Aqua Innovation: Blooming Technologies for Blue Economy - Ubiwhere gathered Blue Economy experts to discuss best practices in maritime sustainability

"Aqua Innovation: Blooming Technologies for Blue Economy" was held based on a programme that involved sharing good practices between intermediate entities and companies on initiatives that promote sustainability and competitiveness in the Blue Economy.

The event started with a guided tour of the COMUR Museum, a museum dedicated to preserving and enhancing the memory of the eel canning industry in the Murtosa and Aveiro regions. Afterwards, all the participants and guests attended the welcome session, which was attended by Januário Cunha, Deputy Mayor of Murtosa, Nuno Ribeiro, co-CEO of Ubiwhere, Rui Rocha, CEO of RiaSearch. One of the organisations also on board at the event was the DGPM - Directorate General for Maritime Policy, in the person of the Director General, Marisa Lameiras da Silva, who highlighted the importance of "Aqua Innovation: Blooming Technologies for Blue Economy" due to its focus on finding more economically and environmentally sustainable solutions in the aquaculture sector.

Waves of innovative ideas were shared, and new digital seas were explored at this event: "Aqua Innovation: Blooming Technologies for Blue Economy" was attended by Trond Rafoss, a renowned Norwegian researcher, who was the main speaker at the "Innovation Trends and Bilateral Relations for the Blue Growth" session, where shared his experiences and study perspectives, disseminating inspiring methods for boosting the sustainable growth of the Blue Economy.

One of the most prominent initiatives at the event was the dissemination of the Blue Control Centre, a project promoted by Ubiwhere with a focus on aquaculture. The presentation of the project by Ana Pereira, R&I Dissemination Manager, and Rita Santiago, Head of R&I at Ubiwhere, consisted of explaining its main features and revealing Ubiwhere’s contribution to the development of the project: the Blue Control Centre proposes to connect aquaculture to a platform that enables real-time decision-making and the measurement of the impact of the necessary indicators on the tanks. From this perspective, Ubiwhere, together with the other entities in the consortium - Landbasert Akvakultur Norge and the University of Agder - is responsible for creating a connected monitoring platform in the form of a control centre that will integrate data from various sources to help fish farmers get an overview of their operations, which translates into more informed decisions. This connected monitoring platform was presented as a demonstration to all the participants.

This event also centred on Ubiwhere’s role in the digital transition of the Blue Economy sector by showing the work of the Digital Nervous System Testbed by Ubiwhere and the DigitAQUA Testbed by RiaSearch at the Round Table focused on "The future of Blue Economy - Innovation Enablers". Funded by the PRR - Resilience and Recovery Programme, these solutions presented innovative technologies that have already been developed, such as real-time monitoring of aquaculture production. Some organisations discussed the importance of using new technologies for the sustainable management of maritime resources, such as Ubiwhere, RiaSearch, Flatantic, the Port of Aveiro and Landbasert Akvakultur Norge As.

The “Aqua Innovation: Blooming Technologies for Blue Economy" organised by Ubiwhere, in collaboration with RiaSearch, was an important milestone in the search for innovative and sustainable solutions in the Blue Economy sector. Bringing together experts, companies, and institutions showcased the power of collaboration and technology to tackle current challenges and promote innovation projects.