EMODnet Associated Partners were active at the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, with members FUGRO, SOCIB, CMMI, HR Wallingford and more presenting in Plenary and taking part in Townhall discussions. During the flagship EMODnet week, EMODnet also welcomed three new Associated Partners, namely, e-BO Enterprises, Puertos del Estado and Marine Centre Wales, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, promoted on the EMODnet Portal website and on social media.

EMODnet’s recent unification has been a game-changer for its interoperability and contribution to global ocean data initiatives. A session was dedicated to EMODnet’s global impact, including presentations from Peter Pissierssens of IODE of IOC/UNESCO, Lennert Tyberhein of VLIZ, Belgium and Jan-Bart Calewaert, Head of the UN Ocean Decade Coordination Office for data sharing.

EMODnet has a very diverse and expanding user base, across European stakeholder communities, and beyond. A session was dedicated to these users, bringing together stakeholders from EU Policy, Blue Economy, and Wider Society to discuss the tangible value of EMODnet data, data products and services. Panels explored its application in EU Policy, including the EU Green Deal, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Maritime Spatial Planning Directive and more, supporting the Blue Economy – including Offshore Renewable Energy and Coastal Tourism, and benefiting wider society, supplying marine data and knowledge to non-governmental organisations and the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters and Horizon Europe projects, and working with these entities including citizen science to bring more societal data into EMODnet, which also powers the EC European Atlas of the Seas for Ocean Literacy.

EMODnet experts Dick Schaap, MARIS, The Netherlands; Antonio Novellino, ETT, Italy; and Sissy Iona, HCMR, Greece presented on EMODnet in the marine knowledge value chain, EMODnet’s partnership with the Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet Data Ingestion. In two subsequent Panels, EMODnet's key role in the marine knowledge value chain and its strong connections with the ocean observation and data collection community were showcased. EMODnet’s contribution to the EC Ocean Observation Initiative, including the value of the EMODnet’s Sea-basin Checkpoint activities on data adequacy at regional sea-basin level, and EMODnet’s contribution to the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) were also discussed with diverse stakeholder representatives.

EMODnet is about the people and its diverse community. At the Open Conference 2023, an interactive session featured an overview of the EMODnet Virtual Exhibition, together with diverse community poster pitches, and an open mic Panel where members of the community could provide perspectives and recommendations.

The interactive dialogues at the EMODnet Open Conference 2023 included a series of Townhalls which provided a unique platform for focused discussions on various critical aspects of EMODnet. Topics for the 2023 Townhalls included: EMODnet, Ocean Best Practices, and Interoperability; EMODnet for EU Policy; EMODnet and the Blue Economy; and EMODnet, EU Mission Ocean and wider society. These were organized and co-Chaired by members of the EMOD-network and invited experts, with EMODnet and the European Marine Board Secretariats jointly serving as rapporteur and facilitators. For each Townhall, a representative presented key messages back to the Plenary on Day 2.

At the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, a new video animation was released that explains the EMODnet unified service, noting the centralisation of all 7 EMODnet thematics into one portal, and what is means for EMODnet’s diverse user community. Follow the link to watch the full video.

The EMODnet Open Conference 2023 took stock of EMODnet’s evolution to-date into the operational European Commission in situ marine data service it is today, a flagship initiative funded by the EC DG MARE, and one of the main Marine Knowledge assets of the European Union. Charlina Vitcheva, Director-General of DG MARE opened the Conference with a keynote address, noting “I have seen EMODnet grow from a network of marine communities to a single point of access supporting sustainable marine policies. It is now an integral part of the Green Transition, establishing good practices by providing good data". This was followed by a welcome address from Kate Larkin, Head of the EMODnet Secretariat who spoke about the unified EMODnet service and the key features and functionalities of the EMODnet Portal, also recognizing the large and diverse EMOD-network community driving the innovation and success of the EMODnet services to-date.

An EMODnet Call to Action was launched during the Closing Session of the EMODnet Open Conference on November 30th, 2023. This calls upon key actors across the National, Regional, European and Global marine knowledge community to increase their engagement with EMODnet, and to actively contribute to shape EMODnet’s evolution, taking community and political action to ensure EMODnet can not only consolidate, but also expand to meet user demand, to operate as a fully functioning, operational service of the European Commission.

