Welcome to the Fòrum Marítim Català
The sea, the source of well-being and prosperity, regulator of the climate and source of food, resources and transport, is also a source of wealth for a great economic sector, the maritime sector or sectors.
The coastal and maritime area is now a place that brings together the many diverse activities and agents that make up the maritime sector. These activities are, among others, shipbuilding and repair, fishing and fish-farming, pleasure sailing, auxiliary industry, maritime transport and the ports.
All this activity can lead to conflicts in the use of land and sea. For this reason, and with the aim of contributing to participative management, the EU includes among the main goals of its current policies and programmes the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) as set out in the Integrated Maritime Policy.
In 1986, Spain joined the European Union, thereby opening itself up to an international market creating globalisation and economic dependence on investment from international companies that saw Spain’s potential in human and technical resources.
This trend is now moving towards new emergent countries where production costs are lower. As a result there is a need to change the culture of production through investment in innovation and business collaboration with the universities, technology centres and R&D&I agents.
The National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation has the Sectorial Development and Innovation Technological Area that is intended to provide the industrial sectors with the tools and the programmes they need to take on activities aimed at designing products, processes or new services, changed or improved. The final goal is to improve business competitiveness by solving the problems identified in the sectors relevant to the country’s socioeconomic development. The plan highlights the need to promote new products, processes and services in the transport sector, including maritime transport.
In order to put into practice a unified transversal strategy, which represents the extent of the critical mass of the Fòrum Marítim Català (FMC) this Strategic Plan has been prepared, taking into account the opinions and contributions gathered by the public and private agents linked to the sector.
On the basis of building a joint experience, this document defines a strategy to be followed by the Catalan maritime sector from 2009 to 2012. The contributions from all parties have made it possible for the FMC to build an integrated strategy and face a challenge four years ahead of us.
The FMC will make it possible for its members in general and also the Catalan maritime sector to face up to the challenges of competitiveness, globalisation, climate change, and the energy and economic crisis that we find in the current context.
The EU will promote a European network of multisectorial clusters and regional centres of maritime excellence and will promote a European network of maritime clusters. In this regard, the Catalan maritime sector must be prepared to take on international commitments and be competitive at European level.