UN Ocean Conference 2025 – European Digital Ocean Pavilion

The European Digital Ocean Pavilion at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) will offer a unique opportunity for visitors to explore EU's advancements in ocean knowledge and monitoring. Through a series of events and exhibitions from 2 to 13 June, attendees can discover cutting-edge EU assets and technologies. Located in the Green Zone – The Whale, the Pavilion is organized by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS) in partnership with the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), and the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), with Mercator Ocean International as the implementation partner.

The European Digital Ocean Pavilion offers an immersive, interactive, and multidimensional gateway into the Digital Twin of the Ocean, showcasing Europe’s leadership in ocean governance and its commitment to a sustainable blue future.
Designed around three distinct spaces -INSPIRE, ENGAGE, and DECIDE- the Pavilion offers visitors a unique perspective on the EU’s assets and capabilities in advancing ocean knowledge. It highlights the integration of cross-cutting digital technologies, including satellite and in situ observations, artificial intelligence, and cutting-edge modeling, to provide a dynamic view of the ocean’s past, present, and future. Through state-of-the-art simulations, multimedia screens, and interactive installations, visitors can visualize ocean processes, explore "what-if" scenarios, and better understand the ocean’s vital signs. The Pavilion underscores Europe’s commitment to harnessing digital innovation for informed decision-making, sustainable ocean management, and global collaboration in ocean conservation.

Blue-Cloud at the INSPIRE Pavillon

Presented in the INSPIRE Area, the "Status of the Ocean" session on June 9, will present the Status of ecosystem biodiversity, in relation to key pressures (pollution, climate change, overfishing), and socio-economic implications (trying to bring a broad perspective including social, economic, scientific, and blue economy aspects).

Cyrielle Delvenne (VLIZ) will present Blue-Cloud as an "Open Science Platform for Collaborative Marine Research".
This session highlights how Blue-Cloud 2026 empowers the marine biodiversity community through open science practices, supporting monitoring, conservation, and sustainable use of ocean life. We showcase real-world applications—from AI-powered species distribution models to harmonized genomic and ecological datasets—co-developed with stakeholders to inform marine spatial planning and biodiversity protection. In alignment with the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the Global Biodiversity Framework, Blue-Cloud 2026 exemplifies how digital transformation can support resilient ocean governance and accelerate progress toward SDG 14 and beyond.

More on the Session on Marine Biodiversity

Cyrielle will focus mainly on two specific topics: the Global Fisheries Atlas, highlighting how integrated data layers provide comprehensive view of fisheriesc activity and trends across regions, and the Ecosystem-Level Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) Workbench, emphasizing how tracking EOVs supports a better understanding of marine ecosystem health and resilience.

Take a look at Cyrielle's slides

Additionally, Blue-Cloud's developments will be presented in two different videos, one in the DECIDE Area, inspired by the theme "Design, develop and integrate your application into the EU Digital Twin Ocean" , where we proposed a video and a front-end interface that demonstrates the applications of the Carbon-Plankton Dynamics VLab and the range of scientific questions it can help address.

The second video will be visible in the ENGAGE Area, about the CMCC application on the WITOIL-Cloud for EDITO. It will be an explaination on the use of the tool.