On 21 July 2026, our Researcher Igor Kvasić presented MARBLE at the BRIGANTINE – Toward the Future workshop (Assessing opportunities for SME-research institution partnerships in advanced marine technologies) held at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture.

MARBLE, LABUST and IEEE OES University of Zagreb Student Branch Chapter MARBLE, organized a lecture “Bridging Research and Industry in Robotics: From Technology Transfer to Operational Deployment” held by Franck Gonzalez and Romain Thomas from the Pristine Robotics company (France), as part of the MARBLE project on July 22, 2026.

LABUST, MARBLE, and IEEE OES University of Zagreb Student Branch Chapter MARBLE organized a lecture “Non-stereotypy (to species) in mysticete downsweeps” held by Paul Nguyen Hong Duc from Curtin University, Mauritius. The lecture took place on Thursday, July 16th, 2026, at the MARBLE HQ (meeting room Tramontana on the ground

Key policymakers, industry leaders, and tech innovators gathered at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in New Zagreb for the high-level conference “Winning the Global Race: Why Choosing Europe Matters.”

The event, held on Thursday, July 9, 2026, was organized on the occasion of the official visit of Henna Virkkunen,

Invited lectures “Design Optimization and Validation of an Unnamed Underwater Vehicle (AUV)” by Sinan Özgan from the Altınbaş University and “Accelerating ADAS Development: Integrating Testing, Validation, and Simulation with MATLAB” by Ayaz İsrafil Taştan from the Yıldız Technical University were held on June 29, 2026, at the LABUST lab.

On 25 June 2026, representatives of MARBLE visited the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) headquarters in Lisbon.

MARBLE team participated at EMRA 2026 (European Workshop on Marine Robotics and Applications) in Lisbon, Portugal, that took place June 23-24. This year, EMRA was organized by the Institute for Systems and Robotics and Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon.

Our Head of Research Barbara Arbanas Ferreira was invited to present at the MIR Symposium 2026, held on 16–17 June at the University of Toulon, France.

On June 10, 2026, MARBLE team traveled to France to visit the facilities of Naval Group, a global leader in naval defense and marine renewable energy.

LABUST, MARBLE, and IEEE OES University of Zagreb Student Branch Chapter organized a lecture “Intelligent Autonomous Systems: Advancing AI, Robotics, Edge Computing, and Digital Twins for Future Applications” held by Prof. Ing. Juraj Gazda from Technical University of Košice (TUKE) on June 15, 2026.

MARBLE was presented at a round table on advanced environmental monitoring in ports and marinas, held on 28 May 2026 as part of the Venice Boat Show at the Arsenale di Venezia. The presentation was held by our researcher Igor Kvasić.

We are proud to be one of the sponsors for the first edition of the Zagreb MicroMouse competition. It was wonderful to spend time with future engineers and to watch them compete and develop the kind of talents that we are looking for in MARBLE.

MARBLE HQ proudly served as the official venue for the opening welcome reception of the 2026 IEEE RAS International Conference on Engineering Reliable Autonomous Systems (ERAS 2026).

The 19th international DESIGN 2026 conference took place in Cavtat, Croatia over four days (18 – 21 May).

LABUST, MARBLE, and IEEE OES University of Zagreb Student Branch Chapter organized a lecture “Transforming biological and ecological data into decision-support tools for smart and precision aquaculture” held by Dr. Igor Talijančić from the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split, Croatia, on May 27th, 2026.

The 19th edition of the Job Fair took place over two days (May 13-14) at the Mozaik Event Centar, bringing together 102 companies from 13 industries and attracting over 3,000 visitors. The event featured an extensive program across multiple halls, including 10 tech talks, 3 panel discussions, and 6 hands-on

On May 13, 2026, the Adria Tech Technology Park was officially opened in Šibenik, marking the first specialized regional center for the development, testing, and commercialization of advanced marine and aquatic technologies.

Our Head of Infrastructure Nadir Kapetanović presented the pioneering work of the MARBLE at the prestigious WIO FUTURES 2026 conference on May 18, 2026 in Mauritius.

On May 13, 2026, members of MARBLE team gathered at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) Marine Research Station in Martinska for an intensive training session focused on ROV FIFISH.

Following the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between MARBLE and SeaCras, the two teams came together on May 12, 2026 to discuss concrete opportunities for future collaboration.

From April 27-30, 2026, our ERI and Research Department visited IQUA Robotics in Girona, Spain, to participate in SPARUS II AUV operation training.

