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EMODnet joins European Maritime Day 2023 to showcase its unified services to diverse stakeholders

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©EMODnet at EMD2023

EMODnet was well represented at the European Maritime Day (EMD) 2023, which took place on 24th-25th May 2023, at the BREST EXPO, Parc des Expositions de Penfeld in Brest, France. EMODnet thematic and data ingestion Coordinators, the Central Portal and Secretariat teams were in attendance, with a variety of roles representing EMODnet at the exhibition and multiple stakeholder workshops related to marine and maritime data for innovation and sustained ocean observations. EMODnet also promoted the Open Sea Lab 3.0 hackathon outcomes, represented EMODnet at the EDITO-Infra stand in collaboration with Copernicus Marine Service and promoted the European Atlas of the Seas and EU4Ocean Platform at the EU4Ocean Ocean Literacy stand, in collaboration with Acteon, EU4Ocean partners and members of the EU4Ocean Platform, Youth4Ocean Forum and Network of European Blue Schools.

There was high interest in the EMODnet stand, where stakeholders discussed the latest EMODnet services and use cases, with visits from the diverse marine and maritime stakeholders including the private sector and blue economy, defense sector, public research, civil society, and policy. There was high interest in EMODnet from the European Commission with EMODnet mentioned in EMD 2023 plenary Panel discussions and Director-General Charlina Vitcheva, Director-General of European Commission DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) and Kestutis Sadauskas, Deputy Director-General DG MARE visiting the stand together with colleagues to exchange with the Secretariat and EMODnet Coordinators on the value of EMODnet’s integrated and diverse data and data product portfolio.

The 3 winners of the Open Sea Lab 3.0 hackathon also attended, having been offered an all-expenses paid trip to EMD 2023 as their prize. The winners presented their innovative ideas in pitch sessions, showing how open data from EMODnet, Copernicus Marine Service and ICES can be transformed into concrete services and applications for society, including gamification for ocean literacy.

In summary, the  "Hot Steel"  team proposed a science communication tool using EMODnet's species/biota habitat data to raise awareness about climate change and its impact on the natural world. The "Wildlife Tracker EO" team developed a solution using EMODnet data to identify wildlife hotspots and support marine spatial planning efforts. Lastly, the "Carbon Games: Maritime" team created the GreenWave Navigator prototype, a maritime route planning solution that aims to minimize the environmental impact of sea transportation through advanced data analysis and machine learning techniques.

 

This year, EMD 2023 brought together more than 500 marine and maritime stakeholders spanning the private sector and Blue Economy, the European Commission and wider policy and government, Research, Civil Society.

EMODnet co-organised two stakeholder workshops at EMD 2023:

  1. Benefiting from Maritime Data to Drive Marine Innovation: This workshop took place on 24th May 2023, co-organised by EMODnet, Horizon Europe project Blue-Cloud 2026, Technopôle Brest-Iroise and Vessel AI, also in the context of the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS). At the workshop, EMODnet Secretariat’s Technical Coordinator, Conor Delaney, presented the EMODnet Central Portal and services and with other speakers recognizing the key service that EMODnet provides to users in the private sector, policy, research and beyond.
  2. Sustainable ocean observation, from open sea to coast: shared responsibilities: This workshop took place on 25th May 2023, co-organised by EuroGOOS, EMODnet, EOOS, Esprit de Velox, Ifremer and Research Infrastructures Eurofleets, Euro-Argo, including contributions from EMBRC. EMODnet Head of Secretariat Kate Larkin moderated a Panel with inputs from representatives of the European Commission DG MARE, EU EuroSea project, Global Ocean Observing System (GOS), EuroGOOS, Euro-Argo, and the French Ministry of Research and European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The crucial role of public research-driven ocean observations to EOOS was recognized together with the need for longer-term, more sustained funding for such in situ (in water) ocean observation, that remains a ‘weak link’ in the Marine Knowledge Value Chain and upon which marine data services EMODnet, and its users, depend.