The DOF 2024 kicked off on 12 June with a Scientific and Technical (S&T) Workshop which gathered over 70 EU projects. The workshop focused on exploring the capabilities and future developments of the EDITO platform, co-developed by EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Services, and how EU projects and the Research and Innovation community in Europe and beyond could be involved in the testing of the EDITO platform and co-development of the European DTO, including interoperability and creating applications for societal use. EMODnet experts from the EMODnet Central Portal Technical Team and EDITO-Infra Technical team spanning the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), EMODnet Secretariat and Seascape Belgium were active at the S&T workshop, also taking leading roles in Chairing, presenting and rapporteuring at the four break-out sessions which spanned EU DTO technical developments, and interoperability, with Conor Delaney, Technical Coordinator of EMODnet speaking at a breakout session that addressed the challenges, opportunities, and user needs related to the EDITO Data Lake & Modelling Engine. Other breakout sessions look at how the EU DTO can serve EU Policy, and more.
Breakout Sessions during DOF 2024
On 13 June, a high-level public DOF 2024 event was held, open to all and web-streamed. The event was moderated by journalist Katrina Sichel, with opening interventions by Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, European Commission, Johan Hanssens, Secretary-General in the Flanders Department for Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI), Belgium, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, French Ambassador for the Poles and the Oceans and Pascal Lamy, Chair of the Board of the EU Mission restore our Ocean and Waters.
Kestutis Sadauskas, Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for maritime affairs and fisheries, European Commission then unveiled the prototype of the European Digital Twin Ocean, followed by a presentation on EDITO: the European Digital Twin Ocean public infrastructure by Pierre Bahurel, Copernicus Marine Service, Mercator Ocean International. The event also included demonstrations on digital applications developed by European projects and feedback from wider stakeholders on initial testing and usability of the EDITO-Infra platform.
Kestutis Sadauskas, European Commission, Deputy Director-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
In a Panel “Digital Twin Ocean: a game changer for Ocean knowledge and action” Kate Larkin, Head of the EMODnet Secretariat, highlighted that ocean observations and marine data provide the truth and the marine knowledge baseline for the EU DTO, and that the EU DTO will only reach its full potential with the right fuel: namely integrated data that work together across services and disciplines. She explained that to deliver this, the two EC marine data services Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet are working together to provide the data backbone for the EU DTO. And she noted this technical cooperation is powerful as it’s the first time these two EU marine data assets are offering their full data offer in one single place, via a common data lake directly on the cloud, feeding the EU DTO. She also noted that the EU DTO is an additional toolbox that is developed by and for society. It will deliver faster access to more robust, higher resolution, diverse and scalable marine data on the cloud. This will be a step-change for building reliable and repeatable models, and ultimately offering a base-line platform for applications and decision-making tools that can be used by the Blue Economy, EU Policy and more.
DOF 2024 Panel “Digital Twin Ocean: a game changer for Ocean knowledge and action”.
The event underscored the collaborative nature of the EU DTO, engaging experts, policymakers, and stakeholders in its co-design, noting that co-creation is essential to ensure the EU DTO evolves to provide the EU digital ocean and water knowledge system providing a range of fit-for-purpose modelling applications and decision-support tools the Blue Economy, to support EU Policy including the EU Green Deal and as a key component of the EU ocean and water the marine contribution to the Destination Earth (DestinE) as a flagship initiative of the EC to develop a highly accurate digital model of the Earth on a global scale, also as an European contribution to the Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development.
The recording of the high-level event and the agenda is available at: https://research-innovation-community.ec.europa.eu/events/h7uobayO6LStKgfICGuxj/programme
For more details, visit: Digital Ocean Forum 2024 (edito.eu).