The prestigious EU Forum, held at the Hotel Ambasador on April 21, 2026, gathered a powerful assembly of European diplomats, industry titans, and academic leaders to define the future of the maritime sector. Our Fausto Ferreira was part of the keynote session on maritime security.

The workshop in Innovation & Innovation Management, held on April 14–15, 2026, at MARBLE HQ marked a significant milestone in the strategic partnership between the Centre of Excellence MARBLE and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

On April 16, 2026, an invited lecture “From Discovery to Impact: What it takes to move Science beyond the Lab” was held by Dr. Slaven Šteković, MBA, at UNIZG-FER as part of MARBLE project.

MARBLE is pleased to announce the formal signing of the partnership agreement for the ARTEMIS project. Joining a high-caliber consortium of academic and industrial leaders, including Iskra Shipyard and other prominent European partners, MARBLE will play a pivotal role in driving the digital and green transition of the maritime

Anđelko Katalenić and Igor Kvasić presented MARBLE at the HixAI Innovation Panel event held on March 26, 2026 in Rijeka.

Our Head of Research Barbara Arbanas Ferreira is featured in the newly launched book “Women Ocean Champions: Stories of Women Shaping the EU Blue Economy,” an initiative by the EU-funded WIN-BIG project.

We are proud to announce that our project partner, Mr. Neven Cukrov, Senior Scientist at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), has been officially nominated to the United Nations Group of Experts.

We are hiring – check out our open positions and apply!

Our Acting Head of Research Support Office Fausto Ferreira participated as a featured panelist at the AI summit 2026 that took place March 19-21 in Budapest, Hungary.

The international symposium “Centers of Excellence: Sources of Innovation, Technology Transfer, and Cooperation with Industry,” held on Monday, March 16, at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split.

On March 3, 2026, CoE MARBLE project team concluded a successful 4th project meeting in the premises of the CoE MARBLE headquarters.

Anđelko Katalenić, our Director for Business, presented MARBLE at the “Next Innovation Road 2026: Digitalization between Sea and Space” event held on March 3, 2026.

On February 27, 2026, CoE MARBLE together with LABUST (UNIZG-FER) organized a talk “Beaked whale (Ziphiidae) foraging along Australia’s Northwest Shelf” held by Dr. Shyam Madhusudhana.

The Technical Museum Nikola Tesla hosted a prominent roundtable titled “The Future of the Heritage of the Brodarski Institut in Zagreb” on February 18, 2026.

CoE MARBLE’s Junior Researcher Robert Milijaš and Associate Director for Research Prof. Stjepan Bogdan, together with a colleague Luka Greblo from Avyonx conducted a specialized training and mentoring session for primary and secondary school teachers, as well as Red Cross staff, yesterday, on January 29, 2026, at the Red Cross

Dario Lečić, CoE MARBLE’s Senior Proposals Expert, attended the opening ceremony of the project “Science Comes to Town” in Split on 20 January 2025.

As CoE MARBLE concludes another successful year, we reflect on a remarkable series of invited lectures.

CoE MARBLE team Pikulići won the second traditional pub quiz organized by the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UNIZG-FER), held on December 17!

Holiday party lit up CoE MARBLE HQ – it was a night of festivities, friends, and fun!

On Saturday, December 6, 2025—St. Nicholas Day, a cherished holiday in Croatia honoring the patron saint of children with traditions of gift-giving and joy—employees from CoE MARBLE and LABUST (UNIZG-FER’s Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies) came together for a heartwarming team-building event at the LABUST lab.

On 9 December 2025, the Martinska Research Station (Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute) celebrated its 45th anniversary with a full-day scientific symposium in the beautiful “Civitas Sacra” Interpretation Centre in Šibenik.

At the 11th International Conference on Marine Technology – Winkler 2025, held November 20-21 at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Igor Kvasić delivered a plenary presentation titled “CoE MARBLE – Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies for Sustainable Blue Economy.”

Barbara Arbanas Ferreira was a guest on the television program Prometej on HRT – Croatian Radio Television on November 5, 2025, where she discussed maritime technologies, robotics, the MARBLE project and research center, as well as the team’s pilot sites and testing infrastructure.

Barbara Arbanas Ferreira participated in ERAT 2025 – European Robotics & Automation Talks on November 10. She delivered a 15-minute presentation as part of Session 3: “Croatian SEALs: Robot Autonomy on Sea, Air and Land.” In her talk, Barbara shared insights from the MBZIRC competition experience, as well as an

CoE MARBLE team attended the 17th International Interdisciplinary Field Workshop of Maritime Robotics and Applications Breaking the Surface – BtS held from 9th until 16th November 2025 in Limassol, Cyprus.

