InnovaMare project took part to the 12^th Breaking the Surface event, the international interdisciplinary workshop on maritime robotics and applications, with a round table organized on September 29^th, 2020 by project partner the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The event has been held within the framework of project funded by the Interreg Italy – Croatia Programme, designed to develop and establish a model of innovation ecosystem in the field of underwater robotics and sensors for control pollution in Adriatic sea.

Artificial fish swimming in the Adriatic Sea to collect data on marine pollution and how modern technology and robotics can help us to preserve marine ecosystem were some of the interesting topics discussed at the round table.

The discussion, moderated by Mateo Ivanac from the Croatian Chamber of Economy, has been attended by Fantina Madricardo from the Venice Institute for Marine Research (ISMAR-CNR), Ivana Palunko from the University of Dubrovnik, Gregory Yovanof from the study of Information Technology in Athens, Massimo Caccia from the Institute of Marine Engineering of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-INM) and Nikola Mišković from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER) of the University of Zagreb.

Starting from the sea pollution and ecology as a global social challenge with a huge impact on society and economy, the panelists experimented some solutions together, embracing the same goal of InnovaMare project.

Mišković emphasized that we must determine our strengths and advantages of the national and European level and then focus on their development. “In Croatia, we must encourage the economy to use and apply scientific research in practice, in which we need to invest as much as possible. Software, hardware and sensors are becoming more advanced and with interdisciplinary cooperation, they will develop even faster. This cooperation is a model from the academic community to the market itself, where innovations are commercialized”.

Madricardo emphasized that InnovaMare provides opportunities to use sophisticated technology to reduce costs and improve the results of marine ecosystem research. “We can automate a lot of research ships, and advanced sensors give us a better picture of the seabed and its mapping options. The technology also helps underwater archaeologists, that have been especially important for pollution monitoring and collecting data”.

Palunko said that the technology is already available, but it is expensive, so cooperation with the economy is needed in order to develop systems that will be commercially viable for implementation. “The possibilities are practically limitless, and with further technological improvements, the area of ​​use is growing further”, said Palunko, adding that Dubrovnik is one of the cities most endangered by sea pollution.

“Cooperation between science, government institutions and companies is key to the development of a good innovation ecosystem. Now we have excellent conditions and incentives to develop such a system as part of this project and I am convinced that this will lead to concrete results,” Yovanof said.

Mr. Caccia agreed, that the implementation of the InnovaMare project is a chance to take concrete steps together, because the technology is evolving rapidly and gives us the opportunities to work cheaper and more modular robots that can help to preserve the ecosystem, pointed out that “Croatia and Italy are ready for that shift”.

The discussion pointed out, in conclusion, that education of young people is crucial because we are currently educating only scientists and engineers in schools, but not entrepreneurs. Therefore, is very important that we teach young people entrepreneurial skills from an early age.

The programme of the Breaking the Surface event 2020, held in Biograd na Moru (Croatia) from September 27th to October 4th, 2020, has been changed due to the current worldwide pandemic, while maintaining its role of a meeting place for international experts, academics, scientists, industry representatives and students from various fields such as marine robotics and marine remote sensing, maritime and nautical archaeology and history, submerged cultural landscapes, marine biology, biological oceanography and marine natural conservation, maritime security.

Several lectures of experts from European institutions have treated topics from adaptive morphology for Aerial-Aquatic Robots to hybrid acoustic-optical underwater communication networks for next-generation cooperative systems; Ph.D. students from the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb have presented their researches, and six tutorials have enriched this 12^th edition of the workshop that encourages interaction and the exchange of knowledge and experience about the field of maritime robotics and its applications.