Lessons Learned from France MML workshops

Milestone 1

• Realize a complete inventory of local skills needed for the topic of academic actors, start-ups or companies already established in the region;
• Make lists of actions and players, record skills, know-how and economic potential, identify best practices and make full use of them to put the chosen topic on the national agenda;
• Start a survey to establish the relationship between local communities and the coastal areas and share results with politicians to put marine biotechnologies on the national agenda as an economic and sustainable opportunity.

Milestone 2

• Use keynote speakers to introduce the topic for example specialists, but their speech must be in simple language and avoid using difficult terminology;
• Define the date, finalise the workshop topic and have communication material two months ahead.

Milestone 3

• Ensure a good representation of professionals (industry related to the topic, policy makers, journalists) to have a balanced dialogue;
• Explain at the start of the workshop the different phases that participants will go through;
• Assign participants to a specific table according to gender, type of organization/institution, type of expertise in the field, main interest in general to ensure multidisciplinarity;
• Multiply events where researchers from academia and industry exchange with a broader community to enhance this community and its visibility;
• Ensure that participants can exchange knowledge and meet new people;
• Connect all stakeholders through education and communication;
• Recruit participants by telephone to ensure a great effectiveness of recruitment;
• Workshops may participants convince about RRI, but doesn't tend to help them in the concrete application of RRI in their daily work;
• The education of young people and the use of exchange programs between schools will lead to active citizenship respectful of the environment;
• Plan well the participant groups so that all stakeholders are sufficiently represented;
• Promote the workshop through websites and a poster campaigns.

Milestone 4

• Ensure that all voices have an equal footing in the debate during the workshop;
• Make an inventory of innovations and tools, and facilitate collaboration and networking for the development of biotechnologies in France;
• Focus on the concept and its tools when explaining RRI to participants;
• Give participants more time to contribute to the ideas at other tables;
• Enable each group to take the floor to present their results;
• The absence of gender equality reveals a critical gap in access to opportunities and resources and decision-making power for women and men;
• Plan well the workshop so that participants provide their ideas in an active way.

Milestone 5

• Open access, i.e. giving free online access to the results of publicly-funded research data will boost innovation and increase the use of scientific results by all societal actors;
• Allocate a good part of the workshop for creating a clear common action plan.

Milestone 6

• Facilitate collaboration between research and industry/market to create a dynamic knowledge-sharing mechanism;
• Convince investors to facilitate the creation of a dynamic knowledge-sharing mechanism;
• Exchange with star chefs on new products from the transformation of marine resources to provide the opportunity to make the audience aware a wider audience;
• Develop new tools and infrastructures of research on marine resources, particularly in inaccessible depths, but also for monitoring the marine environment, stocks of biomass or still unwanted algae;
• Make restaurants aware restaurants and the public about the potential offered by the blue biotechnologies;
• Raise awareness and spread information about marine biotechnologies to the different groups of stakeholders;
• Develop a "Social and Solidarity Economy" type of framework in the field of marine biotechnologies;
• Organize of a marine biotechnology day at the regional level including different actors to make the general public aware on the marine biotechnology sector and its potential;
• Encourage scientists and NGO's to popularize the different aspects of marine biotechnology through science café, forums, open days etc;
• Organise Open Days in companies to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Involve senior/retired scientific experts to communicate on marine biotechnologies in layman's terms to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with the topic;
• Develop new model of governance for marine biotechnology development including the engagement of the society;
• Build a network to report challenges to politicians to put marine biotechnologies on the national agenda as an economic and sustainable opportunity;
• Implement training and guidance for careers around marine biotechnologies to reduce marine pollution;
• Succeed with public engagement through science education and open access in policy;
• Educate the public at large in their individual role in marine conservation and sustainability (Public Engagement, Science Education);
• Educate all stakeholders about sustainable tourism sustainability to achieve socially and environmentally acceptable goods and services;
• Changing customer demand requires attractive and sustainable products that provide unique and customised experiences;
• Action and follow-up the co-defined action plan.

Milestone 7

• Develop new collaborations for new means of communication;
• Get media cover and social media presence to influence policy and decision makers;
• Organise a European "Grenelle" of bioethics to do an inventory of knowledge, regulations and current projects and processes as well as to define indicators and good practices for the development of marine. biotech;
• Collect and share information and good practices to raise awareness on marine biotech and to reduce marine pollution;
• Involving customers ranked the most favourable cluster with specific actions including the adoption of the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business model.

Milestone 8

• Train policymakers through communication tools and adapt legislation to facilitate the creation of a dynamic knowledge-sharing mechanism;
• Involve "Ambassadors" or " figures" at regional level (navigators, high level sportsman, known well-respected public figures of all kinds);
• Create of a one-stop shop for the Institute of blue bio-technologies with short and long-term strategies;
• Create an award for the best blue bio-technologies innovation or product to make maritime biotechnologies a sustainable economic opportunity;
• Start a regional programme and raise awareness of tourism actors to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Put in place a certification label of projects to draw guidelines for the sustainable development of marine biotechnologies;
• Train educators and information relays on marine biotechnologies to develop them in the field of marine pollution;
• Coordinate and develop industrial, academic and political linkages to boost funding around marine biotechnologies;
• Train and convince policymakers, implementers, and investors to develop biotechnologies;
• Add marine biotechnologies in school programmes to ensure that the general public becomes familiar with marine biotechnologies;
• Disseminate research and innovation outcomes that have societal relevance for ethical acceptability;
• Promote governance arrangements and practices to favour sustainable tourism and seafood consumption;
• Reliable scientific information is not easily accessible for sectorial actors;
• Create a seafood producers organisation in France to reduce the gap between the producers and consumers;
• Focus on Science Education in sustainable development and marine resources management as a critical part of local culture and coastal tourism.

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