Researchers from Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland participated by telematic means in the first work meeting, which took place today, Tuesday, in the Chapter Room of UCAM. The meeting was attended by Estrella Núñez, vice-chancellor for Research of UCAM; Miriam Pérez Albaladejo, director-general of the Mar Menor; Javier Senent, main researcher of the project, and Pablo Cano, director of the International Projects Office of UCAM, and Isabel Mendoza, head of the Legislation Area and Data Protection.

To carry out the research, financed by the European Commission with four million euros, the scientists will combine the new detection technologies, based on artificial intelligence, with IoT infrastructures (Internet of things) to create an innovative virtual model. This ‘Digital Twin’ of the Mar Menor will replicate the physical processes that are produced in this salt lagoon and it will spread the repercussion of each of the actions carried out by the sectors involved, predicting their short and long-term changes and informing with regard to the consequences of the actions that are implemented in the ecosystem. 

Estrella Núñez pointed out that “putting our knowledge at the service Murcian society and contributing to the development of our autonomous community are priorities of UCAM and, in the specific case of this project, the aim is to contribute to the regeneration of the Mar Menor”. In this sense, Miriam Pérez assured that “the Regional Government wants to support this project and highlight the fact that we are going to receive four million euros for the monitoring of the Mar Menor that will help us to make decisions in advance that will avoid problems in this ecosystem”.

Javier Senent, main researcher of the project, explained that “today we start to study how to solve the first problems raised by the project and the work order that we are going to follow, with the final goal of creating that digital twin that will allow us to predict in advance the phenomena that may affect the Mar Menor”. With regard to this, Pablo Cano stressed the fact that “this project is a symbol of what this university can do for Murcian society, by using the talent of its researchers so that the Mar Menor is in the best condition possible and we can continue to enjoy it”.

Team of Researchers of UCAM

Javier Senent (engineer of Roads, Canals and Ports and director of the International Chair of Water Research).

Nuria Vela de Oro (Biology).

Julio Pérez Sánchez (engineer of Roads, Canals and Ports).

Raquel Martínez España (computer engineer).

Patricia Jimeno Sáez (engineer of Roads, Canals and Ports).

Francisco José Segura Méndez (geographer).

Adrián López (engineer of Roads, Canals and Ports).

Participating institutions

Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and Vielca Ingenieros S.A (Spain), WaterITech ApS (Denmark), Uppsala University (Sweden), Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Norway), Università di Bologna (Italy) and Photrack, AG (Switzerland). 

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.

Horizon 2020

The Horizon 2020 call is the greater innovation and research programme of the European Union and its main objective is to ensure Europe’s competitiveness.  Among 87 applications, UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia was able to submit, as coordinator, one of the five proposals that were finally financed, in this case with a 3,972,000 euros amount.