MINKA builds a long-term record of Ireland’s coast. Now in use on the Maharees, it can widen to other communities in Kerry and West Cork, expanding into coastal erosion, dune protection and marine plastics. The Seasonal Snapshot Challenge invites schools across the Atlantic and Arctic to record biodiversity each season, creating evidence no single team could gather alone.

Fisher Guardians puts fishing communities at the centre of marine waste solutions. The next phase is to work with more harbours and crews on handling end of life nets, ropes and gear through collection, repurposing or new revenue streams. The Tralee Bay Oyster Fisheries Society shows what local stewardship looks like and can be shared. Linking gear recovery to circular economy work turns waste into a material stream.

Blue Schools embeds ocean literacy in Irish classrooms. With only seventeen certified schools, the opportunity is to build a Kerry cluster as a template for other counties. The Living Lab can help teachers map existing water related work onto certification, making it recognition rather than paperwork. Castlegregory’s award winning Ringed Plover project shows what pupils can achieve with a real local issue.

Citizen Litter Entrepreneurs treats marine litter as a resource. The programme offers guidance, training and tools to individuals and community groups starting enterprises that valorise collected plastic, giving businesses zero waste options. Connecting these enterprises to biorefinery and innovation work from the Blue Economy strand means collected material feeds into products rather than landfill.

MPAs are where the Living Lab can influence policy most directly. Ireland must protect thirty per cent of its maritime area by 2030 without repeating paper parks. The Living Lab gives government, researchers and communities a space to work through trust, data and who gets a say. Local fishers already act as custodians, as the Tralee Bay oyster beds show, and that stewardship should be built into new protected areas from the start.

The Blue Economy strand asks who will crew Ireland’s marine sectors and what skills they need. The opportunity is to map future jobs across fisheries, aquaculture, seaweed cultivation and coastal tourism, then build training to match. Circular economy models, biorefinery and blue biotechnology can extract more value from by products like oyster shells. The Living Lab bridges university research and businesses, with a 2028 mega event to measure progress.