The European Commission and the Co-Presidency of the Initiative for the sustainable development of the blue economy in the western Mediterranean organised the “Stakeholder conference: Towards concrete ‘blue’ actions in the western Mediterranean”, on Monday 3 December 2018 in Algiers, Algeria. The conference aimed to facilitate the exchange of project ideas and to promote concrete project development among stakeholders in the region operating in the maritime sector (businesses, researchers, institutes, national and local authorities belonging to the western Mediterranean Countries). Project ideas, concrete proposals and potential partnerships were discussed amongst the more than 280 attendants to the event at the working Labs that were organized. A number of financing sources were also discussed as concrete opportunities to move forward with those project ideas and The West Med Assistance Mechanism is now following up with participants and other interested stakeholders to further assess and support the project ideas with greater innovation potential. Please consult the WestMed Initiative webpage (http://www.westmed-initiative.eu/) for updated information.