The Baltic Sea Science Congress (BSSC) is the biggest conference in the field of Baltic Sea science since 1996 and will be co-organised by the Baltic Marine Biologists, the Baltic Marine Geologists, the Conference of Baltic Oceanographers, the Estuarine Coastal Sciences Association and BONUS – the joint Baltic Sea research and development programme.

The themes of the congress entitled Science and innovation for future of the Baltic and the European regional seas have been set around a broader discussion on the issues of coasts and regional seas. The young scientists taking part in the Baltic Sea Science Congress will have the opportunity to attend the Seven secrets of extremely successful researchers workshop on 15 June.

On 17 June, the BSSC will join forces with the Fifth BONUS Forum to hold an event for the first time in the history of BSSCs – a policy day. It is set out to define a common understanding of the links between research and innovation, regional prosperity and sustainability in the long term, all under one of the Congress’ seven themes – Viable ecosystem for a sustainable society.

The broad objective of the policy day will be to identify the research needs and bottlenecks of the academy-policy-industry interaction processes to ensure successful development of sustainable blue economy in the Baltic Sea and the European regional seas.

Live broadcast of the congress on 17 June will be provided on the Latvian Presidency website:

09:00-09:05 - Opening of the Policy Day

09:05-09:45 - Keynote by Mr Rudolf de Groot: In a quest to embed marine goods and services to societal action in support of region’s prosperity

09:45-10:00 - Baltic Coastal System Analysis and Status Evaluation (BACOSA)

10:00-10:15 - Integration Challenges in MSP and the concept of an ecosystem approach

10:15-11:05 - Facilitated panel discussion, audience questions & conclusions

11:35-12:15 - Keynote by Mr Mike Elliott: In a search of the best cross‐border and ‐sector governance model

12:15-12:30 - Water Protection in the Baltic Sea and the Chesapeake Bay: Institutions, Policies and Efficiency

12:30-12:45 - Toward a sustainable spatial island ecosystem of island archipelago in Zadar, Croatia

12:45-13:35 - Facilitated panel discussion, audience questions & conclusions

13:35-13:40 - The emerging policy day declaration, next steps outlined