Author: george.armagos

The EURMARS Project team was proud to participate in the Research and Innovation Symposium for European Security (RISE-SD 2024), held on October 16-17, 2024, in Chalkidiki, Greece. This event brought together top experts and stakeholders in key areas such as:

• Fighting Crime and Terrorism
• Disaster and Crisis Management
• Critical Infrastructure Protection
• Cybersecurity
• Border Management Research

Sharing Our Vision at RISE-SD

During our presentation, we introduced attendees to the vision, objectives, and expected outcomes of EURMARS. Key highlights included:

• An overview of the EURMARS platform and its cutting-edge technologies.
• Insight into our pilot use cases that aim to enhance border security across Europe.

Engaging with Attendees

At the EURMARS project booth, visitors explored detailed dissemination materials, providing a comprehensive look into the project’s progress and potential. Attendees gained valuable insights into how EURMARS is driving cooperation and efficiency among European multi-authority border security efforts.

Building Connections

RISE-SD 2024 provided an excellent platform to connect with co-organizing projects, leading experts, and key stakeholders. Engaging in these conversations enriched our understanding and furthered our commitment to contributing to a safer and more secure Europe.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited our booth and shared their valuable perspectives. Your insights are instrumental in shaping the future of the EURMARS Project. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue our mission to revolutionize European maritime border security.

The plenary meeting brought together the EURMARS consortium members in Larnaca to review progress, address key challenges, and align on the roadmap ahead.

This important gathering follows the recent successful pilot demonstration in Cyprus, providing a valuable opportunity to reflect on outcomes and insights gained during the real-world testing activities. Discussions are focused on how to leverage these experiences to strengthen and optimise the EURMARS platform moving forward.

Key Focus Areas:

• Assessment of progress across work packages and technical developments
• Review of insights from piloting and validation activities
• Planning of upcoming actions, milestones, and exploitation strategies

The plenary fosters collaboration across the consortium and ensures continued alignment in our shared goal: delivering a cutting-edge, multi-authority platform for enhanced border and maritime surveillance.

The EURMARS Project has successfully concluded its pilot demonstration in Cyprus, focused on real-world scenarios for search and rescue operations. The event took place in Larnaca, with the invaluable support of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC), who hosted and co-organised the activities.

The demonstration brought together project partners, technical teams, and local stakeholders to execute operational scenarios and collect valuable data for further analysis.

Key Highlights:

• Real-time testing of EURMARS technologies in simulated search and rescue scenarios.
• Collaboration with local authorities to ensure realistic operational conditions.
• Collection of rich data to evaluate system performance, identify insights, and refine solutions.

The Cyprus pilot marks a major milestone for the project as we continue to push the boundaries of maritime border surveillance through innovation and cooperation.

We extend our sincere thanks to all partners and participants who contributed to the success of the event and especially to the JRCC in Larnaca for their outstanding support.

The EURMARS Project was proudly presented during the XII International Scientific Conference HEMUS 2024 and the International Defence Equipment and Services Exhibition HEMUS 2024, held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

This dual event brought together key stakeholders from the defence, security, and academic sectors, offering a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange and cross-sectoral collaboration. The EURMARS presentation attracted strong interest from both industry professionals and researchers, highlighting the relevance and innovation of our integrated surveillance solutions for European border security.

During the event, project representatives had the opportunity to:

• Showcase the core objectives and technological innovations behind EURMARS.
• Discuss advancements in maritime surveillance, AI-driven analytics, and multi-authority coordination.
• Engage in meaningful dialogue with representatives from academia, industry, and public authorities on future cooperation opportunities.

We extend our sincere thanks to all attendees who visited the presentation, expressed interest, and supported our efforts. Events like HEMUS 2024 play a vital role in bridging research with real-world impact and strengthening the community around European security.

We are halfway there! And there is still some important work to be done!

The EURMARS Project has reached a significant milestone with the successful completion of our first review event, marking a pivotal transition into the next phase of our journey. The review event took place in Brussels on 28th of May and provided our partners with the opportunity to meet in person, present the goals achieved while allowing for effective discussions and deliberating on the next steps and future developments based on the feedback received.

The insights and feedback gathered from this review event have already begun to catalyse the activities for the upcoming piloting activites. Our team is more energised and committed than ever to push the boundaries of what is possible in our field. As we move into the second half of our journey, we are focused on enhancing our designs, refining operational workflows, and further developing the EURMARS platform.

With the successful conclusion of our Living Labs workshop, we consider opportune to reflect on the progress and collaboration achieved over the past few days. Held between April 15th and April 19th in Varna, Bulgaria, the Living Labs workshop provided an ideal setting for immersive collaboration and experimentation. From setting up the required infrastructure to conducting valuable exercises based on the established use cases, the whole process has demonstrated our commitment to advancing border management and surveillance through innovation and teamwork.

Here’s a summary of the key highlights from our workshop:

• We kicked off the workshop with the equipment setup and integration of all components of the EURMARS platform. This crucial groundwork laid the foundation for the days ahead, ensuring that we were ready to deliver the planned testing scenarios.

• With our Living Labs fully operational, we engaged in a series of exercises focused on real-time vessel activity. Leveraging a multi-sensor approach, including vessel tracking data, ground-based cameras, UAV cameras, and high-resolution satellite imagery, we collected comprehensive data to enhance border management through the EURMARS digital platform.

Throughout the workshop, collaboration among our consortium partners has been at the heart of our success. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the valuable contributions and collaborative spirit of our whole team. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the partners of the EURMARS Consortium for their invaluable participation and unwavering support, which has been instrumental in the success of the Living Labs workshop.

The culmination of this workshop signifies a significant milestone, empowering the EURMARS digital platform with the capability to analyse and visualise data for available sensors, and demonstrating enhanced situation awareness and efficiency in identifying events of interest. Stay tuned for further updates as we persist in harnessing technology and collaboration to elevate standards across the border management domain.

On the 19th of February, the EURMARS project was showcased at the CERIS Workshop on Innovation for Maritime Situational Awareness and Security. The workshop provided a comprehensive overview of European research and innovative solutions, discussing further capability needs relevant for maritime border surveillance, search and rescue at sea, and maritime safety and security. Close to 15 European research projects presented their novel technological solutions to practitioners, policymakers, and fellow innovators alongside EURMARS.

This thematic CERIS Workshop aimed to present and discuss European research and innovative solutions, as well as further capability needs relevant to maritime situational awareness and security. The interested audience included practitioners, especially Coast Guards, as well as innovators and policymakers interested in capabilities such as search-and-rescue at sea, sea border surveillance, and other maritime security and safety functions.

The Workshop brought together updates on EU-funded projects featuring innovative European technologies in the field, from autonomous platforms to data fusion; presented experiences and opportunities for cooperative and integrated information management; and discussed how research results could be more efficiently exploited.

The EURMARS Project’s second plenary meeting took place in Cyprus on October 12 and 13, 2023, offering a valuable occasion for consortium members to meet in person and examine the developments achieved since the last plenary session. Throughout the two-day meeting, an in-depth review of progress within each Work Package and the associated milestones was undertaken.

Participants offered detailed insights into the tasks they lead and the performed and planned activities for each of the tasks.