Over 70 Gaia-X pilot projects are currently developing the technical requirements for Europe's future cloud ecosystem. The consortium for "Smart Maritime Sensor Data Space X", Marispace-X for short, is exploring what is probably the most inaccessible of all data spaces: our oceans. In an interview, entrepreneur and initiator Jann Wendt (35) describes why the sea only releases data at great expense and why it is still worth collecting it, and above all: sharing it with one another.
Mr. Wendt, why do you want to digitize the sea?
There is enormous potential for digitization in the maritime domain: for data-based business models, new sensor technologies for marine research, more efficient energy generation on the high seas, or approaches to using the oceans as CO2 storage. For such ventures, data plays a key role. And the pressure on the data side is increasing: autonomous measurement systems, a multitude of maritime infrastructure projects and, more recently, more cost-effective satellite links are leading to numerous data-driven challenges. In addition, cloud technologies have made little to no inroads in the maritime domain. Our modern information technology is also more suited to land-based applications. This is what currently makes it so difficult for us to extract targeted information from the large volumes of maritime data and to manage and share it efficiently.
What makes dealing with maritime data so complicated?
Due to the harsh environmental conditions at sea and underwater, the technical processes are highly complex. Data collection at sea is therefore costly and time-consuming. Most players therefore hoard their data stocks in shielded silos. Interdisciplinary exchange is the exception. For users in this environment, our company north.io has teamed up with TrueOcean to develop web-based and scalable cloud applications for Big Data analytics. But the maritime domain needs more than a platform and IT solutions: Many different players are active at sea and many riparians are affected. What is missing is a digital ecosystem that regulates the sovereign and secure handling of data!
What is your goal?
Our goal is to create an intelligent big data hub for the oceans and their shores. We want to make maritime data usable for third parties, process it partly already on site, i.e. under water and at sea, and link it securely with data from other sources. To this end, we are developing and defining the special digital requirements of the maritime domain and incorporating them into the design of a European cloud ecosystem. On this basis, we then implement Gaia-X's Federation Services for secure, transparent and sovereign data exchange.
What topics do your projects at Marispace-X deal with?
There are four pilot projects that our partners are driving forward and to which they are contributing their respective strengths. We are looking at data exchange in infrastructure projects such as offshore wind farms, the data-based and AI-supported search for old munitions in the North and Baltic Seas, the optimized cultivation of seagrass meadows as a natural CO2 store, through to the Internet-of-Underwater-Things (IoUT).
Who is behind the Marispace-X Consortium?
Marispace-X currently includes nine consortium partners from science, business and administration: the cloud provider IONOS SE, the two universities of Kiel and Rostock, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, the Open Source distributor Stackable, the Kiel consultancy for marine and underwater technology MacArtney Germany and the companies I founded north.io and TrueOcean. There are also numerous partners from industry and science, such as Ørsted, Siemens Gamesa, thyssenkrupp and the Hamburg Port Authority. The project is managed by IONOS and coordinated by north.io. And our project is still open to all participants who want to contribute to Marispace-X.
How did you become a part of Gaia-X?
The tip came from our provider: Data-intensive applications like our big data solutions need a powerful cloud infrastructure, which we found at IONOS. When considering how we can improve digital cooperation between neighboring maritime communities, IONOS drew our attention to Gaia-X and the ongoing calls for funding. We saw the opportunity, and then one thing led to another.
What happened then?
First of all, I had to realize that oceans are not the focus of Gaia-X. In the absence of alternatives, we sorted our projects in the field of geoinformation. I then activated my network, approached partners and forged a consortium. The work was worth it: At the turn of the year we were able to launch several use cases for Gaia-X. The Federal Ministry of Economics supports our work with 9.7 million euros for a period of three years.
You spoke of the Internet for underwater objects. Which project are you driving forward?
It's about sensors in the sea. Fraunhofer IGD is researching this as part of the Ocean Technology Campus in Rostock, which the Federal Ministry of Research is funding with 60 million euros. Fraunhofer IGD is currently building its own underwater test center in the Baltic Sea. There they are testing new methods of data transmission under water. Digital communication is extremely limited and technically demanding under water because only a few characters per second can be transmitted under these conditions.
How can extensive maritime data be handled at all?
One approach is data efficiency: At sea, it makes more sense to process raw data from sensors on the spot via edge computing. Only summarized results are later transferred and exchanged. If there is no connection at all underwater, the sensors can transmit their data to the mainland via buoys on the water surface.
What questions does Gaia-X solve in such applications?
There are no standards for maritime scenarios with which data can be processed securely, transparently and confidently and exchanged with partners. It is precisely this technical and organizational framework that Gaia-X creates. We are also looking for solutions to manage digital identities in a trusting manner. This is particularly difficult when sensors below sea level have no or only sporadic network access: Here the operators have to be sure that only authorized people have access.
Why can only Gaia-X solve this in the Internet of Underwater Things?
