From the 21st until the 25th of September, the ANERIS project joined the EGI conference in Ghent, Belgium, both as an exhibitor and a conference partner. Every year, the EGI conference brings together digital and research infrastructure providers, data scientists and innovators to advance data-intensive science. Organised by the EGI Foundation in collaboration with partners from the EGI Federation, this year’s edition took place at the Bijloke, an astounding arts and knowledge hub on the banks of the river Lys. The extensive five-day programme covered diverse topics, including the role of AI in European science, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the importance of federated compute and data infrastructures for research. 

ANERIS and the concept of Operational Marine Biology (OMB) were presented during the opening ceremony, where all exhibitors were invited to present their projects and initiatives to the audience in short pitches. The ANERIS booth welcomed a steady stream of visitors, with the project’s promotional materials becoming the highlight of the exhibition.

As the project nears its end in December 2026, the focus is on making ANERIS’ 11 developed technologies and available tools usable beyond the project's lifetime. This includes integrating them into European research infrastructures, which is why conversations with the EGI community were especially valuable. Thus, the conference was a natural fit for the project’s dissemination activities, as the EGI Foundation is one of ANERIS’ 25 partners, and the project’s vision of faster, more reliable and accessible marine life data corresponds well with the services and EGI2026 participants build and operate.