On January 21st, the Facultat de Nàutica de Barcelona (UPC) hosted the kick-off meetings of two strategic marine research projects: SMART-ME and AI4SEA, both with a strong involvement of the SARTI-UPC research group.

The SMART-ME project aims to enhance the connectivity, intelligence, and data management of the first deep-sea underwater observatory in the Mediterranean, enabling continuous and integrated observation of deep-sea marine ecosystems. Within this project, SARTI-UPC plays a key role in platform integration, communications, and data architecture, contributing to the development of an intelligent and distributed underwater observatory.

Subsequently, the kick-off meeting of the AI4SEA project was held. AI4SEA is focused on the development of artificial intelligence and marine robotics technologies for the monitoring, mapping, and restoration of marine habitats. Within AI4SEA, SARTI-UPC leads the AIMON subproject, which focuses on AI-based continuous monitoring, the integration of these capabilities into marine platforms, and the advanced management of observation data.

These two projects reinforce the role of SARTI-UPC as a reference in marine observation, system integration, and the development of intelligent technologies applied to the marine environment.