Because nobody in the maritime domain has racked their brains about questions of data sovereignty, trust and identities or the end-to-end traceability of data streams. The solution so far has been to pack everything into silos and process it with proprietary systems. With Gaia-X we want to dissolve such data islands and facilitate the cooperative use of data.
You also rely on big data when it comes to decarbonization.
In this project we use digital data to study seagrass beds. This underwater plant is an ideal CO2 store. Where seagrass grows, the reflection of light and the propagation of sound under water change. Using such measurement data, we determine the storage capacity of carbon dioxide through seagrass in a region. In addition, our partners are looking for ways to specifically cultivate seagrass. To do this, we blend satellite and hydro-acoustic underwater data from different sources and use artificial intelligence for the forecast. And in the end, this also creates economic incentives for the marketing of climate certificates.
What other pilot projects is Marispace-X pursuing?
When it comes to offshore wind, data sovereignty and, in particular, efficient data exchange is an Achilles heel. Investments in infrastructure are in the billions, and despite this, some of those involved are still sending hard drives back and forth by post with maritime measurement data. In addition, there is a strong silo thinking in relation to the data. This is not only due to the lack of networks, but also to the costs. Collecting such data is insanely expensive. The maintenance of a ship that reads the data at sea and brings it back to land costs 150,000 to 300,000 euros: per day! Real-time processing in nodes, so to speak. In bad weather, the data transfer fails or the ship sometimes sails out for free. This makes this data particularly valuable. And because they are so expensive, their owners like to keep them well locked in the data safe.
How do Gaia-X and the Federation Services come into play?
The exchange of such data does not only require digital platforms in the cloud. Equally important is trust between the actors. The Federation Services for Gaia-X currently under development provide us with the technology to exchange data in the maritime domain confidently and securely. For example, wind turbine operators in dry offices on land use the data from their suppliers to create a digital twin of their systems that are out at sea. On the model, they can monitor their wind turbines holistically and in real time. But that's just the beginning. Data exchange via Gaia-X will offer completely new possibilities in the future.
What new business models are created by linking data in the maritime space?
Offshore wind farms are an interesting example because that's where we collect data above and below the water surface. In addition to component data, primarily environmental data from the sea and the atmosphere. In the case of wind farms, meteorological and maritime data can be combined by relating temperatures, currents, wind speeds and directions. Operators are now recognizing that their data is also valuable to third parties and that there is a market for it. Another example is shipping companies: they are expanding the range of their sensors and collecting more data than customers are currently asking for. This enables analyzes from new perspectives and opens up additional sales opportunities beyond the core business.
How do you find a price for such data?
This is an exciting topic. Whether it’s basic research or a business model – supply and demand ultimately determine the price, and this also applies to data. It is clear that marine data is more expensive per se than others because it is difficult to access them. But by combining different data sources and using technologies such as artificial intelligence, we can now solve problems that were previously simply beyond our capabilities. This is also shown by our use case of a maritime register for old ammunition.
Is this your AmuCad.org project that you are promoting with north.io?
Yes, exactly. Unfortunately, our oceans are also repository for ammunition, especially from the two world wars. In the German North Sea and Baltic Sea alone, 1.6 million tons of bombs, grenades and shells, and even poison gas ammunition, are rotting away. This corresponds to a fully loaded freight train with a length of 2,500 kilometers. After decades in aggressive salt water, the projectile casings dissolve, poisoning the sea and making salvage increasingly risky. But no one knows exactly where these legacy issues lie. That's why we at north.io are working on a register that documents old ammunition in the sea worldwide.
What data are you working with?
That is very different. References can be found, for example, in historical documents such as tables or handwritten notebooks. Fifty kilometers of shelves are stored in the Freiburg military archive alone. Nobody can read all of that. Instead, we programmed AI software that digitizes and evaluates the data. We blend this information with data from water samples, fish stocks, the composition of the seabed and local ocean currents. From this basis, our analysis programs then calculate the probable deposits of the toxins. This provides the stakeholders with the necessary clues to recover the ordnance in their area of responsibility.
How accessible is the data at AmuCad.org?
You have to know: It's not just about contaminated sites, but about weapons-grade materials, i.e. highly security-relevant information. In addition to researching military archives, we include data from the armed forces of neighboring countries, as well as from public administrations, NGOs, research institutions and companies that professionally salvage and dispose of ordnance. Such data must not fall into the wrong hands or simply be sold to the highest bidder. All parties attach great importance to data security and confidentiality. With Gaia-X, you retain full control over who uses your data and how. This creates the necessary trust for cooperation and the prerequisite for meeting legal requirements and internal security regulations of the organizations involved.
How transferable is this to other countries?
Maximum transferable! Two million tons of old ammunition lie off the coast of Great Britain alone. Whether Norway, Denmark, Japan or Australia - all coastal countries have problems like these. Many international players have already associated themselves with the Marispace-X consortium.
Mr. Wendt, thank you for the interview.
Andreas Weiss & Thomas Sprenger
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