Digital technologies are changing peoples' lives, from the way we communicate to how we live and work, providing solutions for many of the challenges that Europe and Europeans are facing in these difficult times.

Especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization turned out to be a key element for both economic recovery and for increasing the resilience of Europe's health and care sector. These facts have pushed the EU to accelerate the technological transition, by boosting digitalization and by promoting enabling technologies across the whole economic and social spectrum.

The Blue Economy sector is not an exception: it is progressing also thanks to the numerous digital tools and innovative technologies. From the development of highly efficient methods to exploit the renewable resources at sea, to the use of ICT tools to monitor marine-based activities, digitalization is spreading across the Blue sector.

However, it is essential that the benefits of digital technologies can reach also more fragmented markets, such as the small ports of the Adriatic basin, which can benefit from more effective and efficient tools for managing services and attracting users, thus serving as engines for the socio-economic development of their territories. This is one of the objectives that the FRAMESPORT project aims to achieve.

The workshop “Blue digital strategies” will be dedicated to deepening the issue of digitalization for the development of small ports in the Adriatic Sea. We will discuss how the IT solutions can drive towards a smart management and planning of these realities, enhancing their connectivity, for a quick and long-lasting sustainable development.