Small fishes in a big pond

REMORA aims to transform three Ocean and Marine research institutions in the EU's Outermost Regions (CITEB in La Réunion, OKEANOS in the Azores and OOM in Madeira) from ESIF-dependent bodies into Horizon Europe champions.

Currently, these regions face a persistent "innovation divide." In a knowledge economy, talent and resources tend to concentrate in Europe's most dynamic regions, leaving the Outermost Regions marginalized, classified as "Emerging" innovators, and largely absent from EU research programmes. Many also fall into a "substitution trap," where structural funds replace competitive EU funding rather than complementing it, locking these regions into dependency on ESIF.

REMORA sets out to break this cycle. It will strengthen the three institutions' competitiveness, particularly their human resources, knowledge transfer and innovation capacities, alongside their strategic positioning and connections to major EU networks, through a joint internationalization strategy. Their transformation will then serve as a model, guiding other ESIF-oriented research organizations and policymakers across Outermost and Widening Regions toward genuine synergies between regional and EU funding.