The NORCE Center for Modeling Social Systems is leading the SURIMI project, which contributes to the European Union’s (EU) Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ by 2030, aiming to preserve ocean health and biodiversity while also promoting a sustainable blue economy. In support of this goal, the EU is developing the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO), a virtual model of the ocean that integrates vast amounts of data to provide a comprehensive, real-time understanding of the complex and dynamic ocean system.

Funded under the EU Horizon Europe Program, SURIMI is a €3.4 million, 3-year project (2024-2027) that will feed into the EU DTO. SURIMI’s mission is to build partnerships with stakeholders from industry, science, policy, and society to develop nine socio-ecological models for integration into the EU DTO. With access to ecological and fisheries data alongside economic and social data, SURIMI will use Large Language Models to improve the EU DTO’s ability to support informed decision-making and policy development in marine management strategy evaluation analyses in European waters.