Croatian Port Days in Zadar brought together key stakeholders from across the maritime and port sectors to discuss the future of port operations, digitalisation, sustainability, and environmental resilience.
For SeaCras, the event was an important opportunity to contribute to conversations that are becoming increasingly relevant for ports, marinas, maritime authorities, coastal cities, and destination managers. As maritime traffic grows and coastal areas face rising pressure from tourism, pollution risks, and climate-related challenges, the need for smarter monitoring and faster response systems is becoming more urgent than ever.
SeaCras was proud to take part not only as an attendee, but as an active contributor to the programme. Our CEO, Dr. Mario Špadina, joined the panel discussion on Digitalisation, OPAS Systems, and Smart Ports, and had presentation named Coastal Intelligence: AI-Satellite Detection Systems of Pollution for Operational Resilience in Ports and Marine Areas,
Digitalisation, OPAS Systems, and Smart Ports
At the panel discussion on Digitalisation, OPAS Systems, and Smart Ports industry experts explored how digital technologies can support safer, more efficient, and more transparent port operations.
The panel focused on several key topics shaping the next phase of maritime infrastructure management, including the management of port assets, the use of digital twins for infrastructure planning and monitoring, and the role of MARPOL pollution detection and early warning systems in strengthening environmental compliance.
These are no longer future-facing ideas. They are becoming practical requirements for ports that want to improve operational resilience, reduce environmental risks, and make better decisions based on reliable data.
Coastal Intelligence for Smarter Port Operations
In a presentation named Coastal Intelligence: AI-Satellite Detection Systems of Pollution for Operational Resilience in Ports and Marine Areas, Dr. Spadina highlighting how SeaCras combines satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and marine and maritime data to help ports and coastal stakeholders detect, understand, and respond to events in near real time and in real time.
The presentation demonstrated how AI-powered Coastal Intelligence can support ports and maritime organisations across several operational areas. One of the key use cases is improving resilience and response to pollution hazards, including the detection of marine pollution events and early identification of potential risks before they escalate.
Another important application is the optimisation of nautical tourism. By using vessel detection, greenhouse gas emissions insights, underwater noise monitoring, and illegal mooring detection near sensitive coastal vegetation, ports and destinations can gain a clearer picture of how maritime activity affects the surrounding environment.
SeaCras also presented how its technology supports port infrastructure management through occupancy monitoring in ports and marinas. For port operators, this type of insight can improve planning, resource allocation, and situational awareness, especially during periods of high maritime traffic.
During the event, Mario also shared his perspective in an interview for Croatian Radio (HR). The interview offered an additional opportunity to highlight the importance of data-driven environmental monitoring and the role of emerging technologies in supporting the long-term sustainability of the maritime industry.
Strengthening Transparency in the Maritime Sector
Croatian Port Days also served as a valuable meeting point with long-term partners, including Zadar Cruise Port and Global Ports Holding. Together, we announced another season of providing the city of Zadar, its residents, and destination guests with the SeaCras App.
Now entering its fourth year, this joint initiative has become Croatia’s longest-running full-transparency action in the maritime sector. By making relevant maritime and environmental information more accessible, the initiative continues to strengthen transparency, awareness, and trust between port stakeholders, local communities, and destination visitors.
Throughout the event, the SeaCras team also welcomed partners, peers, and industry representatives at our booth. These conversations opened space for practical discussions on how smart port technologies can move from strategy to implementation, and how digital tools can help ports become more resilient, sustainable, and prepared for future challenges.
For SeaCras, Croatian Port Days confirmed once again that the maritime sector is ready for solutions that connect innovation with operational value. Ports and coastal areas need systems that support faster decisions, stronger compliance, better environmental protection, and greater transparency.
That is exactly where Coastal Intelligence can make a measurable difference.
A big thank you to everyone we met in Zadar. We are looking forward to continuing these conversations and supporting the next generation of smarter, cleaner, and more resilient port operations.
SeaCras CEO and Co-founder Mario Špadina, PhD, presented SeaCras’ scientific work on Space–Ocean Integration methodology at Adriatic Mariculture 2026, held on 20 March 2026 in Ston as part of the Dani malostonske kamenice event.
