A new integration step within European research fleets : launching of the EUROFLEETS2 project

Gathering more than sixty scientists and research fleets operators from all European eco-regions, the Kick-off Meeting of the European project EUROFLEETS2 was held in Brest, France, on the 19th to 21st of March 2013, at the invitation of the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) and the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV).

Thirty-one research organizations, research fleet managers, universities or industrialists, from 20 Members States or Associated Countries of the European Union, participate to the EUROFLEETS2 project whose main objective is the integration of research fleets, currently essentially managed at national level.

This project amplifies the effort initiated since 2009 with EUROFLEETS, which ends in August this year. Again coordinated by Ifremer, EUROFLEETS2 has a strong operational component.

This project receives significant funding from the European Commission (€ 9 million of a total budget of approximately € 10.8 million) over four years.