The Day dedicated to the Seas continued with the slogan "Our Ocean, Our Future" on the afternoon of the 22 June. In fact, Seafuture wants to promote effective actions to create a network of skills at national and international level, as well as to further raise awareness on environmental issues. In this perspective, the second part of the seminar on the economic and scientific implications of the marine universe promoted by the DLTM was held, attended by Walter Mazzitti, Ministry of the Environment, Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament and Defense Committee, Enrico Granara, Minister Plenipotentiary Ambassador, Francesca Cozzani, President of Confindustria La Spezia, Roberto Porcari, Scientific Director of DLTM.
During the afternoon, the 2018 Out-of-Home Montale Prize was awarded to Sea Shepherd for the "Mediterraneo" section, the association that for years 40 fights for the protection of the marine environment with Andrea Morello, President of Sea Shepherd Italy, which at Seafuture presented to the press his book published by Skirà Editore SpA with a great success with the public. Leonardo Spa, platinum sponsor of the event, organized the seminar on the development of drones and their use in military and maritime operations highlighting the systems and platforms of its production such as the AW HERO whose maritime surveillance capabilities will be used on the occasion of the OCEAN2020 program.
The closing ceremony saw the authoritative presence of the Minister of Defense Elisabetta Trenta accompanied by the Chief of Defense Staff, General Claudio Graziano and the Chief of Staff of the Navy Valter Girardelli. The Minister first greeted the foreign delegations on the Amerigo Vespucci School Ship and then paid a visit to the exhibition spaces. The ceremony took place in the Marina Militare stand and was preceded by the awarding of the authors of the theses selected for the assignment of the SEAFUTURE AWARDS 2018, aimed at graduates, PhD students, PhDs from the Italian academic world. The winner will be awarded a voucher for participation in the Bluegrowth Summer School (created by the University of Ghent - Belgium) in September 2018.
On the occasion Cristiana Pagni, President of IBG, thanked all the institutions, exhibitors, sponsors, partners, young people who shared with her the vision that led to the realization of the event. He then presented the important numbers of this edition: 177 participating organizations and companies, 42 foreign delegations with 5 chiefs of defense and navy, 4600 visitors and exhibitors, 100 accredited journalists, 6000 meters of exhibition area, 1490 meetings bilateral. The President expressed special thanks to the Italian Navy for opening the Naval Base to the city. Seafuture has tried to present dual-use technologies for defense, for the environment, for human life and for the protection of the planet.
After the speeches of the military leaders, the Minister of Defense Elisabetta Trenta thanked the whole organization and the Navy, underlining how our blue century must be characterized by sustainable growth and the importance of made in Italy also in the production of dual technologies and environmental protection, then declaring the event officially closed.
Among the last acts of an event full of events, the Sailing in the Cinque Terre National Park that started this morning from the Santa Teresa Sailing School, La Spezia, with the motto: "Seafuture is here, for everybody!" of an inclusive and sensitive regatta to the issues of disability in the nautical field.
The EIEAD FORUM 2018 "The New Playgrounds of Industrial Global Power: The Eurasian Economic Union and the Black Sea Region" officially closes the works of this Seafuture, the focus of this year in the Vespucci training ship scenario will be the continent of Eurasian Economic and the Black Sea Region intended as a new field of action of the global industrial powers and will be widely discussed in the round table.