From Hackathon to Europe’s Maritime Stage: Presenting “Smoke on the Water” at European Maritime Day

Earlier this spring, our team had the honour of winning first place at the EMODnet Open Sea Lab 4.0 Hackathon with our project Smoke on the Water—a data-driven initiative exploring how wildfires impact coastal marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean. The experience didn’t end there.

Between May 21–23, members of our team were invited to participate in the 2025 European Maritime Day (EMD) in Cork, Ireland—Europe’s flagship event for the maritime community. It was an incredible opportunity to present our project to key stakeholders, researchers, policymakers, and innovators from across the blue economy.

Smoke on the Water investigates the ripple effects of wildfire pollutants on critical marine habitats like Posidonia oceanica. By leveraging open-access satellite data from Copernicus, in situ marine observations from EMODnet through leveraging the European Digital Twin Ocean, we aimed to map changes in dissolved oxygen, nutrient levels, and biological activity following fire events. Our project revealed a clear data gap: no coordinated protocols exist for post-wildfire marine impact monitoring, especially in vulnerable coastal zones.

At EMD, we shared this insight—and our broader vision to help Europe strengthen its ocean data infrastructure and climate resilience. The response was encouraging, and it underscored how cross-sector collaboration and open data can spark innovation for environmental protection.

Smoke on the Water was developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists, technologists, and storytellers—a project initiated by Humanitas.

We are deeply grateful to EMODnet for the opportunity to participate in the Open Sea Lab and to bring our findings to the European stage—and a warm thank you to the rest of our team who couldn’t join us in Cork. This is just the beginning.