Thetis - All made in Arsenale Venice

Thetis was recently awarded a contract by DG Environment of the European Commission to evaluate, on a Europe-wide scale, the current state of diffusion, development and implementation of information systems that support integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). The IDEAS Interdepartmental Centre at Ca' Foscari University in Venice will participate in the project, which will be conducted in the first six months of 2011. During the project’s first phase, existing coastal information systems will be analyzed to identify their current strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas requiring improvement, with the aim of increasing their utility for planning and integrated coastal zone management. The results of this analysis will be used to establish functional requirements and guidelines for developing Community policies that are designed to increase the diffusion, development and utilization of coastal information systems to support ICZM in Europe. Finally these requirements and guidelines will undergo a process of evaluation (with respect to anticipated benefits and costs) and validation that will include the involvement of a group of stakeholders and experts in the fields of ICZM and coastal information systems. DG Environment and Thetis will therefore organize a workshop to discuss and optimize the results of the project while it is in progress.