Fran González and Casimiro Mantell, accompanied by technicians from both institutions, have presented a detailed analysis that confirms the progress and consolidation of the ecosystem of this sector.
According to this study, which also reflects the importance of collaboration between administrations, the Blue Economy contributes 17.5% to the provincial GDP
The study highlights the blue knowledge and innovation pole created by the scientific-technological-business alliance of UCA, CEIMar, INMAR, Zona Franca, Incubazul-BlueCore, CTAQUA and SEA-EU, an entity to which the Consortium has joined today.
The study confirms that more than 3,300 companies work in activities linked to the Blue Economy, including tourism, essential in the Cadiz economy
Fran González highlights the value that this type of actions provide since the analysis “reveals, in a rigorous and confirmed manner, the reality of the sector in our province.”
One of the future recommendations of the UCA study is the promotion and support of Blue Economy startups and initiatives, especially in the field of biotechnology, something that Zona Franca is already working on with its Blue Core and Incubazul projects and its participation in IberoBio
The province of Cádiz is advancing and consolidating itself as a hub of the Blue Economy and already has more than 3,300 companies – specifically 3,359 – that carry out an activity linked to the Blue Economy, a sector that contributes 17.5% of the provincial GDP. This was explained by the State delegate in the Cádiz Free Trade Zone, Fran González, and the rector of the University of Cádiz, Casimiro Mantell, during the presentation of a joint study that rigorously and realistically analyzes a sector that until now has had a deficit of systematized and verifiable data and fragmented and dispersed information.
The report, entitled "The Blue Economy in the province of Cádiz. Sectoral analysis, challenges and strategic opportunities", has been prepared by the professors of the University of Cádiz, Carmen Camelo and Carmen Garrido, and by the professor of the Department of Business Organization of the UCA Juan Pablo Diánez, based on the need to identify the sectors that make up the Blue Economy, analyze its productive structure and compare it with the whole of Andalusia, in addition to measuring the economic, business and sectoral of the Blue Economy in the province of Cádiz.
The study also highlights the importance of the blue knowledge and innovation pole, materialized in a blue scientific-technological-business ecosystem University of Cádiz, CEIMAR, INMAR, SEA-EU; Free Zone, Incubazul-Blue Core and CTAQUA, with a view to the configuration and consolidation of the Blue Economy ecosystem, entrepreneurship and innovation that the Cádiz Free Zone promotes within the framework of its industry 4.0 model.
The State delegate in the Cádiz Free Trade Zone, Fran González, has highlighted the importance of the study to highlight a sector that is in full development and in need of work guidelines. "Cádiz has long been a province closely linked to marine activities and seeing that we continue to live facing the sea while respecting the marine environment and establishing parameters is of great value to do things well."
Fran González has pointed out that the study confirms realities with which "we are working from Zona Franca. We have always insisted that the province of Cádiz had all the ideal characteristics to work around the Blue Economy and to be a pole of the sector, in the line that we are working. In Zona Franca we have the knowledge that the University provides us, we trust its criteria and we believe that the recommendations that emanate from this study can provide us with excellent results."
During the presentation, the rector of the University of Cádiz, Casimiro Mantell, thanked the Free Trade Zone for its “collaboration and vision” and congratulated the UCA research team “for a document that combines analysis and concrete proposals”. “At the University of Cádiz we understand that our mission is to generate knowledge, but also to transfer it: to convert data and research into useful tools for decision-making and to move towards a sustainable, innovative economic model capable of generating quality employment," stated the rector. Mantell has underlined the relevance of a work that rigorously analyzes the situation of the blue economy in the province of Cádiz and its growth possibilities.
For her part, the vice-rector for Entrepreneurship and Employability, Carmen Camelo, has highlighted the situation in which the province currently finds itself, which has “a solid foundation to compete in the new blue economy”, in which it will be necessary “business cooperation, innovation and digitalization” to continue moving forward.
In his analysis, Camelo recalled that the blue economy constitutes “a structural pillar of the Cádiz economy”, both for its contribution to employment and GDP. In this sense, he specified that the set of activities linked to this area generates 17.5% of the province's GDP. Most of this wealth comes from two sectors: blue tourism and the naval industry. Specifically, coastal and nautical tourism contributes 8.9% of the provincial GDP, while shipbuilding and repair, together with auxiliary industries, add up to 6.8%.
