“It will become apparent that there are not only cross-over effects between green growth and integrated maritime policy, but also between the different maritime economic activities themselves. Shipyards no longer just build large container ships, but they are drivers for the region’s shift to a green economy”, said Jochen Schulte, BSPC Co-Rapporteur on Integrated Maritime Policy, in his opening address at the Conference on Competitiveness of the Maritime Economy in the Baltic Sea Region. The conference, which was held on 12 April in the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin, gathered politicians, experts and practitioners to present and discuss issues such as blue growth, challenges for the port industry and the shipbuilding industry, and emerging maritime technologies. The core aim of the conference was to ponder how maritime economic activities could ensure a continued competitiveness of the Baltic Sea Region, and in which ways political decision-makers could promote and bring added value to the process. “When it comes to the delicate balance between economic and ecological aspects, practically every presentation at the conference has shown that the Baltic Sea Region features a maritime industry that has the capability of dealing with such a balance, which would set it apart from other industries around the world”, concluded Schulte.