The scientific and professional gathering brought together leading researchers, experts, institutional representatives, and producers from Croatia and other Adriatic countries. The focus was on the future of Adriatic mariculture, with special attention given to the preservation of the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) as an autochthonous species and one of the most recognizable symbols of the Malostonski Bay.
This integrated approach enables a clearer understanding of marine dynamics, especially during abnormal environmental events. For mariculture producers, this means better visibility of the conditions that directly affect production, health status, food safety, and long-term operational planning.
From Monitoring to Early Warning: Why Data Intelligence Matters for Mariculture
The conclusions of Adriatic Mariculture 2026 pointed to several key challenges facing the sector: climate change, environmental stressors, disease risks, predators, infrastructure limitations, market conditions, and administrative barriers.
Participants also emphasized the need for stronger biosecurity, stricter control of live organism imports, sanitary measures, veterinary supervision, and early-warning systems for disease and environmental risks. The introduction of non-native species, especially in sensitive protected areas such as Malostonski Bay, was recognised as a high-risk scenario that requires careful management rather than experimentation.
This is exactly where Space–Ocean Integration can create practical value.
By combining satellite monitoring with in situ measurements, mariculture stakeholders can move from fragmented observation to more systematic, data-driven decision-making. Instead of reacting only after visible damage occurs, producers and authorities can gain earlier insight into changing sea conditions, phytoplankton bloom development, pollution pressure, and other environmental indicators that may affect shellfish and fish production.
For SeaCras, the message is clear: the future of Adriatic mariculture depends on better cooperation between science, producers, and public institutions, but also on better intelligence from the marine environment itself.
Malostonski Bay remains a unique and sensitive ecosystem where tradition, nature, and economic activity meet. Protecting that balance requires modern tools, responsible management, and timely information.
Through satellite data, AI-powered analysis, and field-based validation, SeaCras continues to support a more resilient, informed, and sustainable future for mariculture in the Adriatic.
SeaCras presented the final results of our Coastal Intelligence study at the VI. meeting of the Pakleni Island Committee in Hvar, where representatives, institutions, and local stakeholders gathered to discuss the growing pressure of nautical tourism on one of Croatia’s most valuable island areas.
Presented by Josip Karadža and Robert Šulc, the study focused on maritime activity in the Pakleni Islands archipelago, using SeaCras’ AI-enabled Coastal Intelligence operational centre to map vessel presence, anchoring patterns, and areas of increased environmental pressure of nautical tourism across the 2023 and 2025 seasons.
The findings confirm what many coastal communities are increasingly experiencing: nautical tourism is growing, but without high-quality monitoring and actionable data, its impact can remain difficult to measure, manage, and respond to in time.
From Vessel Detection to Smarter Coastal Protection
According to the analysis, vessels were recorded across the entire archipelago, with the highest concentration in the bays of Vinogradišće, Palmižana, and Ždrilca. During peak season, between 10:00 and 12:00, up to 500 vessels were recorded in the waters of the Pakleni Islands, while total daily numbers were even higher.
The study also revealed clearbehavioural patterns. Around 50% of vessels used anchoring, while approximately 30% were tied to the shore, mostly smaller vessels up to 12 metres in length. The most common vessels were between 10 and 16 metres long, representing 43% of recorded boats. Vessels under 10 metres accounted for 37%, those between 16 and 24 metres for 13%, while vessels over 24 metres represented 7%.
Satellite-based vessel detection around Hvar and the Pakleni Islands, showing concentrated nautical activity across the monitored coastal area.
One of the most concerning findings was that 57% of vessels were anchored above strictly protected Posidonia oceanica habitats, especially in the areas of Soline, Prevojice, and Ždrilca. Posidonia meadows are among the most important marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean, playing a key role in biodiversity protection, seabed stability, water quality, and carbon storage.
The analysis also identified cases of large vessels being moored to trees and nearby coastal vegetation, creating additional pressure not only on the seabed but also on the fragile coastal landscape.p
For SeaCras, this study demonstrates the practical value of Coastal Intelligence: transforming satellite data, AI analysis, and maritime monitoring into clear insights that can support decision-making, conservation planning, and more responsible destination management.
