Kiel. On 10 March 2026, north.io welcomed the Federal Government's Maritime Coordinator, Dr. Christoph Ploß (CDU), to the company's headquarters in Kiel Science Park. The visit took place as part of a coastal tour through northern Germany and was all about maritime security and the protection of critical infrastructure in times of hybrid threats.
Looking back: Since May 2025, Dr. Ploß has been the Federal Government's Maritime Coordinator at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). In this role, he forms a central interface for the interests of the maritime industry, particularly with regard to the protection of maritime critical infrastructure (KRITIS). This includes ports, offshore wind farms, underwater cables, pipelines and other facilities that are essential for Germany's energy and raw materials supply. A particular focus of his work is on strengthening the resilience of these infrastructures to hybrid threats and improving coordination between state, military and private actors.
Key technology from north.io for the protection of maritime infrastructure
The visit focused on north.io's Ocean Data Platform (ODP). CEO Jann Wendt presented the data-driven platform to Dr. Ploß as a key technology for the maritime security architecture.
The Ocean Data Platform enables the secure integration and fusion of heterogeneous sensor data - from underwater sensors and unmanned systems (UxV) to official and industrial data sources. This creates a shared, interoperable situation picture in near real time. The ability to fuse data quickly and reliably is particularly crucial for the protection of ports, offshore wind farms, submarine cables and pipelines.
"Maritime security begins with a reliable situational awareness.Our Ocean Data Platform brings together data from a wide variety of sources and creates transparency where complex threat scenarios require quick decisions, for example when protecting ports or underwater cables," explained Wendt. "We see our technology as a future building block of a resilient maritime security architecture in Europe."
Tried and tested with REPMUS
Wendt also reported on the use of the platform in the international REPMUS 2025 (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems) exercise in Portugal. There, the Ocean Data Platform has already been successfully used in a multinational environment to merge and evaluate sensor data from different manned and unmanned systems in a Data Fusion Cell.
Dr. Christoph Ploß emphasized the importance of technological and digital innovations for German security policy: "The protection of our maritime critical infrastructure is a central task for the economy and the state. Ports, offshore wind farms, pipelines and submarine cables are the lifelines of our energy and raw materials supply. Innovative companies such as north.io make an important contribution to strengthening the resilience of these infrastructures against hybrid threats with data-based solutions."
Schleswig-Holstein as a location for maritime security and innovation
The visit also highlighted Schleswig-Holstein's special role as a leading location for the maritime industry, offshore technologies and security research. With its strong maritime industry, excellent research landscape and close networking between business, science and the German Navy, the state offers ideal conditions for developing and testing innovative solutions for the protection of maritime infrastructure.
north.io is part of this northern German innovation ecosystem and sees itself as a technology partner for government and industrial players who are rethinking maritime security: data-based, interoperable and resilient.
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