Meet Iliad at UNOC 2025 and One Ocean Science Congress in Nice
June 2nd, 2025
As the global ocean community gathers in Nice for the One Ocean Science Congress and the UN Ocean Conference 2025 (UNOC), the EU-funded Iliad Project will bring its Digital Twin technologies to the world stage.
From June 3–5, consortium members will present their latest work on citizen science, interoperability, and digital ocean innovation, demonstrating how data-driven tools can accelerate sustainable ocean governance and blue economic growth.
At the heart of Iliad’s contribution is its suite of thematic and local Digital Twins of the Ocean, developed over the past three years to support sustainable management in coastal zones, aquaculture sites, and marine protected areas. These digital twins are now live and accessible through the Iliad Marketplace, where users can run simulations, explore real-time ocean data, and visualize marine dynamics within an open-data framework.
By empowering researchers, policymakers, and businesses with accessible digital tools, Iliad is supporting informed decision-making, capacity development, and the uptake of digital technologies across Europe and beyond.
Live Sessions
Four Iliad partners will be on-site in Nice, engaging directly with conference participants through presentations and poster sessions:
Houssine Nibani (Association de Gestion Intégrée de Ressources – AGIR, Morocco) will present a case study on Cala Iris, where Iliad partnered with local communities to co-design a coastal Digital Twin. His session will highlight how citizen science, water-quality monitoring, and shoreline mapping can directly inform sustainable coastal management.
Garabet Kazanjian (American University of Armenia) will speak on scaling citizen science for water stewardship, demonstrating how community-generated data can contribute to European repositories and enhance the impact of digital twins.
In addition, three Iliad research posters will be featured during the poster sessions at the One Ocean Science Congress:
Thematic and Local Twins of the Ocean – Presented by Bente Lilja Bye (BLB, Norway). To view the poster click here.
Digital Twins Interoperability Architecture – Presented by Arne Jørgen Berre (SINTEF Digital, Norway). To view the poster click here.
Navigating the Future with Digital Twins – Presented by Garabet Kazanjian (AUA, Armenia). To view the poster click here
Each poster explores a different dimension of Iliad’s technological achievements and the pathways they open for future ocean action.
Iliad Competitions 2025
As part of its broader engagement strategy, Iliad is also launching the Competitions 2025, a call to early-career researchers, startups, and entrepreneurs with bold ideas in ocean tech. Winners will gain mentorship, visibility, and the chance to present their solutions during an online panel at OCEANS 2025 in Brest. To register to the Competitions click here.
Onboarding Webinar: June 5 at 15:00 CEST
Submission Deadline: June 5 at midnight CEST
Whether you're developing new tools, launching a blue-tech startup, or seeking to engage with global peers, this is an opportunity to help shape the digital future of our oceans.
For more information click here.
