Overall, the role of the blue economy is vital for Sweden, with shipping, marine technology, and natural resources being key contributors. Growth potential is significant, despite regional and sector-specific challenges. From 2014 to 2020, Sweden’s marine sectors experienced growth in employment, reaching 44 500 jobs by 2020, with significant hubs in Western Sweden. Annual net turnover averaged 106 billion SEK, contributing notably to Sweden’s business sector turnover.
Value added by marine businesses averaged 31 billion SEK during this period, making up 0.6 % of Sweden’s GDP. Export share for maritime industries was higher than the national average, driven by sectors like Maritime technology and Sea as a natural resource. The shipping sector, responsible for a significant portion of imports and exports, demonstrated growth in value added which was higher compared to the Swedish sector as a whole, despite declining vessel numbers and employment. Sweden’s fishing sector saw fluctuating catch values and declining number of vessels and employment from 2014 to 2020, despite increased landed values. Offshore wind power emerged as a growing sector, with substantial expansion expected to drive employment and economic activity across various industries in Sweden.
Regional differences are notable across the Gulf of Bothnia, Baltic Proper, and Kattegat-Skagerrak. The Kattegat-Skagerrak area stands out with its shipping and fishery sectors, contributing 61 % of Sweden’s transport turnover and 46% of total fish catches. The Baltic Proper seems to be facing a decline in fish catches but remains an important hub for shipping, while the Gulf of Bothnia is less competitive overall, with smaller contributions from fishing and shipping. Wind farms are currently operational only in the Baltic Proper, though similar developments are expected in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Kattegat-Skagerrak area.
Today, in the early 2000s, we live in the dawn of a new era when the total dominance of ships is challenged by a new form of human presence and activity at sea: the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms. The transformative effects of these developments are impossible to assess with certainty, but they must not be underestimated.
Currently, offshore wind farms are being built in relatively shallow areas of the continental shelf within national exclusive economic zones, up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. With the introduction of floating installations, the built-up seascape can theoretically be extended to any part of the sea.
Offshore wind farms create a new built-up seascape
We argue firstly that offshore installations, such as wind farms, should be considered part of a built seascape, and secondly that the current expansion of the built-up seascape represents such a fundamental shift for the blue economy and the maritime sector that it is appropriate to speak of a ‘new blue’.
It is tempting to relate to innovation when thinking of the transformation in the “new blue”. Let us do that. Innovation is commonly referred to as the new or redistributed value, outcomes, results, and impact adopted by the context, market, society, and citizens on planet Earth. We often unconsciously overlook the fact that for an innovation to be adopted by people and have an impact, we need to consciously use common language, metaphors, attractive guiding images, compelling wordings, and knowledge of relational processes.It is tempting to relate to innovation when thinking of the transformation in the “new blue”. Let us do that. Innovation is commonly referred to as the new or redistributed value, outcomes, results, and impact adopted by the context, market, society, and citizens on planet Earth. We often unconsciously overlook the fact that for an innovation to be adopted by people and have an impact, we need to consciously use common language, metaphors, attractive guiding images, compelling wordings, and knowledge of relational processes.
Research on the new blue
The emotional and relational aspects of innovation are particularly relevant to consider in the ‘new blue’, as the built-up seascape challenges the established norm of human presence at sea, a norm that has been in place for centuries and millennia. In the research programme Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2), our approach to innovation is to engage old and new stakeholders of the Swedish blue economy in processes “from data to knowledge to decision and actions”.
Different understandings of the “blue economy” give different emphasis on economic recovery, climate neutrality, circular production, preserving biodiversity, mobility, trade, etcetera. In C2B2 we use the term sustainable blue economy to stress the need to strive for sustainable use of the ocean by various sectors.
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) writes in Environment at a Glance Indicators that efficiency and optimization of natural marine resources within ecological limits is paramount in the blue economy. The ocean is seen as a space for development where marine spatial planning, especially at national level integrates the interests and needs of conservation, sustainable use, extractive activities, marine transportation and coastal tourism, and ensures that the integrity and functioning of coastal and ocean systems is maintained. According to the EU blue economy report 2021, a sustainable blue economy is a means to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and ensure a green and inclusive recovery from the pandemic.
