Edgelab participated in Seafuture 2023: the international fair of the blue economy and technological innovation linked to the defense sector which was held from 5 to 8 June in the splendid setting of the Navy Arsenal in La Spezia. More than 300 companies and 73 foreign delegations were present.
It was an important commitment for the company to live up to an exhibition event that brings together the most advanced technologies of the sea. Excellent experience for our staff and an opportunity for visibility within the Defense segment. The presence with our dedicated stand has made possible the comparison with the players operating in this sector, with the other exhibitors and with possible clients.
The Minister of Defense Crosetto visiting the exhibition together with the Minister of Civil Protection and Marine Policies Musumeci, also stopped by us and we were able to have his attention to describe the series of AUV U_Tracker autonomous submarine vehicle now in its fourth generation, the autonomous surface vehicle USV_CAT and our new product: the Ground Control Station, a transportable station used to control all our autonomous vehicles.
A positive balance for the numerous contacts collected and also an important moment for meeting with the partners who have come to see us to discuss marine technologies and underwater exploration
The President and CEO of the Indian giant Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd., (MDL) Vice Admiral Narayan Prasad and the General Manager Sanjay Kumar Singh, visited the Italian, La Spezia-based company Edgelab Srl. The two companies share several partnerships in the sector of AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) technologies and autonomous submarine systems, including the EUT (Expendable Underwater Target) program aimed at developing an underwater target for training sonar operators.
"It is a great honor - said Dr. Michele Cocco, President and Director of Edgelab srl - to have hosted MDL's top management in our headquarters.
The visit launches the activities planned as part of joint projects with a high technological content in the Underwater domain "
NAUTILOS Project officially starts on the 1st of October 2020 and the KoM will be held virtually on the 21st – 22nd of October 2020.
NAUTILOS - New Approach to Underwater Technologies for Innovative, Low-cost Ocean observation is an H2020 project funded under the Future of Seas and Oceans Flagship Initiative, coordinated by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), that brings together a significant group of 21 entities from 11 European countries with multidisciplinary expertise ranging from ocean instrumentation development and integration, ocean sensing and sampling instrumentation, data processing, modelling and control, operational oceanography and biology and ecosystems and biogeochemistry such, water and climate change science, technological marine applications and research infrastructures.
“The NAUTILOS project is made up of a group of researchers, entrepreneurs of a heterogeneous nature, mixing young and senior staff but from institutions and companies with extensive experiences. Most of the partners already have common previous experiences in projects and collaborations, and I am sure that bringing together many people who share a joint goal will undoubtedly be a demanding job, but which already looks promising. I am confident that, with the group of partners who joined for this project, a new approach for the improvement of Ocean underwater observations is achievable, as the title of our project states.” Gabriele Pieri (CNR), Project Coordinator
NAUTILOS is one of two projects included in the EU´s efforts to support of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy by supporting the demonstration of new and innovative technologies to measure the Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs).
NAUTILOS will fill-in marine observation and modelling gaps for chemical, biological and deep ocean physics variables through the development of a new generation of cost-effective sensors and samplers, the integration of the aforementioned technologies within observing platforms and their deployment in large-scale demonstrations in European seas. The fundamental aim of the project will be to complement and expand current European observation tools and services, to obtain a collection of data at a much higher spatial resolution, temporal regularity and length than currently available at the European scale, and to further enable and democratise the monitoring of the marine environment to both traditional and non-traditional data users.
Edgelab ha sottoscritto un contratto per la fornitura di una boa per il monitoraggio marino con "The International Union for Conservation of Nature the Regional Office for West Asia" (IUCN - ROWA). La boa verrà installata in Libano e sarà dotata di sensori oceanografici e ambientali. "Siamo onorati di offrire le nostre competenze tecnologiche e di collaborare con una istituzione per la protezione dell'ambiente di cosi alto livello internazionale", ha detto il titolare dell'azienda Michele Cocco. "La IUCN è un'Unione associativa composta da organizzazioni governative e della società civile. Sfrutta l'esperienza, le risorse e la portata di oltre 1.300 organizzazioni membri e il contributo di oltre 15.000 esperti. Questa diversità e questa vasta esperienza rendono IUCN l'autorità globale sullo stato del mondo naturale e le misure necessarie per salvaguardarlo"
Edgelab will supply an oceanographic buoy to IUCN _ROWA
Edgelab has signed a contract for the supply of a marine monitoring buoy with "The International Union for Conservation of Nature the Regional Office for West Asia" (IUCN - ROWA). The buoy will be installed in Lebanon and will be equipped with oceanographic and environmental sensors. "We are honored to offer our technological skills and to collaborate with an institution of such a high international level in the field of environmental protection", said the owner of the company Dr. Michele Cocco. "IUCN is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,300 Member organisations and the input of more than 15,000 experts. This diversity and vast expertise makes IUCN the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it."
Michele Cocco, fondatore e Managing Director di EdgeLab s.r.l., precedentemente Scientific Consultant del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), interviene all’evento Italian Open Lab (IOL), focalizzando l’attenzione sulle imprese e le startup nell’ambito della tecnologia dual-use.
“Vorrei descrivere alcuni momenti del processo che ci hanno portato ad occuparci di tecnologie del mare, in particolare di veicoli autonomi sottomarini. Crediamo che il gap tecnologico che in Italia è ancora presente vada colmato il prima possibile, ci siamo resi conto, in questi anni, che conosciamo ancora pochissimo dei fondali marini. Infatti, possiamo affermare che le ricerche condotte sulla Luna hanno portato 12 persone a toccare il manto lunare, mentre nel punto più profondo del mare ci sono state solo 3 persone. Abbiamo ancora bisogno di molta ricerca e
sviluppo, il mare è sicuramente un ambiente difficile da esplorare”.
Dei fondali marini conosciamo ancora pochissimo, ogni anno vengono scoperte 400 specie marine nuove e il tipo di tecnologie richieste si indirizza principalmente verso i veicoli autonomi.
“Sempre più spesso i veicoli subacquei senza pilota si fanno carico dei lavori più complicati, come la creazione di mappe, il monitoraggio ambientale, la raccolta di campioni di acqua, il pattugliamento dei porti e l’individuazione di mine marittime per rendere il mare uno spazio più sicuro”.
