The Marine Shield Cluster

The Marine Shield Cluster is a collaborative initiative uniting EU-funded projects with the shared goal of addressing water pollution through advanced monitoring, effective prevention, and innovative remediation strategies. The Marine Shield Cluster’s mission is to create a vibrant network of collaboration by actively exchanging knowledge, insights, and expertise with similar research initiatives. A key part of its mission is to inspire and promote joint dissemination activities, ensuring that valuable insights and findings are effectively shared with a broader audience and stakeholders 

AquaBioSens

AquaBioSens develops handheld devices to measure aquatic hazards and pollution, supporting the EU Mission to “Restore our ocean and waters by 2030”. The devices use novel analytics, such as immunoassays, environmental RNA quantification, and whole cell biosensors, coupled with advanced sensors, such as acoustic biosensors, fluorimetry, and organ-on-chip devices. The devices are low-cost, accessible, and connected to the web. They will be tested and validated in coastal and freshwater sites in the UK, Ireland, and Greece, and disseminated to the international community. AquaBioSens aims to commercialize the new technologies.

iMERMAID

iMERMAID is an EU-funded project working to protect the Mediterranean Sea from pollution and chemical contamination. Leading the Marine Shield cluster, it brings together 26 partners to develop innovative strategies for prevention, monitoring, and clean-up.The project will test new technologies in five regions—Spain, Tunisia, Italy, Cyprus, and Greece—addressing issues like agricultural runoff, heavy metals, and wastewater. iMERMAID also invests in people, offering training programs and €800,000 in funding through two open calls to support local authorities and promote regional solutions.

CONTRAST

CONTRAST will advance understanding on the properties, occurrence, fate and effects of the most relevant CECs in the marine ecosystem and deliver solutions for efficient integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring of marine environments. The project will design, demonstrate and deliver fit-for-purpose framework(s) for innovative monitoring of CECs in European seas, with the vision of significantly supporting policymakers at the EU and national levels and contributing to the implementation of relevant environmental policies. It’s main ambition is to develop an integrated chemical and biological effects framework that will become part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) to evaluate Good environmental Status (GES).

DIGI4ECO

DIGI4ECO, Digital Twin-sustained 4D Ecological Monitoring of Restoration in Fishery Depleted Areas, is a pioneering initiative aimed at unlocking new discoveries crucial for addressing climate change and regulating human activities. Our mission is to harness the power of digital technology to advance environmental conservation and socio-economic development.

REMEDIES

REMEDIES is an Horizon Europe innovation Program, and part of the of the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”, creating innovative solutions and technologies to monitor, collect, prevent and valorise (micro)plastic from our oceans. Our approach is rooted in science, circularity, and community engagement aiming to protect water ecosystems, reduce pollution and develop a climate-neutral blue economy.

Restore4Life

Restore4Life showcases the remarkable socio-economic benefits derived from a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to restoring freshwater and coastal wetlands in the Danube basin. By creating new blue-green infrastructure that bolsters regional climate change resilience and mitigation efforts, Restore4Life paves the way for a sustainable future.

RHE-MEDiation

RHE-MEDiation “Responsive hub for long term governance to destress the Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution (IA)”. RHE-MEDiation aims to establish a responsive governance hub to reduce chemical pollution in the Mediterranean Sea, targeting critical hotspots. The initiative is focused on testing and validating a remediation technology using micro-algae solutions, which will be integrated into existing water and wastewater treatment systems to improve the removal of heavy metals, pesticides, and PFAS (forever chemicals). Demonstration sites in Italy, Greece, and Turkey will lead the initiative, with plans to expand to five additional replication sites, empowering local stakeholders to drive this transformative effort.

SUNBIO

SUNBIO’s development focuses on achieving continuous improvement and sustainability, with an emphasis on reducing its environmental footprint. Through its innovative approach and integrated use of technologies, SUNBIO seeks to reduce the distance from the laboratory to the market, offering practical and readily applicable solutions for clean energy production, protection of marine life and providing strategies for the conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems. SUNBIO combines various scientific fields to create technological tools that enhance its services, covering areas such as submarine engineering, naval architecture, analytics, and communication.The system, at full operational capacity and continuously optimized, will have a cumulatively positive environmental impact, while allowing for the restoration of subsea sites.

SUNDANSE

SUNDANSE is a 48 months long initiative that brings together 20 innovation stakeholders and educational entities from 10 different European countries, who share a common vision to develop sustainable sediment solutions for the Danube – Black Sea system. The Danube River has been incredibly important for both people and wildlife for hundreds of years. However, human activities since the late 1800s have significantly changed how the river functions to better serve our needs. Unfortunately, these alterations, combined with the effects of climate change, have disrupted the river’s natural balance. SUNDANSE will conduct a survey of the configuration and dynamics of the Danube River via REXDAN, the newest and most advanced research vessel in Europe. With this, among other benefits, a complete map of the main characteristics of the Danube River from Vienna to the Black Sea will be gained and a Sediment Management Handbook for the Danube River basin, including intervention strategies will be created.

