SaferSEA Study Visit in Brest
And that’s a wrap! After Cadiz and Algeciras (ES) in September 2025, Lisbon and Sines (PT) in April 2026, and Cork and Ringaskiddy (IE) in May 2026, the project partners gathered in Brest for the 4th SaferSEA Study Visit. This event was organised by local partners CEDRE and Technopôle Brest-Iroise alongside Sea Tech Week®, an international conference dedicated to marine science and technology organised every 2 years in Brest. This edition and the SaferSEA Study Visit took place from October 6 to 8, 2026.
ENSTA
We started off with a visit to ENSTA. ENSTA (École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées) is a French public engineering school under the supervision of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. It is a founding member of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, and since 2025 it operates on two campuses: Paris-Saclay (Palaiseau) and Brest. The school brings together around 2,350 students and doctoral candidates, including about 1,000 in Brest. It trains high-level engineers and conducts research in maritime science, digital technology, defence and security, transport and mobility, energy, and health.
Following the presentation of the school, two incubated startups came to pitch their projects: Venturix, which develops an innovative concept for an airborne offshore wind turbine, and Windion, which develops an offshore renewable energy production system, designed around mobility, to deliver controllable electricity near the coast with light infrastructure.
We then went off to visit one of ENSTA’s labs, MASMECA, which offers a wide range of testing, measurement, and observation capabilities, enabling the comprehensive characterization of all types of materials, assemblies, and structures.
Activities organised through Sea Tech Week®
As a sponsor to this year’s edition of Sea Tech Week®, SaferSEA was represented through 3 different activities:
- 2 workshops
- 1 demonstration of drones
CEDRE workshop
On October 6, in the afternoon, CEDRE led a workshop called Ammonia as an Alternative Fuel: what risks in the event of an accidental spill?, 5 speakers had been invited to join the discussion:
- Olivier SALVI, from Ineris Développement
- Morgane LE MEUR, from Technopôle Brest-Iroise
- Philippe JANVIER, from CEREMA
- Stéphane LE FLOCH, from CEDRE
- Eric FOULQUIER, from University of Western Brittany
Following a first workshop in October 2024 on preliminary research results, this 2nd workshop aimed to share recent findings on the risks associated with the use of new maritime fuels – ammonia, methanol – in the event of an accidental spill.
The workshop was attended by 23 people.
SaferSEA workshop
On October 7, in the morning, SaferSEA partners organised a joint workshop called SaferSEA Maritime Event: Solutions for a Safer & Smarter Shipping Industry. This workshop was divided into 2 parts: a pitch session and a roundtable discussion.
The pitch session aimed to promote innovative solutions and technologies for the shipping industry, including pilot projects supported through SaferSEA:
- Santiago MIRANDA, from BioAbsoil Solutions, and David PINTO, from EONSEA, presented their experimental USV equipped with absorbent, to capture oil spills (tested at CEDRE, France)
- Pedro RIBEIRO, from BlueOASIS, presented their solution based on Hydrotwin, a realtime passive acoustic monitoring system that combines underwater sensing, edge computing, and AI to detect, classify, and track underwater activity (tested in the port of Ericeira, Portugal)
- Gonçalo MEIRA, from Navictus, presented NAV45, a fully electric unmanned surface vessel (USV), designed to provide safer and cleaner maritime operations by reducing the need for crewed routine patrols (tested in the port of Sines, Portugal)
- João BORLIDO, from CoopTech, presented AquaScan AI, an intelligent realtime marine monitoring system that combines multimodal underwater sensors, AI, and a digital platform for data visualization and analysis (tested in the estuary of the Lima River, Portugal).
Two solutions, developed by Irish companies and selected through a Call for Startups in June 2026 specifically for this pitch session, were also on the agenda:
- Mike KEANE, from Hibra Design, presented feasibility and design studies recently conducted for the electrification of terminal tug fleet at Rosslare Europort, for an electric island ferry, and for a hybrid dieselelectric passenger ferry.
- Aidan COYLE, from Skywash Drones, presented the HydroCrawler, a solution designed to make difficult cleaning safer, smarter and more efficient, which could be deployed in ports for inwater cleaning during layovers, and ports stays.
This workshop also aimed to share insights on how decarbonisation and the development of new maritime fuels are shaping the industry and impacting both technology providers and ports. A panel discussion brought together Stéphane PAUL, founder of H2X-ECOSYSTEMS, a company developing and deploying hydrogen systems, and Juan Jesús REYES, Head of the Alternative Fuels and Energy Projects Division at the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras, offering complementary perspectives on the technical, infrastructure and economic challenges of new propulsion energies.
The workshop concluded with the presentation of a symbolic prize, the SaferSEA Best Pitch Award, chosen by the audience. This prize was awarded to Santiago MIRANDA and David PINTO, for their joint project of a USV and sorbent designed to recover oil spills.
The workshop was attended by 32 people.
Demonstration of drones
On October 7 in the afternoon, CEDRE hosted a demonstration of drones in their facilities. It aimed to present various types of drones currently used or under development, with the purpose of supporting the fight against marine pollution:
-BioAbsoil and EONSEA presented their experimental USV equipped with a sorbent application device and recovery system
- The local firefighters' service (Service Départemental d’Incendie et de Secours du Finistère – SDIS 29) presented a UAV equipped with a water sampling device
- The Brest unit of mine clearance divers presented a ROV for water column sampling
- The Korean company OZ-SEPA presented a USV equipped with an oil skimmer
- The French company H2X-ECOSYSTEMS presented a power-generating UGV.
The demonstration was attended by 64 people.
Visits to H2X-ECOSYSTEMS and CEDRE
The Study Visit concluded on October 8, with a visit to the production site of H2X-ECOSYSTEMS outside of Brest.
H2X-ECOSYSTEMS is a Brittany-based industrial company that designs, manufactures and deploys turnkey hydrogen energy solutions, helping industrial players secure their energy supply, cut emissions and gain autonomy. Its portfolio includes modular hydrogen generators and removable, connected hydrogen tanks designed for storage and transport.
We then head off to CEDRE for a final tour of their facilities. We visited their laboratory and emergency response room, where the team presented its mission and the story of how CEDRE came to be.
CEDRE (Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution) was indeed created in 1978, a few months after the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker sank off the coasts of Brittany, to strengthen France’s preparedness and response to accidental water pollution. It is a non-profit association based in Brest. It is a nationally and internationally recognised expert, advising on marine and inland waters and on pollution by oil, chemicals and aquatic waste. Its work is organised around five activities: intervention support, planning, training, analysis and testing, and research, backed by a documentation resource centre.
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