The main ambition of the All AtlaNtic Cooperation for Ocean Research and Innovation (AANChOR) project is to promote the implementation of the South Atlantic Research and Innovation Flagship initiative and the Belém Statement (BS), signed by the EU, Brazil and South Africa in 2017, to upscale research and innovation cooperation within the Atlantic basin, from Antarctica to the Arctic. AANChOR will pursue this ambition by providing the EC and the Belém Co-Chairs (the signatories of the Statement) with a framework to identify and contribute to the implementation of concrete long-term collaborative activities, reinforcing international cooperation between Europe and tropical and South Atlantic countries and connecting with the challenges and research needs of the North Atlantic Ocean. AANChOR will be responsible for launching a multi-stakeholder platform to identify collaborative activities, building on national and international ongoing initiatives such as the All Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance and addressing activities aimed at reinforcing capacity building, promoting academia-industry knowledge transfer for an enhanced ocean innovation, developing common standards, enhancing citizen awareness and ocean literacy and converging and aligning R&I infrastructure initiatives. To contribute to the implementation of the identified joint activities, AANChOR will provide seed money for the first development stages of selected joint pilot actions and support the identification of the most appropriate existing funding mechanisms and tools for further development of the selected activities. AANChOR will also define long term measures for the sustainability of the cooperation framework beyond the lifetime of the CSA.