The study presented today reflects that the Blue Economy has been consolidated in recent years as a strategic axis in the European, national and regional agendas, by integrating environmental sustainability with the economic development of coastal and marine territories. In the context of the European Green Deal and the European Union Mission “Restore our oceans and waters by 2030” (European Commimssion, 2021), the Blue Economy is understood as a model aimed at promoting the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved employment and the preservation of marine ecosystems (World Bank, 2017).
In Andalusia, this vision is materialized through the Andalusian Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy Horizon 2028 (EA2) (Junta de Andalucía, 2025), which defines a set of traditional and emerging sectors - such as fishing, aquaculture, coastal tourism, renewable marine energy, blue biotechnology, shipbuilding or salt extraction - along with transversal areas such as biodiversity, the circular economy or marine research. This strategy expressly recognizes the need to advance integrated and territorialized governance, which facilitates institutional coordination and the design of evidence-based policies.
The study makes it clear that in this context the province of Cádiz occupies a unique position. Its Atlantic-Mediterranean coastline, its richness in living and non-living resources, its port network and its industrial capacity make it a privileged nucleus for the development of activities linked to the sea. Furthermore, its concentration of blue employment, scientific and business infrastructure, and innovation projects give it a prominent role within the Andalusian blue economy (Junta de Andalucía, 2025).
In the province of Cádiz, the importance of the Blue Economy is confirmed by being a sector in full growth. Of the 3,359 companies linked to the sector, the largest number of them -2,801- are dedicated to blue tourism, while 163 are linked to industry and shipbuilding, 148 to ports and maritime transport, 136 to living marine resources, 55 to research and education, 40 to non-living marine resources and 16 to biodiversity, energy transition and circular economy.
In an eminently touristy province like Cádiz, it is important that blue tourism is gaining ground, a key pillar of the province's tourism model and the economy. The study reflects that Cádiz has more than 6 million blue tourists (second most visited province), with an average daily expenditure of 92 euros (higher than the regional average), and concentrates more than 50% of the cruise traffic in Andalusia.
The study concludes with some conclusions and recommendations that clear the way for a future in which the Blue Economy will be essential in our province, along with innovation and support and accompaniment to small businesses, a model that the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz is already carrying out with Incubazul and Blue Core.
The document states that “it is essential that microenterprises can access international e-commerce technologies and platforms, just as we consider business grouping around technological clusters to be of great importance.” The study adds as another key point "the development of support and mentoring programs for microbusinesses, in addition to creating a specific business incubator/accelerator, with the support of existing public R&D organizations, to promote the creation of marine Biotechnology start-ups. This accelerator could focus on the valorization of fishing byproducts and the generation of new algae and microalgae crops."
The study also highlights that the study reflects the importance of promoting the offshore wind industry, as well as the installation of naval circular economy centers, that is, establishing a reference center for the dismantling, recycling and reuse of vessels and marine structures.
Free Zone integrates into SEA-EU
Within the framework of this ecosystem that is being strengthened day by day in the province of Cádiz, the Cádiz Consortium has joined today, after its approval by the Executive Committee, to be part of this organization, made up of nine universities from European coastal areas and another 75 entities other than universities.
The European University of the Seas (SEA-EU) is a marine-maritime alliance created to promote cooperation in higher education, research and innovation beyond campuses and national borders.
The Cádiz Free Trade Zone, which has already had contact with SEA-EU through Innovazul, becomes part of an important network that brings together and connects the business, innovation and academic fabric and will contribute to strengthening the connection between the university and the industrial and innovative ecosystem of the Cádiz Consortium.
The SEA-EU Alliance, coordinated by the University of Cádiz, was founded in 2019 as part of the European Commission's “European Universities” initiative, which aims to build transnational higher education networks that allow greater integration between Europe's educational systems. This initiative is co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. In fact, last September the University of Cádiz held the opening ceremony of the Joint Degree in Sustainable Blue Economy (SeaBluE) on the Puerto Real campus, a pioneering degree in Europe resulting from the SEA-EU Alliance.
The delegate of the Free Trade Zone, Fran González, has highlighted the value that joining the SEA-EU means for the Cádiz Consortium and for Incubazul and Blue Core, which "will enormously enrich and reinforce our Blue Economy ecosystem due to the transfer of knowledge it implies, in addition to serving to enhance the visibility of Incubazul and Blue Core at a national and international level."