• The initiative, developed as part of the European TREASURE project, was presented last Friday at an event held at the Gandía Port Fishermen’s Association
• The laboratory, which will be managed in collaboration with Opentop, Valenciaport’s open innovation hub, has been set up to test and validate innovative solutions aimed at improving environmental quality in port areas

Valencia, 21 September 2026. – Last Friday, the Port of Gandía hosted the launch of the new Blue Economy Laboratory, an initiative promoted by the Valenciaport Foundation and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), in collaboration with the Valencia Port Authority (APV), as part of the European TREASURE project, funded by the Interreg Euro-MED programme.

The project’s overall objective is to improve the environmental quality of Mediterranean port areas, particularly through the prevention and reduction of water and sediment pollution.

The Blue Economy Laboratory is designed as a space to test, validate and develop innovative solutions in a real port environment, with a particular focus on technologies aimed at improving and restoring water quality. As an open and collaborative experimental environment, it will bring together technology companies, start-ups and scale-ups with researchers, port managers and public authorities, facilitating the conduct of trials and the analysis of their environmental impact. To this end, the laboratory will make use of the infrastructure and capabilities available at the Port of Gandía and at the UPV, including facilities and equipment designed for monitoring and analysing water quality.

The management and coordination of the laboratory will be in the hands of Opentop, Valenciaport’s open innovation hub, which will be responsible for channelling applications from companies and organisations interested in using it and for identifying innovative solutions suitable for testing. The Valenciaport Foundation will also be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the tests, whilst the UPV will contribute its scientific and technical expertise, particularly through its Institute for Research into Integrated Coastal Zone Management (IGIC). For its part, the Port Authority of Valencia will participate in its institutional capacity and as the managing body of the Port of Gandía, facilitating the implementation of activities within the port area.

The launch event, which featured speeches by Elena Moncho, Councillor for the Economy, Business and Employment and Councillor for Trade, Markets and Consumer Affairs at Gandía Town Council; Antonio Torregrosa, Chief Executive of the Valenciaport Foundation; Juan Manuel Díez, Head of Innovation at the APV; and Vicenç Almenar, Director of the UPV’s Gandía Campus, also served to present the initial lines of work and results linked to this collaboration. Following an introduction to the TREASURE project and a presentation of the laboratory itself, MarineRob, Mediterranean Algae and the UPV outlined various pilot projects aimed at improving water quality, addressing key issues such as the impact of ships’ scrubbers on water quality, water treatment using algae, and the restoration of rocky sublittoral benthos.

The meeting concluded with a visit to the warehouses at the Port of Gandía and to a pilot water treatment project, thereby reinforcing the laboratory’s role as a test bed for practical Blue Economy solutions.