The Blue Economy has its origins in a research project which has lasted for several years. We are firmly convinced that Blue Economy needs further research to continuously improve the Blue Economy principles and business models, as well as to further develop their replicating abilities.

Our direct contact with numerous institutes, universities and colleges led to the idea of combining the knowledge of scientists who are collaborating with us as well as implementing this knowledge within projects in a way that is strongly orientated towards the specific challenges.

To this end Blue Economy is a research field at the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance in Berlin, which focusses mainly on the following aspects:

• To investigate the fundamentals of the systemic design of business models
• To study the implementation of Blue Economy principles and their consequences for the three pillars of sustainability
• To create life cycle analyses for a comparison of products
• To further develop teaching models within mathematics, natural and engineering sciences in primary and secondary education (Blue Education)

The research area “Blue Economy” analyses and conceives of processes of improvement and change, aiming for better competitiveness. In addition, pilot and field tests are carried out in order to examine the feasibility of various systemic approaches.

The projects implemented up until now have shown that it is very possible to carry out a transfer of knowledge, which is often claimed but seldom realised, from universities to businesses and thus into practice.