The MSP Platform organises several gatherings each year as part of our mission to support the exchange of knowledge and experiences on MSP throughout Europe. These include conferences focused on a particular MSP-relevant theme, which are organised on behalf of the European Commission. We also hold workshops upon request to bring together smaller groups of experts to hold in-depth discussions on specific topics and develop solutions to emerging MSP challenges. Do you have a particular issue that you would like to discuss with experts and MSP planners? Please contact us at infomaritime-spatial-planning.ec.europa.eu (info[at]maritime-spatial-planning[dot]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) for assistance.
On this page you will find information about our upcoming conferences & workshops, as well as archived materials from past events. Additional events organised by diverse institutions can be found on our All Events page.
The European MSP Platform invited the MSP community to the workshop on "Climate-smart Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) for Future Uses/Needs of the Seas" on the 27th of March 2025. Building on the MSP Assistance Mechanism background technical study from 2024 “Future Uses/Needs of the Seas: Integration of climate-smart trends and new technologies in maritime spatial planning”, the European MSP Platform organized that online workshop, where the MSP authorities and practitioners engaged in a dialogue to discuss the current developments, encountered challenges and the way forward for effective integration of climate adaptation and mitigation priorities, targets and climate-smart technologies in the national MSP plans.
The European MSP Platform coordinated the organisation of the European MSP Week 21st – 24th October 2024! This series of dynamic events was dedicated to Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and offered a unique opportunity for stakeholders from industry, civil society, the public sector, and academia to come together. They reflected on the achievements made in MSP across European seas, discussed current policies, and strategised the next steps forward.
That year marked a significant milestone—a decade since the adoption of the EU MSP Directive on 23rd July 2014. We celebrated the achievements of Member States and the entire MSP community. In addition, the MSP-Green and REGINA-MSP projects hosted their joint final conference, allowing participants to hear even more valuable insights and discussions. All the events were hybrid, accommodating both those who wished to travel and meet in person, as well as online participants.
The conference organised by the European MSP Platform was the "A Decade of European MSP – Stakeholder Conference"
22nd October 2024, 09:00-17:45 CET.
This event brought together experts, policymakers, and industry leaders from across the European Union and beyond to foster dialogue, share best practices, and chart a course towards more integrated and sustainable maritime planning. Over five engaging sessions, we explored the accomplishments of the last decade, lessons learnt, challenges, and future direction of MSP, highlighting the critical role of stakeholder engagement, regional cooperation, and innovative technologies.
Our discussions covered a range of priority topics, from the impact of the European Green Deal on MSP to the integration of climate-smart trends and cutting-edge technologies. We explored how MSP plans have been updated to address contemporary issues such as climate change and multi-use conflicts, and we examined the benefits and challenges of data-driven innovations like digital twins for marine environments.
That year's theme was all about action – turning ideas into impactful practices, to identify innovative solutions to deliver bold and ambitious changes for a brighter, more sustainable future.
We compiled insights gathered from members’ discussions and the activities organised over the past ten months, particularly the development of the Stakeholder Position Papers, to identify the key topics which emerged. We prepared a brief survey and asked that respondents prioritise the technical topics from their own perspective.
The European Blue Forum Annual Meeting - From Position to Practice in Svendborg, Denmark, on May 30, 2024, was part of the European Maritime Day, and ultimately the Work Plan for the European Blue Forum over the coming 18 months.
The Technical Expert Group (TEG) on data for MSP was established in April 2020 by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). The TEG was established to address the current state of play of MSP data management, resolve ongoing issues (such as harmonisation of MSP “output” data) and exchange knowledge and experience between practitioners and experts on MSP.
Since the establishment of the TEG, the voluntary members of the TEG have identified priority areas where intervention was required, and established a number of dedicated technical sub-groups to develop guidance, standards and in some cases data models to address these challenges.
The objective of that public workshop was to simultaneously provide an appropriate opportunity for these outputs of the TEG to be presented, providing due visibility to their authors and contributors, whilst at the same time sharing them with Member States’ planners and MSP practitioners in a practical and useable way, illustrated where possible with examples.
The European Blue Forum held its second deep-dive workshop on 16 October 2023. That workshop was only open to the European Blue Forum members.
The question ‘What does a fossil fuel free blue economy look like? How can we as a community support this transition?’ was originally posed to members of the European Blue Forum as a panel session at the official launch event on 26th May 2023 in Brest, France. This deliberately broad question was designed to give all sustainable blue economy stakeholders the opportunity to share the challenges they face, as well as their needs for the future, regardless of the sector or type of organisation they represent.
The objective of that ‘Deep-Dive’ workshop was to allow members of the European Blue Forum to discuss the challenges and obstacles they have been facing and their unique aspirations and requirements in decarbonising their sector, and eventually transitioning towards a fossil fuel free sustainable blue economy in the future.
The output from this workshop was the production of a stakeholder position paper, providing the perspectives of the entire European sustainable blue economy stakeholder group - our Blue Community.
The European Blue Forum held its first deep-dive workshop on 25 September 2023. This workshop was only open to the European Blue Forum members.
The question ‘What do we need from European Seas by 2030 – are we asking too much?' was originally posed to members of the European Blue Forum as a panel session at the official launch event on 26th May 2023 in Brest, France. This deliberately broad question was designed to give all sustainable blue economy stakeholders the opportunity to share the challenges they face as well as their needs for the future, regardless of the sector or type of organisation they represent.
The objective of the ‘Deep-Dive’ workshop was to allow members of the European Blue Forum to discuss the challenges and obstacles they are facing, their unique aspirations and requirements in developing their sector up to 2030.
The output from that workshop was the production of a stakeholder position paper, providing the perspectives of the entire European sustainable blue economy stakeholder group - our Blue Community.
