SMAUG’s Third General Assembly Meeting and Review
Pisa, Italy, March 31st to April 2nd, 2025
The SMAUG project partners travelled to Pisa, Italy, for the project’s third General Assembly Meeting and Review. Hosted at the wonderful premises of Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, over three days, the project partners came together to assess progress, share updates and initial results, and collaboratively steer the project into its next critical eighteen months, which will mark its completion.
The meeting started with a warm welcome from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, providing an insightful presentation of the university and the city of Pisa. The day was structured around progress updates across all the project’s core Work Packages, including WP1 Project Management, WP2 Legality Attentive Dimensions, WP3 Maritime Security Information Management, WP4 Underwater Detection and Location, WP5 Smart Integration of Data Sources, WP5 Outreach, Exploitation, and Collaboration, and WP8 Ethics requirements. The Work package leaders presented the work implemented during the eighteen months of the project’s implementation, risks that have risen and the next steps towards the expected outcomes and results.
The Second Day was focused on the project’s Use Cases. More precisely, Use Case 1 (Spain), Use Case 2 (Greece), and Use Case 3 (Norway) were presented by Valencia Port, Heraklion Port Authority/Elefsis Port Authority, and Drammen Port, respectively. Each session provided valuable insights into how SMAUG’s technologies will operate in real-world maritime environments, the specific threats they address, the timeline and methods for pilot implementation, and the identification of potential risks and challenges to ensure thorough preparation for their execution.
The Third Day kicked off in Pontedera, Pisa, where the project’s first review occurred. The emphasis was placed on the project’s core objectives, presented through a comprehensive analysis for the reviewers, detailing the implemented activities, achieved milestones, and outlining the strategic roadmap for future development.
Looking Ahead
The SMAUG consortium leaves the project’s third General Assembly Meeting, and Review aligned with concrete plans and shared vision driving the next phase of the project’s implementation. General Assembly Meetings offer a valuable opportunity for in-person collaboration, engaging discussions, and brainstorming sessions that advance the project and bring its objectives closer to implementation.
We are already looking forward to the upcoming one!
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