Ales Gnamus’s research while affiliated with Jožef Stefan Institute and other places

The smart Specialisation strategy design and implementation offer European territories a solid paradigm for developing effective innovation governance, improving innovation policy capacities, enhancing public-private partnerships, offering a common platform for inter-regional cooperation activities, and an operative engagement of stakeholders in the international value chains. The sustainable Smart Specialisation strategies framework can play a key role as an enabler of a sustainable transformation of the European economy towards the Green Deal by streamlining innovation activities around the value chains to reach the competitiveness edge of Europe vis-à-vis the rest of the world. The Blue Economic activities represent an essential component of the European Green Deal activities in the regions and Member States by safeguarding healthy oceans, seas, and waters. One of the emerging blue economy sectors with considerable “greening” potential for a stable water supply in the ever-growing areas with increasing water imbalances is the desalination sector. Besides its essential role in providing water in the areas suffering water shortages, the sector has the potential for creating prosperity and employment in some territories of Europe through a combination of innovation-based sustainable water, energy and chemical technologies, coupled with environmental and societal challenges. This report aims at analysing the sector from the innovation, the EU policy and regional perspectives - in the latter with examples of implementation of desalination technologies in the three types of regions with specific water supply issues across Europe. Examples are provided in the water-scarce regions of Southern Europe, in European Western and Northern regions, and in the particular case of island regions, where a stable water supply through desalination improves the living conditions and local economy substantially. Overall, the desalination sector provides a sustainable solution for agro-food systems and integrated water provision and management in the water-scarce areas, makes those often vulnerable territories more climate-resilient, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally and socially sustainable, and contributes to climate adaptation by solving the water scarcity, food security, soil health by enhancing rainwater infiltration and water reuse, nutrition, health and well-being of the population in these areas. Given the increasing climate change pressures, a holistic approach to addressing global freshwater scarcity through sustainable and innovative solutions is needed. The sector of desalination will be granted increasing protagonism in the endeavours to enhance territorial resilience, improve ecosystem services, biodiversity and a more sustainable agricultural production in Europe and beyond.

In May 2019, DG MARE and the JRC published its Blue economy Report. The main focus was on boosting a “blue” economy, the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, through entrepreneurship, investment, and research and innovation. In order to better understand and illustrate the new opportunities coming from the Blue economy, this report introduces the emergent sector of Blue biotechnology. As one part of the larger Biotechnology sector, dedicated to marine bioresources, it is difficult to clearly define the sector. However, experts agree on the important value of the Blue biotechnology a) to make the existing sector of aquaculture and macroalgae harvesting more efficient and sustainable, and b) to develop new biological products and applications from marine bioresources with uses in energy, cosmetics, nutrition, health or manufacturing. 12 countries and 53 regions in the EU present linkages to the Blue biotechnology in their Smart Specialisation Strategies. A comprehensive screening of EU supported interventions in the current 2014-2020 funding period showed that € 238.6 million of EU funds have been invested in 182 projects and initiatives related to Blue biotechnology with a total budget of EUR 336 million. Smart Specialisation Strategies are a policy instrument which favour the discovery of innovation potential, also in the Blue biotechnology.

This report gives an overview of the Western Balkan region, looking at challenges and emerging potentials for innovation. It presents tools and methodologies available at the JRC to support an innovation agenda for economic transformation inspired by smart specialisation. Each challenge is supported by a concrete implementation example.

RIS3 is a process, at the end of which regional/national strategies should identify activities, in which an investment of resources is likely to stimulate knowledge-driven growth. The Eye@RIS3 is an online database, intended as a tool to help strategy development rather than a source of statistical data. Regions are requested to introduce/update input in the database, which will produce a realistic map of the process of RIS3 development. The database provides you with information on the envisioned priorities of other regions. The purpose of the database is to give an overview of regions’ priorities in order to enable others to position themselves, to find their unique niches and to seek out potential partners for collaboration. Data on envisaged priorities come from RIS3 strategies, peer review workshops and expert assessment reports that has been added to the database by the S3 Platform; as well as contributions from regions that have uploaded their envisaged priorities. See more: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eye-ris3

