AI Meets the Blue Economy
The “AI Meets the Blue Economy” event has been officially confirmed and will take place at Tecnopolo Manifattura in Bologna on 12 February 2026. This comprehensive event will feature keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, collaborative co-design sessions, and an organised visit to CINECA.
The event is organised by seven projects funded by the Interreg Italy–Croatia Programme, under Priority 1: “Sustainable growth in the blue economy”. Supported by the Interreg Italy–Croatia Programme, this gathering aims to highlight the crucial role EU-funded projects play in addressing real-world issues faced by local territories and exploring innovative solutions through artificial intelligence.
Attendees will include experts, policymakers, and Interreg project teams who are dedicated to promoting innovation, sustainability, and collaboration across the Adriatic region. Our AI project team will be actively involved, alongside with the representatives from the University of Udine and the Croatian Veterinary Institute.
Roundtable Session Details
Prof. Giuseppe Serra will participate as speaker in the roundtable discussion titled “AI at Work: Navigating and Solving Project Ecosystem Issues – Innovating Life and Work at Sea.” The session is scheduled as Round 2 from 11:00 to 12:00 will feature contributions from the Beyond, Best 4.0, and Eccentric projects, with moderation by representatives from 3EFishing project, and promises to offer valuable insights into how AI can address challenges and foster advancement in the blue economy sector.
MARINET workshop - IDEA SPACE
In the afternoon from 14:30-16:30 prof.Giuseppe Serra and the young researcher Beatrice Portelli, PhD, both from the University of Udine, will be involved in Workshop entitled "Scaling AI for Mariculture: Data, Interfaces, Expertise, and the Role of Models". The focus is on AI in mariculture and is not just about models — it’s about data quality, sensor reliability, human–AI interaction, and real-world usability. We’ll explore how heterogeneous data, expert knowledge, and infrastructure choices shape scalable, usable AI systems for coastal territories.