The State delegate in the Free Trade Zone, Fran González, and the rector of the UCA, Casimiro Mantell, will inaugurate this Wednesday the great Blue Economy meeting, which will last until Friday
The opening presentation will be led by the astronaut and researcher Sara García Alonso, while the athlete Carolina Marín and the actor and comedian Santi Rodríguez will participate in the closing day.
Thursday's event includes oceanographer Manu San Félix and a Job Fair, which will connect talent and companies with work and internship opportunities
The Blue Zone Forum InnovAzul has broken its participation record with more than 2,000 people registered for its fourth edition, which will be held from October 28 to 30 in Cádiz. The meeting, organized by the Free Zone of Cádiz and the University of Cádiz (UCA), thus exceeds the figures of the three previous editions: more than 900 registered in 2023, 1,500 in 2024 and more than 1,000 in 2025. The Free Zone has organized this forum since 2023 and, as happened in 2024, this year it once again has the UCA as the co-organizing entity, while the 2025 edition was held jointly with Navalia.
The State delegate in the Free Trade Zone, Fran González, and the rector of the UCA, Casimiro Mantell, will lead at 10 a.m. on Wednesday the 28th the institutional opening ceremony of this event, which brings together national and international experts and three star speakers in Cádiz: the astronaut and researcher Sara García Alonso, the marine biologist Manu San Félix and the Olympic athlete Carolina Marín.
Fran González has valued this year's reception to the event. “Without a doubt, the figures speak for themselves and the more than 2,000 people clearly reflect the expectation that has been generated within the framework of the Blue Economy, research and knowledge transfer.”
“We are talking about an event consolidated over time that in its programming arouses the interest and enthusiasm of a very wide audience, from very young people to more experienced people who have been carrying out their activity in these sectors, with a more international tinge this year,” González assured.
For his part, the rector of the UCA has highlighted "the extraordinary role of university talent in transforming and improving the environment. This is the true essence of providing services to society that, as a public university institution, we have to prioritize every day. Being useful to, through knowledge and innovation, generate opportunities and consolidate a shared model between the university, society, institutions and the company."
In this sense, Casimiro Mantell has highlighted "the commitment of the University of Cádiz to the Andalusian and Spanish strategy around the Blue Economy. The strategic planning of our degree map and the projection of our research have this vocation for the Blue Economy, sustainability, entrepreneurship and internationalization which are, without a doubt, the driving ideas of Blue Zone Forum InnovAzul 2026".
This year the forum will be preceded by the celebration in Cádiz of the XXIX Conference of Ibero-American Free Zones, which will bring together, starting Monday, officials from free zones, international organizations, universities, ports, institutions and companies from both sides of the Atlantic.
During its three days, from October 28 to 30, the Blue Zone Forum InnovAzul 2026 will address the main challenges and opportunities of the Blue Economy through an international program that will bring together business, scientific, university and institutional representatives, along with entrepreneurs, students and professionals.
Under the motto “Projecting in blue”, the meeting will analyze issues related to innovation, sustainability, technology, entrepreneurship and employment, in addition to facilitating contact between the different agents that carry out their activity in the maritime and marine sectors.
Among its contents will be the oceans as a guarantee of life, technology, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, sustainable coastal tourism and marine ecotourism, the transformation of marine resources and waste into high-value products, the decarbonization of maritime transport and green ports or international projects linked to the Blue Economy.
The inaugural presentation by Sara García Alonso will give way to three days full of presentations, workshops, round tables and parallel activities, with an exhibition area, a special place also for culture and a marked international presence, which this year has grown considerably precisely due to the meeting of free zones.
The forum will feature the presence of the oceanographer Manu San Félix, the badminton champion Carolina Marín and the comedian Santi Rodríguez, whose intervention will close the meeting on Friday at the Cádiz Congress Palace.
Job opportunities at the Job Fair
The meeting will also incorporate a Blue Economy Job Fair designed to connect talent and companies, as well as specific spaces dedicated to training and new professional opportunities. Attracting young talent to blue sectors is also one of the issues that will be addressed during this edition.
This activity will take place next Thursday, October 29, and will bring together companies, entities and professionals with the aim of facilitating access to new job opportunities and promoting the incorporation of talent into sectors linked to the blue economy.
The fair will be held on the second floor of the Cádiz Conference Center, from 11:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and will have more than 30 employment and internship opportunities in areas such as naval engineering, marine and environmental consulting, offshore jobs, scientific research, underwater robotics and new technologies applied to the marine environment.
This activity will allow students, recent graduates and experienced professionals to learn about the hiring needs of participating companies, discover different possibilities for professional development and establish direct contact with organizations that carry out their activity in the blue economy.
The programming will also include spaces dedicated to the transfer of knowledge between research and the business community, with the participation of universities, technology centers, companies, administrations and other agents linked to innovation. These meetings will be aimed at exploring practical applications of scientific and technological advances and identifying the needs of the different economic sectors related to the sea.
Blue Zone Forum InnovAzul 2026 is part of the ZF Blue Core-Business Incubator 4.0 project, 85% financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the Pluriregional Program of Spain FEDER 2021-2027, through the INCYDE Foundation.