FP7 - EUROFLEETS project

Programme: FP 7

Project Title: Towards an alliance of European Research Fleets

Acronym: Eurofleets

Duration: 2009-2013

Total Budget : € 7.200.000

Web site: www.eurofleets.eu

Summary: The marine environment represents a vast reserve of still unexplored natural resources and offers possibilities that can be considered towards supporting European economic development. As a research arena, the ocean is costly to access even with satellites and highly variable, complex and still unpredictable. Because of the increasing complexity of societal demands and the profound influence on our daily lives, marine research and technology should be addressed in a consistent, holistic and coherent way. A long-term perspective should also be adopted when planning and organizing marine research in Europe. Fragmentation, together with a lack of cohesion and strategic vision, is still the greatest weakness of European marine research. The EUROFLEETS consortium considers that only by pulling resources and infrastructures together, a strong innovation impact could be achieved in terms of:

-Identifying and quantifying actual and potential marine resources,
-Maintaining high resolution and sustainable observing systems,
-Providing better knowledge and understanding of ecosystem functioning and    processes,
-Providing new and efficient tools and technologies for resource exploration and   development,
-Prediction tools

Contact person in ISMAR: gasparini@sp.ismar.cnr.it

Partnership: