The objective of this forum is to raise awareness and foster dialogue among academia, industry, operators, policymakers, and the public-at-large on the theme of the protection of Critical Underwater Infrastructures (CUIs).

The conference will begin with an introduction to CUIs and discussing their vulnerability to covered sabotages, terroristic actions, and hybrid warfare. The geopolitical importance of these infrastructure will be highlighted and an historical overview on the most notorious and impactful incidents will be provided.
After this introductory part, experts and operators will explain how this problem is currently approached by governments and by the industry, what are the tools available today, and what are the typical prevention and intervention operations carried out. A critical analysis of successes, pitfalls and lessons learnt from nowadays technologies, operations, and policies will be carried out.

The forum will then move toward the future. Ongoing research directions and a vision on the future will be presented by researchers (from academia and the industry) and funding agencies. The forum will end discussing what politics and policy making can do to: i) encourage new research actions; and ii) promote the development of a comprehensive framework based on the share of responsibility between civil and military bodies, as well as public and private entities.