The 4th Teaming Club Conference (October 15–17, 2025, at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal) featured CoE MARBLE as one of the selected Teaming projects in the “Hi Teaming Club! #1” session on Day 2 (October 16).

MARBLE’s Senior Researcher Roee Diamant attended the 33rd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2025) in Isola delle Femmine, Palermo, Italy, September 8-12, 2025

Barbara Arbanas Ferreira participated in Kutina Days of Science and Arts 2025 (October 16-17), held at her former High School Tin Ujević.

Barbara Arbanas Ferreira and Fausto Ferreira participated in MetroSea conference in beautiful Genova, Italy (October 8-10). Barbara presented one of the latest MARBLE papers A Brief Survey on the Integration of Large Language Models with Marine Robotic Systems, co-authored with Đula Nađ, Fausto Ferreira and Massimo Caccia (CNR).

The MARBLE team, project partners, and Advisory Board members convened in Šibenik from September 30 to October 2 for the 5th Supervisory Board meeting and strategic planning session.

At the OCEANS 2025 conference held in Brest, France, June 16-19, Fausto Ferreira and Nadir Kapetanović together with UNIZG-FER LABUST members attended the programme, participated in the exposition and presented the papers.

At the OCEANS 2025 conference held in Brest, France, June 16-19, Fausto Ferreira and Nadir Kapetanović together with UNIZG-FER LABUST members attended the programme, participated in the exposition and presented the papers.

MARBLE Associate Director for R&D Prof. Stjepan Bogdan presented project MARBLE at the conference Bounding Box 2025 in Kulturni Centar Osijek, Croatia on June 13. Prof. Bogdan gave a presentation on the MARBLE objectives and activities., and invited interested parties to collaborate within joint research projects and experiments.

At the 48th International Convention MIPRO 2025, held in Opatija June 2-6, MARBLE researcher Igor Kvasić took part in the thematic exhibition ” Ecosystems for innovative breakthrough” and presented the work and impact of CoE MARBLE .

Dr. Fausto Ferreira, Associate Director for Business, presented CoE MARBLE at the “MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships – Find your Host Institution in Europe” webinar on 27 May 2025. This webinar, organized by EURAXESS counted with over 300 participants in two sessions and it was a perfect opportunity to disseminate the hosting

CoE MARBLE’s researcher Đula Nađ and representatives of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb (FER) proudly represented Croatia at the EXPO 2025 world exhibition held in Osaka, Japan. As part of Croatia’s official participation, Croatian team held presentations introducing the international audience to the

On May 5th and 6th, 2025 Marina Gajski presented CoE MARBLE project at the University of Montenegro during her expert visit within the MONUSEN project.

A segment on MARBLE activities aired on Central News (HRT Dnevnik) reporting on the MARBLE project partner AgriFood Croatia that had been testing the tracking system of the sea bream in the Šibenik Channel.

From April 2–4, 2025, the Croatian Chamber of Economy hosted the 15th International Aquaculture Conference at the Hotel Lav Congress Center in Vukovar, bringing together business leaders, scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders from Croatia, the EU, and neighboring countries.

On Thursday, April 10, 2025, our CEO Nikola Mišković will deliver the keynote address at the annual assembly of the Scientific Council for Maritime Affairs of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU).

Barbara Arbanas Ferreira has been spotlighted in Zaposlena magazine for her pioneering contributions to robotics research!

Nadir Kapetanović, Head of Engineering and Reasearch Infrastructure Department, attended the national thematic seminar in the scope of the ECCENTRIC project.

The 41st International Scientific Conference of the Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP), University of Latvia, that took place from 3rd to 7th March, 2025, brought together global experts to explore cutting-edge advancements in science and technology.

Dr. Fausto Ferreira, Associate Director for Business, presented CoE MARBLE at the “Innovation drivers for the Adriatic blue ecosystem” workshop in Trieste, Italy on 25th February. This event, organized by MareFVG, Area Science Park and Atena in the context of the ECCENTRIC and BEST4.0 Interreg Italy-Croatia projects, present to companies

The project “Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies for Sustainable Blue Economy (CoE MARBLE)” was officially presented at the Brodarski Institut in Zagreb. This project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Widening Program (Teaming for Excellence).