Technologies.