Varna University of Management and the INTERSMARTS Consortium received distinguished recognition during the 2025 Black Sea Stakeholder Conference, held in Constanta, Romania, on 28 October 2025.
The INTERSMARTS initiative was awarded the Black Sea Project Award 2025 in the category “Fostering Investment in the Black Sea Blue Economy”. Moreover, it was voted the “Winner of the Winners” through real-time audience participation during the Conference.
Following two consecutive years of success, the Black Sea Project Awards, an initiative of the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea of the European Commission with support from the Black Sea Assistance Mechanism, launched a new edition in 2025. These awards aim to recognise innovation, achievements, and impact across the Black Sea Basin. They honour outstanding projects that demonstrate innovative, practical, and efficient solutions advancing the CMA’s objectives for a sustainable blue economy in three main categories: Healthy Marine and Coastal Ecosystems; A Competitive, Innovative, and Sustainable Blue Economy for the Black Sea; and Fostering Investment in the Black Sea Blue Economy.
A total of three projects—one from each category—were selected by the Awards Jury. The overall “Winner of the Winners” was chosen during a dynamic live pitching competition held at the ceremony.
The INTERSMARTS Project was invited to the 2025 Black Sea Stakeholder Conference as an innovative initiative promoting interdisciplinary research, networking, co-creation, and holistic knowledge generation. Its overarching goal is to enhance the sustainability performance and innovation capacity of tourism and related service sectors across the Black Sea region. The project’s integrated approach combines challenge-specific studies, cross-border applied research, and interdisciplinary interventions in support of blue growth tourism. Central to its methodology is a crowdsourcing and innovation management tool, designed to accelerate collaborative solutions.
This unique model was highly appreciated by the CMA evaluators and by representatives from academia, business, public authorities, and civil society at conference who voted for INTERSMARTS as the top initiative.
INTERSMARTS was devised and launched by VUM in a partnership bringing together also the International Hellenic University (Greece), Moldova State University (Republic of Moldova) and the Istanbul Development Agency (Türkiye)
INTERSMARTS (BSB00332) stands for “Interdisciplinary Solutions for Smart Sustainable Tourism and Services for Blue Growth in the Black Sea Basin” and is co-funded by the INTERREG NEXT Black Sea Basin Programme 2021–2027.
More about the Black Sea Project Awards 2025:
https://black-sea-maritime-agenda.ec.europa.eu/black-sea-project-awards-2025-recognising-innovation-sustainable-blue-development-black-sea#
More about INTERSMARTS: https://intersmarts.eu/
INTERSMARTS Innovation Management Platform: https://innoplatform.intersmarts.eu/en
