CEEI Valencia connects Mediterranean innovation and local talent on the Croatian island of Brač through the CO2 PACMAN project

Last week, open innovation once again took center stage in the Mediterranean. From 14 to 16 October, the island of Brač (Split) hosted “The Island I Would Like”, a key event of the European project CO2 PACMAN, funded by the Interreg Euro-MED programme. The meeting brought together institutional representatives, researchers, companies, and innovation entities.

The event combined exhibitions, participatory workshops, technical presentations, and field visits focused on topics such as energy efficiency, water management, sustainable mobility, and emission reduction. Within this framework, CEEI Valencia presented the progress made in the open innovation action it has led over the past year within the consortium, with a clear objective: to connect the environmental challenges of Mediterranean islands with innovative business solutions.

To this end, CEEI identified the main challenges of three pilot islands, including Brač, launched them through the Innovation CoLab platform, and coordinated the selection of the most promising proposals, which were later presented at the Business Forum in Valencia before institutional representatives and local stakeholders.

During the event in Croatia, the CEEI Valencia team facilitated an in-person meeting between the most promising solvers and challengers. Among them was the Valencian company Fibsen, specialized in multiparametric fiber-optic sensing technology for real-time water leak detection, which held several meetings with the public company Vodovod Brač to explore the possibility of developing a pilot project at the city’s water treatment plant. Although the agreement has not yet been formalized, both parties have initiated negotiations that point to a promising step forward in technological cooperation.

This outcome strengthens the open innovation model promoted by CEEI Valencia within CO2 PACMAN, demonstrating that a regional organization can act as an effective bridge between local innovative talent and global sustainability challenges.