SMARTDEC recognised with the Atlantic Project Award in the PORT category

SMARTDEC has won the Atlantic Project Award in the PORT category, a distinction presented during the Atlantic Stakeholder Platform Conference 2025 held on 13 November in Galway. This award recognises the project’s commitment to supporting the energy transition of Atlantic ports and promoting innovative low-carbon solutions across the maritime sector.

A recognition of port-sector innovation

The Atlantic Project Awards celebrate outstanding initiatives funded at local, regional, national, or European level and implemented in the Member States of the Atlantic Strategy (France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain).
The PORT category highlights projects that help ports reduce their carbon footprint and adopt innovative approaches.

The award granted to SMARTDEC underlines the relevance of its mission and the strength of the collaboration within the project’s consortium.

SMARTDEC showcased in the ports-dedicated session

During the session “Atlantic Ports Powering the Blue Energy Transition”, Philippe Monbet, Director of Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, the coordinating organisation of SMARTDEC, presented the project’s objectives, early actions, and the collective contribution of all partners towards decarbonising Atlantic ports.

He also highlighted the SMARTDEC Community interactive platform, which plays a key role in connecting stakeholders and supporting the uptake of innovative decarbonisation solutions.

The SMARTDEC platform: a key tool for maritime decarbonisation

A central component of the project is the SMARTDEC platform, which is currently in its early stages of development. Designed to support the decarbonisation of the maritime sector, the platform aims to:

• showcase the project’s goals, activities, and results;
• connect solution providers, end users, and partners;
• offer a growing catalogue of decarbonisation technologies and innovation services;
• stimulate new collaborations and support the transition from research to market.

As it continues to expand, the platform will progressively integrate new resources and tools to better serve maritime stakeholders.

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A structured European consortium

The SMARTDEC project is supported by a transnational consortium organised into national hubs across four countries:

France: Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique (PMBA), Atlanpole & Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR)
Ireland: Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO)
Portugal: Forum Oceano & University of Aveiro
Spain: Cluster Marítimo-Marino de Andalucía (CMMA) & Bilbao Port Lab

The project also involves five associated partners – Brittany Region (FR), Pays de la Loire Region (FR), CCDR-LVT (Lisbon – PT), Donegal County Council (IE) and Surfrider Foundation Europe (FR) — contribute to the General Assembly and support SMARTDEC by promoting the project, sharing regional insights and strengthening the overall collaborative effort.

Next steps: continuing the SMARTDEC dynamic

SMARTDEC is a three-year project running from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026. Following the award received in Galway, the consortium is continuing its planned activities to strengthen the project’s impact in the Atlantic regions.

• Progressive rollout of the SMARTDEC platform

The SMARTDEC platform will be enriched over the coming months with new resources.

• Support for innovative solutions

The consortium will keep supporting promising technologies selected through the SMARTDEC call for innovative projects, ensuring they are aligned with identified market needs.

• Development of shared roadmaps

The partners will keep working together to build strategic guidelines aimed at encouraging the adoption of low-carbon solutions in Atlantic regions.

• Events and dissemination of results

Workshops and events will continue to be organised in the four participating countries to share progress and disseminate results to decision-makers and stakeholders in the maritime sector.