Eni, Fincantieri to Advance Underwater Monitoring Technologies

Eni S.p.A and Fincantieri, through its subsidiary IDS – Ingegneria dei Sistemi, a company specialized in the development of unmanned systems for the underwater market and related command-and-control systems and in the industrialization of advanced sensors and radar technologies, announce the signing of a strategic agreement concerning Clean Sea, Eni’s proprietary technology. Clean Sea is the underwater robotic system developed by Eni and designed for monitoring marine ecosystems and subsea infrastructure, including the verification of their in-service integrity.

The agreement grants IDS an exclusive license for the worldwide commercialization and industrial development of the Clean Sea technology, which will be deployed for underwater inspection activities and initiatives related to the offshore market’s energy transition objectives, with particular focus on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in marine environments. This license will enable IDS to use Clean Sea to support Eni's operational requirements and those of third-party customers.

Clean Sea is based on hybrid ROV/AUV (Remotely Operated Vehicle/Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) architecture, that allows it to be used in remote-controlled form, from a support vessel or in fully autonomous mode. The technology incorporates interchangeable modular payloads, known as e-pods, which combine instruments and sensors tailored to specific monitoring and inspection tasks, including water sampling, detailed visual analysis, and 3D acoustic reconstructions, ensuring advanced data acquisition and processing capabilities even in complex offshore environments. The technology will be integrated with various autonomous platforms and unmanned systems developed by the Fincantieri Group, enabling scalable applications both in terms of operational volumes and new use cases.

The agreement is in line with Eni’s innovation model, which aims to accelerate deployment on the market of proprietary technologies through technological and commercial partnerships. Licensing such technologies to qualified operators further enhances such technologies’ innovation potential and their operational efficiency, while promoting their industrialization and commercialization across broader national and international markets. 

In addition, the agreement strengthens Fincantieri Group’s position in the underwater domain, while further consolidating the role of the Underwater Technology Hub. The Hub serves as the Group’s coordinating center for competencies and technologies across civil, defense, and dual-use systems, as well as a strategic enabler for the development of advanced technologies for the security, monitoring, and protection of critical subsea infrastructure.