Encouragingly, the public institution ‘More i Krš’, together with local authorities, is already working to turn these findings into concrete action aimed at protecting the Pakleni Islands and preserving their long-term ecological value.
As pressure of nautical tourism on coastal and marine areas continues to increase, especially in high-demand nautical destinations, data-driven monitoring is becoming essential. With solutions such as SeaCras’ Coastal Intelligence, ports, coastal communities, public institutions, and tourism stakeholders can better understand what is happening at sea — and act before environmental pressure turns into lasting damage.
Thousands of oil spills have been recorded over the years, releasing large volumes of oil into marine ecosystems and causing lasting damage to biodiversity, fisheries, tourism and coastal economies. While major incidents attract attention, smaller fuel leakages and uncontrolled discharges, including diesel and similar pollutants, can be just as harmful when they go unnoticed.
At the same time, although facing fragile growth, rising costs and uncertainty, maritime transport remains central to global trade, making reliable monitoring and early detection more important than ever. As shipping activity continues to shape global commerce, improving the speed and accuracy of marine pollution detection is becoming an increasingly urgent priority.
It also reinforces the importance of frameworks such as the MARPOL Convention, which set the global standard for preventing pollution from ships.
Figure 1.Left: raw satellite image of the Odessa region, Ukraine. Middle: Coastal Intelligence operational interface output. Right: detected oil spill extent (red) on top of the river plume (green) — output for the client.
Why Fuel Spills Still Go Undetected
One of the biggest challenges is to detect not crude oil, but more volatile oil derivatives and fuel spill and leakage detection.
Moreover, not every suspicious patch on the sea surface equals pollution. Remote sensing operators must distinguish real discharges from naturally occurring phenomena that can look very similar in satellite imagery. These include biogenic slicks, low-wind areas, rainfall zones, internal waves and the leeward sides of islands.
That is exactly where advanced analytics becomes essential. SeaCras developed Coastal Intelligence, a tool that detects fuel spills with the combination of synthetic aperture radar and optical sensors, and different spatial resolutions of sensors. Coastal Intelligence utilises a series of additional atmospheric and marine data (often called auxiliary data) on a data fusion principle. This is a new methodology of deep learning that increases precision and detection rate of pollution incidents by reducing false positives in complex coastal environments.
Figure 2.Satellite-derived view of the incident in Hvar coastal region, showing the detected thin diesel leakage pollution intensity over the affected area, with warmer colors indicating higher surface concentrations of oil derivatives and the red outline marking the highlighted area of high pollution intensity area.
How Coastal Intelligence Improves Marine Pollution Monitoring
Coastal Intelligencecombines proprietary satellite imagery processing modules with an innovative data analysis approach to deliver more accurate results. The system achieves the best known commercial spill detection success rate, including for patches measuring only a few hundred square metres. By using different satellite technologies and different sources, SeaCras delivers operational services more frequently.
Our platform uses high- and very-high-resolution optical satellite data, enabling more precise monitoring even in smaller areas such as ports and marinas.
But its value goes beyond identifying oil-derived pollution. Coastal Intelligence also helps users distinguish between manmade pollution events, uncontrolled sewage discharges near port areas, and natural phenomena such as algal blooms. By combining satellite-derived water quality parameters, satellite images, and sea current vector field maps, the project’s partners have strengthened both their detection and identification capabilities.
This makes Coastal Intelligence especially relevant as a complementary solution to the European Maritime Safety Agency’s CleanSeaNet service, which supports participating states with satellite-based oil spill and vessel detection across Europe.
Figure 3.Satellite-derived view of the diesel spill in Baniyas coastal region, Syria. Left: very high spatial resolution analysis of the oil pollution showing the thin areas and small patches of pollution migration. Right: regional view of the catastrophe, showing the higher pollution levels depicted by warmer colors.
A Scalable Solution for Ports and Maritime Authorities
SeaCras has translated this scientific excellence and technical capability into a commercially available operational service. Today, Coastal Intelligence serves port operators and maritime authorities across the globe, which is an immense achievement, considering it was developed initially only for the Adriatic and Ionian regions.
