The needs and challenges of the Blue Economy sector in Portugal: bridging national and European strategies with the perceptions of the stakeholders.

With a coastline of approximately 2500 km, Portugal has one of the largest European Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with its delimitation beyond 200 nautical miles under review. The sea, including the sustainable exploitation of natural resources and maritime activities, is cross-cutting the National 2030 Strategy for Smart Specialization (NSSS2030), and is the foundation of the National Ocean Strategy 2021-2030 (NOS2030). Therefore, Portugal has great interest, but also challenges, in the knowledge of ocean processes, monitoring of their environmental status, maritime spatial planning, and their role in sustainable development and economic growth. In this study, a participatory workshop with stakeholders from diverse ocean sectors and across the value chain was carried out to co-identify the main needs and challenges of the ocean sector in Portugal and analyze the alignment of these identified needs and challenges with the NSSS2030, the NOS2023, the EU-Roadmap for the Blue Bioeconomy and the European Green Deal. Through a two-stage workshop, the interested parties provided 101 topics for information needs and challenges for the present and near future (5-year period) to identify priority areas for Portugal's ocean sector. Data analysis involved categorizing workshop content into ocean-related themes and PESTEL categories (Policy, Economy, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal), a framework used to analyze the external macro-environmental factors that can impact an organization or industry. The analysis identified missing data, information needs, and public policy challenges as the stakeholder's most relevant issues. Other needs are related to specialized training and capacity building, funding mechanisms, and open industry-academia relationships. The insights provided from this participatory process revealed common ground with European ocean sector challenges and needs. The national perception of knowledge gaps and emerging challenges should be addressed for effective implementation of the NOS2030 and the NSSS2030 and, ultimately, contribute to the next strategic framework design for ocean economy boosting at the EU, national, and regional levels.