Integration of innovative and reliable socio-ecological models and user-driven solutions into the Digital Twin Ocean, to facilitate what-if scenarios and decision support, under a co-creation approach

SURIMI’s overall objective is to develop social-ecological models and user-friendly solutions that will be integrated in an interoperable and standardized manner within the DTO to generate policy analysis rooted in management strategy evaluation (MSE) principles.

The project will develop the SURIMI toolbox which will 1) provide open-source interchangeable socio-ecological, assessment and policy models including protocols and standards for model and data interoperability, 2) ensure the collection and harmonization of data informing these models across EU waters as well as ensuring long-term accessibility of the data and 3) package models, data and a visualization interface with a set of accessible and informative user-centric decision support tools, including the use of natural language processing (NLP) artificial intelligence for policy analysis and implementing a MSE framework to thoroughly account for benefits and costs of policy implementations.

The project will integrate every element of the SURIMI toolbox (models, data, interoperability layer, graphical user interfaces) as core elements of the DTO infrastructure and model lab.

SURIMI will cover and generalize broadly across the EU waters while providing input interfaces for users to tailor scenarios to their specific use-cases and local twins by inputting their own data and assumptions.

Throughout the entire project lifetime, SURIMI will engage a wide community of stakeholders from research, industry, advocacy, policy and society, to co-create, co-design and co-assess the SURIMI toolbox in a demand-driven and responsive development cycle.

All this, 1) expanding the DTO to covering ecology, economy and society and thus complementing its capacities and uses, 2) enabling better management of human activities, 3) facilitating what-if scenario analysis, decision support, and policy implementation both at European and regional/local scales, and 4) contributing to the EU Mission Ocean Restore our Ocean and.