Between 27-30 November 2023 over 340 partners, associated partners, and stakeholders of the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) gathered in Brussels for the third EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree. The week kicked off with a Partner Jamboree with the >120 partners exchanging on their latest service developments and joint activities. The Open Conference was a public event, moderated by Karen Coleman. With a line-up of over 75 speakers across the 1.5 days, the event highlighted EMODnet’s crucial role in the European Marine Data Ecosystem, focusing on a "Digital and Green Future." If you missed a session or want to revisit the insights, the Plenary video recordings together with event photos are now available on the Conference website, with Plenary and Townhall presentations also being made available over the next few days. A full conference report will follow in early 2024. This November 2023 EMODnet News Digest is dedicated to Conference and Jamboree 2023 highlights, with news articles also posted on the EMODnet Portal (see links below). Further updates of the EMOD-network activities will come in the end of year issue, coming out end of December.

The European Atlas of the Seas was featured in several components of the EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree, including the Virtual Exhibition, the Jamboree session “Citizen Science and EMODnet”, the Townhall ‘EMODnet, EU Mission Ocean and wider society’ and the panel “EMODnet by and for wider society” within the session “EMODnet impact for society”. These sessions showed how EMODnet can support the European Union Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” and included discussions on the benefits of the contribution of citizens and citizen science projects to data sharing and how this could be done. The Atlas poster was presented to the audience during the EMODnet Community poster pitches. Both the Atlas Teachers Corner and the My Maps tool were highlighted as tools to support education.

On 29-30 November 2023, the full EMODnet partnership of > 120 organisations and wider stakeholders will gather in Brussels, Belgium for the third edition of the “EMDOnet Open Conference 2023: Powering the European Marine Data Ecosystem”. Save-the-date for this interactive event. Registration opening soon!

On 13-14 November 2023 EMODnet Biology is offering a workshop in collaboration with MedOBIS and LifeWatch ERIC in the form of an “Autumn School”. The first two days will be organized as a DATAthon where participants can bring their own datasets and exchange knowledge on data management best practices, with a focus on marine biological and biodiversity data.

The 14th EMODnet Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting, was held online on 18th October 2023. At the TWG, EMODnet technical experts exchanged on the latest EMODnet Central Portal developments, including user-driven evolution for 2024 and beyond.

A survey was recently launched to gather feedback from various stakeholders identified by the EMODnet Biology consortium. The results will be used to help us plan two workshops that will be held in 2024 and to align our work with the wider community requirements.

EMODnet is pleased to announce the release of the EMODnet Open Conference 2023 full draft programme including over 50 expert speakers and panelists. The event will take place on 29-30 November in Brussels, Belgium. Not yet registered? Join the > 200 stakeholders already signed up and secure your place today!

EMODnet was pleased to exhibit at the ICES Annual Science Conference 2023 which took place in Bilbao, Spain on 11-15 September 2023. ICES is a key stakeholder to EMODnet, with ICES being a partner and data provider to multiple EMODnet thematics, including EMODnet Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Human Activities and Data Ingestion. EMODnet experts are also members of a number of ICES Working Groups. The event also saw the launch of the OSPAR Quality Status Report 2023, to which EMODnet data/data products contributed.

We are pleased to announce the release of the OSL 3.0 Final Report and OSL 3.0 Highlights Video. These resources provide a summary of the event which took place in early Spring 2023, and the key results and outcomes. Thanks to all co-organisers, mentors, coaches and participants for an engaging and interactive event that pushed the boundaries of marine data innovation.

Join EMODnet experts on 26-27 September 2023 for a two-day online workshop "EMODnet for Coastal tourism". The workshop will take place over two half-days (mornings) and is designed to explore how the coastal tourism industry can benefit from EMODnet’s diverse marine environmental and human activities data/data products and services, and to explore data sharing opportunities from this rapidly expanding Blue Economy sector. Register your interest to join today!

EMODnet Biology experts completed another data harvest during summer 2023. In this new batch, EMODnet Biology integrated more than 230K new occurrence records from a total of 23 datasets, from which 4 were updates to already existing datasets.