The Launch Event was being held back to back with European Maritime Days.
As a part of the European Blue Forum, we created Europe’s Blue community. A community of different users of the sea, passionate and committed to working together to deliver bold and ambitious change to our shared challenges of nature and climate change. As part of the Forum, stakeholders had the opportunity to influence the structure and direction of the European Blue Forum in a balanced and inclusive way, and through this, the future of Europe’s Sustainable Blue Economy.
The event provided a platform for everyone, whether part of a large organisation or not, and regardless of how well established the sector or topic stakeholders work on was, they all shared their priorities, challenges and ideas, and contribute to building a common and united path towards the vision of the Sustainable Blue Economy.
The Launch Event was only the beginning of the European Blue Forum’s activities!
The European MSP Platform organised an online event dedicated to communication tools, strategies and examples of successful communication initiatives for Maritime Spatial Planning advancement in Europe. In partnership with IOC UNESCO MSP global initiative, this event reached stakeholders well beyond European Member states with participants from Morocco, China, Iran, Norway and Iceland. To access all presentations click on the event title.
MSP for Blue Growth Webinar Series
The EU MSP Platform organised a webinar series on the MSP for Blue Growth Study.
The 2018 study gives information on how Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) can assist Member States to foster the potential for sustainable Blue Growth. Maritime spatial planning represents a key instrument for Blue Growth and can contribute to the aim of giving a boost to economic growth on the basis of a new maritime paradigm founded in sustainability, innovation, competitiveness and knowledge. The MSP for Blue Growth study explores the multi-faceted relationship between the two evolving concepts and provides practical, implementation-oriented outputs. The study was developed by the EU MSP Platform consortium for the European Commission, as part of their services to assist EU Member States with implementation of the EU MSP Directive (2014/89/EU).
Each webinar in this series introduced participants to one of the three study components:
A workshop was organised on the subject "Maritime Spatial Planning for Islands" on the 11th of September 2018 in Gran Canaria, Spain. As highlighted during the MSP Conference "Addressing Land-Sea Interactions" (Malta, June 2017), particular challenges and opportunities exist for the development and implementation of MSP and sustainable Blue Growth in island contexts.
Workshop participants engaged in active knowledge and experience-exchange during interactive sessions to:
• Identify common challenges and opportunities in developing and implementing MSP and delivering Blue Growth in island contexts
• Discuss the socio-economic and specific environmental pressures faced by island communities and the (potential) role of MSP and Blue Growth
• Highlight good practices with MSP that could be applied to islands contexts
Access more information, including the workshop report, by clicking on the event title.
The EU MSP Platform and OCTO: Open Communications for the Ocean are co-organising a webinar on cumulative impact tools, as a follow-up from the expert roundtable on the same topic, held on 18 January 2018. For more information click on the event title.
The workshop, organised by the EU MSP Platform on behalf of the European Commission, aimed to provide a forum for discussion and exchange on how to apply MSP in small sea spaces. Specific challenges emerge when planning small sea jurisdictions or when dealing with small marine areas in the framework of a multi-scale, nested approach. In both cases, high concentration of uses, intense land-sea interactions, limited availability of free space to couple with sector dynamics and future needs and relevance of transboundary cooperation (among countries and among regions within a country), can pose real challenges to planners. The workshop is aimed at national MSP authorities, representatives of sub-national authorities, planners and other experts dealing with MSP in small sea spaces. Based on a wide exchange of practices and interactive discussions, workshop participants will contribute to identify challenges and specific elements characterising maritime spatial planning in small sea spaces. To access the agenda and presentations click on the event title.
An expert roundtable was organised to share up-to-date information of on-going research and existing good practices, as well as to support the Romanian MSP authority and involved sectoral ministries. Specific needs from the MSP authority and sectoral ministries were identified beforehand. To access all information click on the event title.
An expert roundtable on cumulative impact tools was organised on 18 January in Venice, Italy, bringing together subject experts and tool developers to discuss development of these tools as they relate to MSP. Cumulative impact tools are of particular interest for implementing the ‚ecosystem based approach‘ in MSP, in accordance with the EU MSP Directive. To access the roundtable summary report and presentations click on the event title.
This conference, organised by the EU MSP Platform on behalf of the European Commission, took place on 11-12 October in Brussels, Belgium. The conference was aimed at both MSP practitioners, authorities as well as industry representatives and was attended by Mr. Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. This conference provided a forum for discussion and exchange, and offered concrete examples and guidelines on how to apply MSP as a tool to support sustainable maritime economic development (‘Blue Growth’).
More information about this event including event outputs, click on the event title.
The idea of the round table was to exchange information about on-going research and to gather a better understanding of socio-economics for MSP. Currently research on socio-economic aspects of MSP is still in its infancy and involved researchers may be interested in methodologies and approaches used in other projects. The round table sought to foster a better understanding of these methods and additionally inspire concrete research questions.
To access more information about the round table including its outputs click on the event title.
The two-day MSP Conference – Addressing Land-Sea Interactions took place in St. Julian’s, Malta on 15 and 16 June 2017 and was a great success. National experts and MSP practitioners exchanged experiences and knowledge during three interactive sessions focusing on key LSI issues in specific countries / contexts, strengths and weaknesses of sub-national approaches to LSI and the LSI issues faced by participants. A total of 15 presentations were given during the panel sessions ‘Introduction to LSI’, ‘Sub-national approaches to LSI’, ‘National and sea-basin approaches to LSI’ and ‘Sectoral approaches to LSI and specific tools’.
To access all information click on the event title.
maritime-spatial-planning.ec.europa.eu (info[at]maritime-spatial-planning[dot]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) for assistance.