Data collection, analysis and application are key enablers for ocean data innovation. Data integration/interoperability is needed. A workshop organised as an off-site event of the 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference, 9 April 2024 in Barcelona, Spain, will deep dive into cases of success in data sharing practices from European research infrastructures, and how to maximise this potential at global level for contributing to the SDGs and the Digital Twins of the Ocean programmes.

The workshop will be opened by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) and will showcase best practices of marine data federation  from the Blue-Cloud2026 and the iMAGINE European projects, with specific insights on applications for marine biology and the fishery domain. With input by EMODnet, Copernicus Marine and leading marine research infrastructures, Blue-Cloud (https://blue-cloud.org) is contributing to the open science transformation by an easier discovery and access of blue data, open to all to implement open science and AI. The iMagine initiative (https://www.imagine-ai.eu/) provides a portfolio of image datasets, high-performance image analysis tools empowered with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Best Practice documents for scientific image analysis.

The OceanTeacher Global Academy (OTGA) and the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) of IOC/UNESCO will also join the workshop to dive into the education and training needs to ensure data management practices and standards are put in place at a global level.

Last but not least, representatives from the European Digital Twins of the Ocean (EU DTO) Programme and its global counterpart, the DITTO programme, will complement with insights from the global efforts to build awareness around the ensuring cross-regional data sharing towards the development of digital twins of the ocean.