TRANSFER PARTNER: ART-ER

Attractiveness Research Territory

Name of the organization: Attractiveness Research Territory (ART-ER)

Address: Via Gobetti 101 40129 Bologna

Main contact for 2B-BLUE: Stefano Valentini, Francesca Lioce, Bianca Calvaresi
Email: bluer@art-er.it

Website and other relevant links: www.art-er.it

Description of the organization

ART‑ER is the Emilia‑Romagna regional development agency, established as a Joint Stock Consortium under regional law following the merger of ASTER and ERVET. Its mission is to drive the region’s sustainable growth by strengthening innovation, knowledge development, territorial attractiveness and internationalisation. Thanks to this role, ART‑ER has built solid expertise in the management of EU projects and in supporting regional stakeholders across complex innovation processes.

In the field of innovation support and entrepreneurship development, ART‑ER has gained extensive experience in designing, coordinating and modelling transnational collaboration frameworks. This expertise stems from a wide portfolio of European and Mediterranean initiatives, including major programmes in the blue economy and multi‑actor governance. Projects such as MISTRAL, BLUE BIO MED, BLUE ECOSYSTEM, EmiliaRomagna Startup, Start Cup Emilia‑Romagna, the European Enterprise Network, Climate‑KIC Startup Accelerator Italy, MATCHER, Territoria, Panoramed and Chebec MED have strengthened ART‑ER’s capacity to connect ecosystems, foster innovation-driven entrepreneurship and support collaborative approaches across regions and sectors.

Leverage its consolidated experience in developing regional innovation ecosystems and facilitating cooperation between scientific, industrial and institutional actors.
Support the connection between 2B‑BLUE and the BLUE ECOSYSTEM initiative, promoting project activities within the Emilia‑Romagna innovation ecosystem and acting as an advisor in the development of territorial innovation ecosystems for the Blue Economy. This includes facilitating stakeholder engagement, ensuring methodological coherence and reinforcing multi‑actor collaboration across the regional landscape.
Act as a potential end‑user of the project’s outputs in the field of blue biotechnologies, supporting their integration into regional innovation pathways.
Organise a transfer event at Ecomondo 2027, ensuring visibility, stakeholder engagement and effective dissemination of project results.

Team members


	Stefano Valentini He is the Blue Economy topic lead of Emilia-Romagna Smart Specialisation Strategy since 2014. He manged MISTRAL and BLUE BIO MED Interreg Euro Med projects on Blue Economy, and currently he is the technical coordinator of Blue Ecosystem. He represents ART-ER in Italy’s Energy National Technology Cluster and since 2024 he is a member of the management board of the Blue Italian Growth National Technology Cluster. At European level he coordinates the interregional Vanguard ADMA Energy partnership for Marine Renewables and he is a member of Maritime Sustainable Blue Bioeconomy (MaSBEE) within the Blue Sustainable Economy Platform. He is an Horizon Europe expert evaluator since 2020.
	Francesca Lioce She holds a PhD in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing. She currently supports the BLUE ECOSYSTEM project, funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, contributing to innovative and collaborative approaches for a more sustainable and resilient Blue Economy. She also collaborates with the BLU-ER Strategic Forum in Emilia-Romagna and, since this year, with AZA4ICE.
	Bianca Calvaresi She holds a Master’s degree in International and European Relations and has been working at ART‑ER since 2023 as a Project Assistant across initiatives in the Blue Economy, Solidarity Economy, and regional afforestation. She has been involved in the BLUE ECOSYSTEM project from its inception, contributing to the co‑design of challenges and also played a key part in the transnational acceleration process of innovative solutions, from evaluation to matchmaking.