Past projects
Completed initiatives whose results keep working — databases, handbooks and partnerships that stayed alive after the funding ended
RedMarLitter
BSB552 · Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2014–2020 · Innovative techniques and methods for reducing marine litter in the coastal areas of the Black Sea
The foundation’s role
Lead partner
Duration
30 months · 2018 – 2021
Total budget
€580,335.60
Partners
4 organisations from 3 countries
The Black Sea is semi-enclosed — the litter that enters it stays in it. RedMarLitter started from a simple question: where exactly does it accumulate, and why. Answering it meant connecting two things that until then had been collected separately: data on sea currents and data on the litter itself.
The project built a shared cross-border database for Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia which, by the end of the project, held 11,760 current records (depth, current speed and direction, sea state, wind) and 1,096 litter records (type, shape, size, concentration, trajectory). On top of them a computer model was developed that forecasts the movement of litter and pinpoints the places of highest concentration — the mapping of so-called hot spots.
Guided by that analysis, pilot clean-ups using innovative techniques were carried out at pre-defined sites, and everything learned was brought together in a manual on the environmentally responsible management of marine litter. The database remains publicly accessible after the end of the project.
Smart Farming 4.0 All
Erasmus+ · Strategic Partnerships · Smart Farming in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The foundation’s role
Coordinator
Duration
24 months · 12.2019 – 11.2021
Grant
€155,095
Partners
6 organisations from 5 countries
Smart farming technologies have been around for a long time, but they rarely reach small farms or vocational training. Smart Farming 4.0 All started from there — not to develop a new technology, but to make the existing ones understandable and usable for the people who could put them to work.
The project began with field and desk research in the five partner countries — Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Türkiye — to establish what farmers and trainers actually know and what they need. On that basis a Smart Farming Handbook and a training curriculum were produced, freely available in all the languages of the partnership.
A particular focus was aquaponics — growing fish and plants together in a closed recirculating system where natural bacterial cycles turn fish waste into nutrients for the plants. Demonstration events were held in Romania, Greece, Türkiye and Cyprus.
For the foundation the project also has a sequel: the interest in algae that today underpins AlgaeRevive was born during this work on aquaponics and hydroponics.
“Reflections on the Sea” exhibition
BG-RRP-11.017-0047-C01 · National Recovery and Resilience Plan through the National Culture Fund · NextGenerationEU
The foundation’s role
Beneficiary
Period
20.08 – 31.12.2025
Total budget
BGN 17,588 · grant BGN 15,829
Locations
Marinka and Chernomorets
The sea is such a constant presence in coastal life that people rarely stop to look at it closely. “Reflections on the Sea” is a photography exhibition by Burgas photographer Hristo Anestev that shows the Black Sea as a living organism — the play of the waves, the light at sunrise and the traces of the people whose lives are bound to it.
The exhibition opened on 31 October 2025, Black Sea Day, in front of the town hall in the village of Marinka, stayed there until the end of November and then moved to Chernomorets for the rest of the year. The idea was to draw attention to protecting the marine environment by another route — through art rather than statistics.
The project is funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan through the National Culture Fund, under the scheme for presenting contemporary Bulgarian productions from the cultural and creative industries to Bulgarian audiences.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union — NextGenerationEU. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Via Pontica Foundation and under no circumstances can it be regarded as reflecting the official position of the European Union or the National Culture Fund.
Video from the exhibition
Marinka · October – November 2025
Chernomorets · December 2025