PLOTO at DISC25

SoReCC (Societal Resilience to Climate Change) participated in the GIS Forum Danube and the Danube Information Services Conference 2025 (DISC ’25), held on 3–4 December in Belgrade, Serbia, at the Moxy Belgrade Marriott. The conference brought together representatives from river administrations, government institutions, companies, and organizations involved in inland waterway management and development across Europe, providing a platform to exchange knowledge on the next generation of systems and services for European inland waterways.

Within the European projects and developments session on the second day of the conference, SoReCC presented the PLOTO project, “Improving the Resilience of Inland Waterways against Climate Change and other Extremes.” The presentation provided an overview of the project’s objectives, methodology, key facts, and demonstration sites, followed by an introduction to the main modules developed within PLOTO. These included the PLOTO platform for visualizing risk assessment results, supporting incident management and decision-making, as well as the project’s risk and resilience framework, seismic and flood hazard assessments, the use of satellite and UAV sensor data combined with AI-based post-processing tools, and indirect impact assessment tools such as socio-economic models.

A more detailed focus was given to the indirect impact assessment component, specifically the business operation model for Danube ports. This model demonstrates how PLOTO tools can be used to assess potential damage to port operations following extreme or catastrophic events, supporting authorities and operators in understanding operational vulnerabilities and improving preparedness and resilience planning.

DISC ’25 featured national status reports from river administrations in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania, alongside presentations by companies showcasing their services, products, and projects, and broader discussions on European developments in inland waterway systems. SoReCC’s participation contributed to these discussions by highlighting how integrated risk assessment, advanced monitoring technologies, and impact modeling can support climate resilience and operational continuity along Europe’s inland waterways.