On September 23, at UN Headquarters in New York, Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković presented the country’s contribution to the OceanEye International Alliance. Speaking about more than five decades of Croatian research on the Adriatic, now joined by real-time observation, autonomous marine systems and robotics, he highlighted Croatia’s new Centre of Excellence for maritime robotics. That centre is MARBLE.
The pledging event, held during the 81st UN General Assembly High-Level Week, was hosted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney together with IOC-UNESCO and WMO. It launched the OceanEye International Alliance to strengthen the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), which coordinates the buoys, floats, gliders and research vessels behind weather forecasts, climate models and safe navigation. The Alliance now has 31 members, and the event secured more than €211 million in financial contributions, in-kind support and assets.
Croatia’s pledge
Croatia’s pledge was prepared by the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, and in it Croatia pledges support for ocean observation, data and technology capacities. The Adriatic is a semi-enclosed sea with complex coastal and marine conditions, and the pledge sets out Croatia’s aim to connect its national observation and research capacity with European and international ocean observing systems, with a focus on the Adriatic and other coastal and marginal seas.
Five institutions make up the contribution: the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ), Croatia’s national authority for GOOS; the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (IOR); the Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Center for Marine Research in Rovinj; the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering (RGNF); and MARBLE. Between them they cover met-ocean buoy networks, long-term ecological records, national marine data services, sediment and groundwater science, and maritime robotics.
MARBLE’s role in the pledge
The pledge describes MARBLE as the pledge describes MARBLE as the first European Centre of Excellence established in Croatia in the field of maritime robotics, working across four research pillars: Maritime Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Maritime Green Endurance, Maritime IoT and Maritime Digital Twins.
MARBLE’s contribution is research infrastructure across four sites. Its Zagreb headquarters houses labs and test facilities, including an Experimental Pool and a Digital Twin Room. On the Adriatic, the MARBLE Sea Lab at Martinska, near Šibenik, has an underwater sensor network and a SPARUS II AUV that dives to 200 meters; the Smart Marina in Rijeka is a moored platform with a CTD profiling float and an uncrewed surface vehicle; and the Smart Mussel Farm in Šibenik is instrumented for continuous monitoring of a mariculture site. The pilot sites are also intended for external partners, researchers and SMEs to test technologies and co-develop new products with MARBLE.
What this means for MARBLE
MARBLE was founded in 2024, and seeing it mentioned before world leaders at the UN two years later is a moment the whole team will remember. MARBLE thanks the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth for including it in Croatia’s national pledge, and is honored to be part of it alongside DHMZ, IOR, the Center for Marine Research in Rovinj and RGNF.
No country can observe the ocean alone, and MARBLE is proud that Croatia’s share of that work now includes its pilot sites on the Adriatic.
