The power of open-access interoperable marine data for the Blue Economy

  • The power of open-access interoperable marine data for the maritime sector: An untapped resource?
  • Access to marine data and information: The role of European marine data portals in knowledge transfer
  • How can publicly funded marine information sharing initiatives develop to meet industry user needs? What are the specific needs of SMEs?
  • What are the bottlenecks to more efficient exploitation of marine observation and data resources by the private sector? 
  • What are the next steps to improve collaborations between public data initiatives and the private sector catalysing the conversion of information to innovation?

On 11 and 12 October 2016 during SeaTech 2016, we are inviting industrial partners to a dedicated Marine Information Workshop: From publicly available resources to innovation in the blue economy. The workshop is designed for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises developing innovative applications with the use of marine data. Those include, among others: risk forecast and prevention, information services and products for coastal tourism, offshore siting and operations, design and optimization of infrastructure for the off-shore sector, as well as services required for the European Union directives such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Marine Spatial Planning Directive.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises can take advantage of the public marine data resources and generate value delivering specific services for their customers. The European Commission recognises the Blue Growth opportunities offered by the wealth of publicly-funded marine observation and data initiatives. To this end, the European Union have supported the establishment of several valuable marine data portals, freely providing marine data on a wide range of parameters as well as a range of data products (e.g. maps) covering all European maritime regions. However, a gap exists between what is available in those open marine data portals and what maritime users need in terms of types of data and data products.

The SeaTech Marine Information Workshop for Industry will facilitate a dialogue between two communities that do not traditionally come together, the European marine data and observation community – working to generate, aggregate and disseminate marine data – and the companies who can capitalize on these efforts to create value-added products and services. The workshop is co-organized by EuroGOOS and EMODnet, in collaboration with Plocan, SmartBay Ireland, and Marine South East, within the activities of the European Union H2020 COLUMBUS project, and will be held as part of ‘A Connected Ocean‘ conference.

In addition to the Marine Information Workshop for Industry, the SeaTech week will provide a range of potential business opportunities for maritime industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. The SeaTech week 2016 will bring together about 1,500 maritime innovation stakeholders, from research institutes and academia to companies and maritime clusters. The business opportunities of SeaTech 2016 include B2B meetings, Techno-Market and Brokerage events, as well as a professional exhibition. The exhibition participants will include over 20 companies (CADDEN, CLS, MARITECH, and others), leading public institutions and clusters (IFREMER, EUROPOLE MER, IEEE-OES, and others), as well as members of the French association of virtual reality.  Participants of the Marine Information Workshop for Industry will be offered display space at the Workshop exhibition stand.

The workshop dates: 11-12 October 2016. The interactive workshop will take place on the morning of 12 October, the opening plenary is on the afternoon of 11 October. 

Location: Le Quartz, SeaTech Week, Brest, France

Programme, registration and further information: available on the workshop webpage

Registration fee is 75€ and includes attendance to the workshop, as well as the entire ‘A Connected Ocean’ conference, social events, and access to SeaTech exhibition.

The post The power of open-access interoperable marine data for the Blue Economy appeared first on EuroGOOS.