e-Aqua - Analysis
penetration of ICT and promotion of e-commerce within the SMEs belonging to
the aquaculture strategic sector of the Atlantic area
The aquaculture sector has become one of the most
important economic sectors for the Atlantic Area and has to remain
competitive with its competitors in Asia. One of the ways to ensure this is
through the use of ICT tools, which help companies meet the requirements of
the Food industry market. ICT used in a logical way for sustainable
aquaculture will contribute to the competitiveness of aquaculture companies
in the Atlantic areas.
e-Aqua is a project, co-financed by the EC Programme
Interreg III B “Atlantic area”, that has as main objective to encourage
the use of ICT and e-commerce by all the economic players of the aquaculture
specific sector, according to the following three coordinated steps:
1- Observatory: Analysis of ICT penetration and usage in
the aquaculture sector of the Atlantic area. In this first stage, a research
about the current status and possibilities of developing e-commerce in the
Atlantic aquaculture sector will be developed. The aim is to gain reliable
knowledge of the degree to which Internet and e-commerce have been deployed
by SMEs and are operative in the participating Atlantic regions.
2- Training: According to the outcome of the previous
research, structured training courses and/or seminars will be organised.
Depending on the research results of the first step, course programs will be
specifically adapted to satisfy the current aquaculture SMEs requirements
with regards to e-commerce and main ICT issues.
3- ICT Consultancy: Feasibility assessment for the
implementation of e-commerce in a precise number of Atlantic regional SMEs.
The European based consortium consists of a number of
institutional and commercial partners of four Atlantic regions
Galicia-Spain, Brittany -France, Ireland, and Scotland-UK where the
aquaculture sector is considered as a strategic one within their regional
economies and within the Atlantic area as a whole. The three phases of the
project will be developed within the participating four different Atlantic
regions in a co-ordinated way, following the same common methodology but
taking into account special particularities of the analysed sector in each
region.
e-Aqua project started in November 2003 and will be
completed in April 2005. The Lead Partner is CETMAR-Centro Tecnológico del
Mar (Spain) and the remaining partners are:
CESGA-The
Supercomputing Centre of Galicia (Spain),
UDC-University
of A Coruña (Spain),
SchlumbergerSema
(Spain),
MADE
IN B (France),
CEMPAMA
(France),
Bord
Iascaigh Mhara (BIM)/ Irish Sea Fisheries Board (Ireland),
AquaTT
(Ireland)
SATA-Scottish
Aquaculture Training Association Ltd (Scotland).
For more information, please contact:
Rosa Chapela Pérez
E-mail rchapela@cetmar.org
Tel: 00 34 986 24 70 47