Maritime Economy: Definition and Main Aspects

The maritime economy can be defined as the whole range of activities related to the sea, in other words whose conditions of development depend on the sea. This factual definition needs to be specified according to the degree of dependence: total, for the entire production mode, or partial, for the manufacturing of certain products or the supply of certain services. Furthermore, the definition raises a series of questions. A question of coverage: is it possible to list and delineate the whole range of "maritime" economic activities? A question of measuring the economic value of this range: is it possible to give a definition and a quantitative assessment of this range? By means of which indicators? A question of coherence: is the whole range composed of activities unrelated to each other? Or do they have commercial relationships and conditions of development (environmental, regulatory) leading, to a certain extent, to consider them jointly? The present chapter aims to address these issues on a European scale

The Construction of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology: The Realisation of an Ambiguous Policy Idea

This paper discusses the emergence of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), from the launch of the policy idea in 2005 to the first EIT board decisions on knowledge and innovation communities in 2009. Earlier attempts to set- up a European institute have either failed or have taken a very long time and the initial idea of the EIT was risky and controversial. This raises the question of how and why the idea of the EIT took root so quickly. The analysis builds upon Kingdon’s work and shows the important role of Barroso as policy entrepreneur and of contextual factors keeping the policy window open for a surprisingly long time