Description of company’s activities

ATLANTIS Research is a Société Anonym (est. 1992), composed of 18 highly skilled employees (engineers, economists, IT and science & technology experts, archaeologists, divers et. al.). The company has experience in the management and implementation of international R&TDI projects in the fields of sustainable tourism valorisation, management of Accessible Underwater Natural or Cultural Heritage sites, ICT research, Underwater Technologies, innovation policy, investment readiness, Access to finance, Science and Technology Policy and Evaluation of Research.

Through past EU projects, ATLANTIS has developed significant expertise in all aspects concerning Underwater Accessible Cultural Heritage Sites (UMs), Underwater Archaeology, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Diving Parks (DPs), while ATLANTIS’s founder Angelos Manglis is a founding member of the Hellenic Diving Centers Association and two dive centers in Greece. The BlueTech & Growth Business Unit (BU) of ATLANTIS has significant experience from projects aiming at the promotion of culture, “blue” technologies and the exploitation of the underwater wealth (cultural and natural) for the benefit of the European economy. In recent years, this BU by participating in Greek and European projects, having contributed to tangible achievements such as:

  • The characterization as accessible ancient wrecks of the Greek seas (currently about ten including four in Alonissos and three in the western Pagasitikos), which contributed to the growth of maritime tourism in these areas.
  • The development of technologies which support the exploitation of the underwater heritage (and natural) wealth of the Mediterranean, such as digitization for the creation of 3D models of reconstruction underwater archaeological sites, the use of new technologies for the recording of marine archaeological sites, the use of new technologies for recording archaeological research, virtual (VR/AR), augmented tours, virtual diving applications, open marine archaeological research workshops, educational underwater archaeological games also called “serious games” etc.
  • Submission of proposals for the operation of the accessibility of underwater archaeological sites at a national level through their integration in European and National funding programs, in Regional Operational Plans, etc.
  • Promotion, at local and international level, of the principle that the protection of the underwater archaeological heritage presupposes the touristic development and awareness creation primarily for the benefit of the local communities and always having as a basis the principles of sustainable development.

 

Relevant projects:

The awarded BLUEMED Project (Interreg MED) promotes the protection of Accessible Underwaterof Natural and Cultural Heritage sites and enhances the sustainable economic growth of local societies through the promotion of wet and dry dive approaches such as the Knowledge Awareness Centers (KACs). The UCRCA project (EASME/EMFF) has created a thematic and international underwater cultural tourism product for underwater cultural heritage sites. In a consortium for the development of diving tourism in Thessaly, Greece (Regional Operational Programme of Thessaly 2007-2013), Atlantis implemented tourism development studies, delivered financial, institutional and political sustainability studies for the implementation and management of Accessible Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites in the region and made policy recommendations for action plans (www.anomagnitonnisoi.gr). In a different aspect, the LAB4Dive project (EASME/EMFF) and DiveSafe (EASME/EMFF), developed innovative underwater technologies and equipment that support surveying, documenting and preserving the Underwater Cultural Heritage. COSME/MeDryDive works on the design of a new transnational thematic tourism product. MeDryDive innovates as it integrates personalized CCI (Cultural and Creative Industry) apps (augmented Reality apps, serious games, videos) into the tourism product, enriching the experience of tourists; both divers and non-divers and stimulating their interest on MED Underwater Heritage and diving. Finally, Europe/Media/ MAREBOX is a synergetic effort from actors from the CCI (Creative and Cultural Industry), artistic/cultural, technology, science and business sectors, in creating unique, innovative and audience centered, experiences of the European “Underwater World” that can be displayed in museums around Europe (and globally). The project will contribute to the promotion of the European Cultural Heritage and Culture.

ATLANTIS has also participated to projects related to career recruiting and skills development. The SMART INNO project (IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013) implemented a digital online interactive platform to provide access to a human resource expertise capacities database and SME/Start-ups job posts, creating a smart dynamic network. ATLANTIS also developed and operated in the past the online recruitment service Change2IT.com, a product part of the MultiTrain project, which has been awarded for its innovative character by the European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE) with the IST Prize Nominee 2005. Jobical.com (as named later) was an e-recruitment platform, which provided automated guidelines and support to candidates, as well as employers to target their vacancies only to the most suitable candidates, and receive applications scored and ranked according to pre-specified criteria. In a similar context, the E-study Platform project (Leonardo da Vinci award) enables its users to improve their qualifications in e-government and e-business. ATLANTIS has produced other innovative e-learning contents, such as MINT or TRAINMOR-KNOWMORE, on management techniques for the function of SMEs and organisations, respectively.

 

The role of ATLANTIS in the project

ATLANTIS has acquired a long-term experience and advanced expertise in the creation and development of specialised mechanisms and tools in analysing and validating data and the needs of the market. ATLANTIS will help develop the BlueCareers Platform, supporting scientific diving and Blue Technology recruitment and the covering of candidates’ skill gaps (if any). ATLANTIS will mobilize its network bringing together relevant stakeholders and built synergies in cutting edge underwater technologies, sustainable and responsible coastal and diving tourism and in management of marine parks or underwater archaeological sites.

Today’s ATLANTIS Research  activities are strongly focused to the protection and promotion of Underwater Cultural and Natural Heritage in the MED, development of scientific diving, raising awareness concerning marine litter pollution (video link, video link) raising awareness of participatory citizen’s science and crowd source volunteering initiatives in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) like the one in Alonissos and the North Sporades Islands in the Aegean Sea, designing and testing underwater technologies specialized in helping science divers such as underwater archaeologists, oceanographers et. al. in performing their tasks, designing and testing georeferenced automated underwater scout and retrieval technologies for helping, making safer, more effective and efficient the underwater exploration especially in swallow waters up to 60 meters. Furthermore, Atlantis Research in the last 28 years has helped more than 6.500 companies in raising more than 1billion euros in funding from several sources including EU funded programmes, business angels, venture capitals, growth markets et. al. In doing so Atlantis Research has developed thousands of business plans, market studies especially for high tech firms working in innovative domains of science and technology. All of the above are totally relevant with the work of Atlantis Research in the current project as we have designed the main idea, created the consortium, sketched the overall architecture of the solution, chosen the user requirements and the pilot sites and Atlantis will work for the transformation of the research results into valid product in the market. The vision of Atlantis Research is to create a behavioral change of all the people involved in maritime activities, but also to work closely with the policy makers in creating the necessary framework in the maritime spatial planning field in order the local municipalities not only to have the necessary tools to preserve, monitor, clean and conserve their coastal waters and remote beaches from marine litter, plastics and microplastics, but also to have the legal responsibility to do so.