Total mercury and methylmercury concentrations from long-term monitoring of the terrestrial soil-vegetation-herbivore-carnivore food chain with regard to accumulation and transformation processes were studied in areas of Slovenia contaminated with mercury to differing degrees, as well as uncontaminated areas. Assessment of the inhaled and ingested contribution of mercury from the environment in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.), the selected wild mammal species living in these areas, showed that while the ratio between these two routes of uptake is relatively constant, food intake of mercury in roe deer is much more important than inhaled mercury, which represents only up to 0.2% of ingested Hg. Although the plant species comprising roe deer foodstuffs were not active accumulators of mercury from soil or air, vegetation mediates significant transfer of Me-Hg to herbivores, and this becomes subject to further accumulation in the higher trophic levels of this food chain. Besides roe deer other bioindicators such as chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L.) were selected to confirm the uptake of mercury from plants. Though the conclusions drawn from the carnivorous predators lynx (Felis lynx L.) and wolves (Canis lupus L.) are limited due to the limited number of subjects (8 and 2, respectively), the results and their comparison to other environmental data showed the transfer of Hg from soil (and air) to vegetation, herbivores and carnivores further up the food chain. The results of the measurements as well as concentration factors (CF) and bio-accumulation factors (BAF) show appreciable accumulation of Me-Hg and less marked accumulation of T-Hg at higher trophic levels of this terrestrial food chain. Interestingly, higher accumulation of Me-Hg was observed in those environments polluted with high concentrations of inorganic mercury compared to less contaminated and control areas.

To evaluate the degree of contamination with mercury and its transfer in food webs in the active mercury mining area of Idrija, concentrations in soil profiles, plants and animal tissues were analyzed during the period from 1990 to 1996. Total mercury (T-Hg) and methylmercury concentrations (Me-Hg) were determined in body tissues and fur of roe deer, Capreolus capreolus L. (n = 20), their diet (composite plant samples of a minimum of 40 plant species), soil samples, and in tissues of their predators such as the wolf, Canis lupus L. (n = 2), and lynx, Lynx lynx L. (n = 8). The study was focused on the wider area of the active mercury mine in Idrija, the abandoned mercury mining area in Podljubelj, where mining and smelting ceased in 1900, and five non-polluted locations in Slovenia. Special attention was paid to proper sample collection, preparation and storage. The concentration levels of total and methylmercury in roe deer tissues are correlated with those in their composite vegetal diet, and soil samples from the polluted area. A correlation with the distance from the mercury source was observed (T-Hg: r 2 < 0.62; Me-Hg: r 2 < 0.73). Herbivore tissues which originate from the active mining area contain up to 350 times higher concentrations of mercury than controls. The tissues of old animals mostly contain high Hg concentrations compared to the corresponding tissues of young animals. However, in the Idrija area the relationship with the age of roe deer was less distinctive due to the influence of the particular spatial exposure gradient. Total mercury concentrations in roe deer organs descend as follows: kidney >> liver > fur > pineal gland >> suprarenal gland > spleen > masseter muscle > lung > pituitary gland > eye sections > sections of the central nervous system (CNS). A large portion of Hg (20 to 85%) in animal tissues from the contaminated area was present as methylmercury (except in the liver and kidney), despite the fact that inorganic Hg and elemental Hg are the primary sources of pollution in the area. The percentage of Me-Hg in composite plant samples and soil profiles was very small (0.14 to 2%). Our data indicate that in the terrestrial environment, roe deer tissues can be successfully used as an indicator of mercury contamination, transfer and accumulation processes. Furthermore, a positive correlation between mercury concentrations in certain roe deer and human tissues from residents of the mining area suggests that roe deer tissues may be successfully used as biomonitors and thus as an early warning of elevated mercury concentration levels in man. However, mercury levels in selected predator species do not follow locally enhanced Hg concentrations in their prey (roe deer) or in vegetation and soils from the polluted area. Since the predators selected occupy larger territories and their prey contains different mercury levels, they are considered less suitable for monitoring of locally enhanced Hg contamination.

Tissue samples from deer and from plants in the area around the world's second largest mercury mine in Idrija, Slowenia as well as soil samples were analyzed for their total contents of mercury and methyl-mercury during the time period 1990 to 1994 (see Figs. 2, 3 and 4, Tab. 4–6). The total mercury contents of the tissues of deer inhabiting the vicinity of the mine were nearly 100× higher than that of controls. The proportions of methyl-mercury as part of total mercury are given in percent. The highest Me-Hg contents are found in samples of brain tissues, with quantities up to 80%. The considerable reduction in mercury mining during the 1970's has not comparably reduced the amount of mercury pollution (Fig. 5 and Tab. 7). The results are compared to those obtained for human tissues from the 1970's and 1980's (Fig. 6) in order to emphasize the suitability of deer as bioindicators.