Europe allocates 4 million to an international research project led by UCAM for the recovery of the Mar Menor
Through the European Union’s elite programme ‘Horizon 2020’, experts from six countries will create a digital model, using artificial intelligence, to monitor the salt lagoon and ensure its sustainability. ‘SMARTLAGOON’ will be replicated in other natural areas across the continent.
The European Commission has provided 3,972,000 euros to fund the ‘SMARTLAGOON’ project promoted by UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, which “in five years will develop an innovative model of socio-environmental changes for coastal lagoons and will use the Mar Menor as a case study”, explained
Javier Senent, principal investigator of the project. All the information, technology and applications it generates will be transferred to public administrations for the benefit of society.
The model will combine new detection technologies, based on artificial intelligence, with IoT (Internet of Things) infrastructures to create an innovative virtual model. This “Digital Twin” will replicate the physical processes that take place in the salt lagoon, will show the repercussions of each of the actions carried out by the sectors that interact in it, will predict its changes in the short and long term, and will inform about the consequences of the actions that are implemented, thus protecting its ecosystem.
Estrella Núñez, Vice-Chancellor for Research, was delighted with the award of the project, as “putting our knowledge at the service of the problems of Murcian society, generating opportunities for our researchers so that they can continue to use their work to improve the quality of life of all citizens, and contributing to the development of our autonomous community are objectives of our University and, in the specific case of this project, the aim is to achieve the regeneration of the Mar Menor”.
Coastal lagoons are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet, of great environmental and socio-economic value, but at the same time very vulnerable to climatic pressures and the human footprint. However, there has not been an adequate development of tools that integrate advanced sensor research, artificial intelligence and socio-environmental models to obtain the best information to adopt the most appropriate and monitored measures, thus allowing them to restore, preserve and manage their sustainability. A clear example of this is the Mar Menor, which is suffering severe degradation.
Internationally prestigious partners
UCAM, which is coordinating the study through its International Projects Office of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office for Research, has eight partners involved: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, WaterITech ApS, Uppsala University, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Università di Bologna, Photrack, AG and Vielca Ingenieros, S.A, belonging to six countries: Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland.
This consortium brings together cutting-edge expertise in IoT infrastructure design, state-of-the-art video-based monitoring, increasing public awareness of environmental impacts, hydrological and hydrodynamic modelling and the development of the interaction dynamics of natural and social systems.
UCAM researchers
Dr Javier Senent, principal investigator of the UCAM Water Resources Planning and Management Research Group and director of the UCAM Water Research Chair, is accompanied by a multidisciplinary team from this university specialising in water, made up of Nuria Vela de Oro, Julio Pérez Sánchez, Raquel Martínez España, Patricia Jimeno Sáez and Francisco José Segura Méndez.
Unanimous support
The ‘SMARTLAGOON’ project has the support of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation; the Regional Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environment, the City Council of San Javier, the Regional Confederation of Business Organizations of Murcia (CROEM), the Campo de Cartagena Irrigation Community and the Pact for the Mar Menor.
UCAM once again at the forefront of a Horizon 2020 project
The Horizon 2020 call is the largest innovation and research programme of the European Union, its main objective being to ensure the competitiveness of Europe. Among 87 applications, UCAM obtained, as coordinator, one of the five proposals that have finally been funded. To reach this resolution, the programme takes into account three key aspects of the project: scientific excellence, industrial leadership and solutions to current social challenges. UCAM has obtained three Horizon 2020 projects, and is coordinating two of them.