On the evening of 21^st of October a number of cross-thematic sessions will be organised at the main conference venue between 18:00 and 20:00 followed by a joint dinner.

Objective:

Make use of the unique opportunity of having all EMODnet thematic project partners join at the same time and location to consider a number of specific challenges and opportunities which are of interest or which would benefit from contributions from experts from more than 1 thematic project or field.

Format:

Attendants are free to attend a number of sessions which will follow the format decided by the lead organiser of these sessions (e.g. lectures, brainstorming, workshops, discussions, meetings, …)

Meeting venue: the activities will take place in Meeting rooms Dactylo, Telefonie and Klas at De Grote Post in city centre Oostende. Participants will be brought to the venue by bus after the partner meetings taking place at the InnovOcean site during the day.

Cross-thematic topics:

The following cross-thematic sessions will be organised:

1. EMODnet data products development (tentative title)
2. Data output & collection (tentative title)
3. Frictions and Restrictions: How to deal with tensions between the needs of data providers and those of data users in terms of providing easy and free access to data? How should EMODnet deal with Data Policies and restrictions?
4. European Marine Information Systems: This session will start with a number of invited presentations of some of the main European marine information systems in various stages of development followed by an open discussion on complementarities and synergies.