ZeroPM

Zero pollution of Persistent and Mobile substances, will interlink and synergize prevention, prioritization and removal strategies to protect the environment and human health from PMC substances. To do this, ZeroPM will establish an evidence-based multilevel framework to guide.To Prevent, ZeroPM will develop scientific, policy and market tools for the substitution and mitigation of prioritized PM substances to safer and sustainable alternatives To Prioritize, ZeroPM will identify the groups of PM substances requiring the most urgent action. To Remove, ZeroPM will explore real-word scale remediation solutions and find their sustainability limits. By taking this systemic approach, the EU will be better able to avoid regrettable substitution – substituting one problematic chemical for another – and regrettable remediation – investing in remediation efforts more that cause more damage than the substance itself.

Visit Marine Shield Cluster webpage to know more!

Other Partnerships

HYDROUSA

HYDROUSA was a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action project approved under the call topic CIRC-02-2016-2017, water in the context of the circular economy. HYDROUSA aims to revolutionize the water supply chain in Mediterranean regions by demonstrating innovative solutions for water/wastewater treatment and management, which will close the water loops and will also boost their agricultural and energy profile.Water management in the Mediterranean is currently fragmented and there are several barriers, which need to be overcome in order to close water loops and contribute towards the environmental and economic development of these regions.

Mediterranean regions, in particular, face significant challenges in terms of water management and conservation. Water reserves are scarce, while the high touristic activities during the summer months stress the limited water reserves.To overcome these challenges HYDROUSA was launched in July 2018 to reimagine a water resilient economy, mitigate climate change and reform the agro-food system. HYDROUSA goes beyond the current water and wastewater management practices by adopting innovative, nature-based water management solutions for different types of water characterised by low energy footprint. Clear water loops are demonstrated, recovering added value products, while integrating and interacting with the local market.

These technologies and services are demonstrated at six demonstration sites at full scale in three Mediterranean islands (Lesvos, Mykonos and Tinos) whereas the transferability of HYDROUSA solutions will be assessed in 25 early adopter cases in Mediterranean coastal areas and islands and at several water-stressed rural or peri-urban non-Mediterranean areas in Europe and een beyond Europe. The additional services that will be provided with the innovative approaches will lead to a win-win-win situation for the economy, the environment, and the community.

Comprehensive business models will be developed to demonstrate the economic viability of the aforementioned technologies and services as well as the resulting economic benefits from the recovered materials and energy.The consortium of HYDROUSA consists of 27 highly competent organisations involved in water management, agricultural activities, ICT and, business/marketing, dissemination/ communication spanning throughout the whole water supply chain. The project was led and coordinated by Sanitary Engineering Laboratory of NTUA, not related to MOBILES coordination team.

CARDIMED

CARDIMED, an acronym for Climate adaptation and resilience demonstrated In the Mediterranean region, aligns with the European Green Deal‘s core objective of the “twin digital and green transition.” Recognizing the challenges posed by the sensitive and biodiverse Mediterranean biogeographical region, the project aims to establish a nature-positive economy and a climate-resilient society through innovative green and digital solutions.The project introduces a comprehensive framework to build climate resilience in the Mediterranean by unifying individual efforts across regions and communities. This will be achieved through the deployment of digital infrastructure, harmonizing data collection and evaluation processes, and providing open data to all stakeholders involved in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) across the region.

Key features of CARDIMED include smart digital tools for citizen participation and capacity building, a multi-stakeholder engagement strategy focused on knowledge translation, and the integration of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus approach for holistic modeling. These elements will contribute to addressing socio-ecological challenges, along with issues of valuation and low-investment rates in NbS.

The project will unfold across 9 demonstration sites, encompassing 10 regions, 20 locations, and 28 communities, involving 47 NbS directly linked to 83 interventions and supporting units. The culmination of these efforts will establish the CARDIMED Resilience Alliance, functioning as a pivotal vehicle for expanding the network through the upscaling of existing sites and the addition of new ones. CARDIMED also includes 5 transferability cases, with an additional 10 to be defined during the project’s implementation phase.I-SENSE Group will be leading the efforts to create and optimize digital tools facilitating NBS uptake for climate resilience and adaptation, which include the creation of a citizen engagement app.CARDIMED is coordinated by the Sanitary Engineering Laboratory of NTUA and consists of 50 partners.