Its added value lies in wide-area coverage, frequent and affordable monitoring as well as alert-based response support.
In practice, that means giving ports, authorities and coastal stakeholders a stronger chance to detect pollution early, respond faster and better protect the seas they depend on.
Other Marine Pollution Hazards and Unexpected Natural Events
Oil and fuel pollution are just a tip of the iceberg of a much broader range of marine and maritime threats. Floating marine litter, plastic pollution are some of the world’s largest problems, while climate change and warming of our oceans increase the occurrences of harmful and abnormal algal blooms.
Check out how Coastal Intelligence tackles those cases as well!
The UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 is out, and SeaCras is proud to be recognised as one of only 11 featured case studies in the publication, released by the World Economic Forum on 17 March 2026.
SeaCras was selected based on its measurable and quantified nature-, social-, people- and economic-positive impact. Being among a global cohort of purpose-driven technology ventures is a meaningful milestone for our team — and a signal that the work we are doing in marine and maritime monitoring is resonating well beyond our home waters.
Read the full UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 to explore how early-stage innovation is reshaping industries and delivering real-world environmental and social outcomes.
The 2026 Report: A Year of Measurable Impact
The 2026 Annual Impact Report captures the collective progress of the UpLink Ventures network across the past year. And the numbers speak for themselves. As the report says, more than 139 UpLink ventures are now actively applying AI across their domains, illustrating how technology can drive data-driven, scalable and system-level change in critical areas including water, climate and nature, cities, health and emerging technologies.
Investment momentum has been equally impressive as UpLink ventures raised over $850 million in 2025. This is a 53% increase in capital compared to 2024, demonstrating that mission-aligned innovation is increasingly attracting serious funding at scale.
Between 2025 and 2026, the UpLink ventures network collectively delivered:
These are not projections or aspirational targets. They are verified outcomes delivered by a network of ventures operating on the front lines of some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.
The number of people (headcount) has nearly doubled over the past year — growing from eight to 15. And with this new capacity built across public relations, marketing and R&D, we’re more able to keep pace with accelerating demand. Furthermore, alongside that internal growth, we deepened our institutional footprint in Croatia, having created public-private partnerships with national bodies including the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), with a shared focus on elevating the quality and reach of national and regional monitoring systems.
In parallel, the company secured a blended €1.15 million investment round with the European Investment Band and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, further reinforcing its continued global expansion and impact.
What This Recognition Means for SeaCras
For our team, appearing as one of only 11 case studies in a report that documents the impact of hundreds of ventures worldwide is an extremely significant validation of our work. It reflects the momentum we’ve built over the past year. And not just in growth metrics, but in the depth and quality of the partnerships we have cultivated.
Moreover, our inclusion in the UpLink network has opened doors that would have been far harder to reach independently. The platform’s connections to global public and private sector leaders have been instrumental in positioning SeaCras where national-scale monitoring challenges intersect with the need for advanced, AI-powered solutions. The support of UpLink and its collaborators continues to be a genuine accelerant for our mission.
Of course, we look forward to what the next chapter brings, both for SeaCras and for the broader community of ventures working to ensure that the future of our oceans, coastlines and marine environments is one of health, resilience and transparency.
What Is UpLink — and Why Does It Matter?
UpLink is the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation engine, launched in 2020 with a clear mission. To help turn bold, purpose-driven solutions into real-world impact. Through its founding collaborators Deloitte and Salesforce, and a sprawling network of public and private sector leaders, UpLink engineers the infrastructure that ambitious entrepreneurs rarely have on their own. These are often capital, strategic partnerships and market entry pathways that allow transformative solutions to take root and scale across industries and economies.
Basically, UpLink is there to bridge a persistent gap in the innovation lifecycle — the disconnect between capital availability and market readiness that too often slows promising technologies from moving from pilot to scale. By accelerating that transition, the platform accelerates progress towards a resilient, sustainable and prosperous future where purpose and profit go hand in hand.
In conclusion, being featured in the UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 reinforces what matters most. Solutions grounded in real-world impact are the ones shaping the future of sustainable innovation.
