Taking place at the Monaco Yacht Club on 21-22 September 2025, the fifth edition of the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marinas Rendezvous gathered global experts to discuss the future of marina development. Organised by M3 Monaco, the event focused on practical solutions for sustainable marinas, coastal innovation and data-driven management.
Bringing together approximately 250 representatives from across the marina industry, the event included keynote speeches, networking sessions, workshops, conference panel discussions and the annual Monaco Smart Marinas awards ceremony. Investors, marina project promoters, marina managers, shipyards, startups, manufacturers, shipowners and politicians were all present.
The event began at 14:00 on 21 September with a welcome speech from the CEO of M3 Monaco, José Marco Casellini, who praised “the collective energy” driving the gathering, highlighting that “investing in sustainability means investing in our future”. He was followed by Bernard d’Alessandri, Secretary General of the Monaco Yacht Club, who emphasised, “Yachting cannot function without an ecosystem. By bringing together so many professionals, we show that the environmental transition of marinas is a universal ambition.”
The first afternoon continued with Q&A sessions with representatives of marinas and architects attending the event, followed by networking and workshops on marina technology, data and management.
High-level political engagement
The opening of the second day of the Rendezvous was distinguished by the participation of two high-level Monegasque and Albanian political representatives. Céline Caron-Dagioni, Monaco’s Government Counsellor, Minister of Equipment, Environment and Urban Planning, argued that “economic attractiveness, environmental protection and innovation in urban development can, and must, reinforce each other”, and highlighted that Monaco is “fully engaged” in the maritime sector’s energy transition, including in the adoption of biofuels, hydrogen and electrification. She added that Monaco’s limited space provided a “rich opportunity to think differently”.
Furthermore, the Rendezvous was joined by the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, Belinda Balluku, who also serves as the country’s Minister of Infrastructure and Energy. In her remarks to the conference, she spoke of Albania’s potential to become a “dynamic maritime hub” with a network of interconnected marinas designed with a sustainable future in mind. Highlighting that her country uses 100 percent renewable energy, these marinas would champion clean energy solutions and advanced waste management to protect marine diversity.
Deputy Prime Minister Balluku said that Albania’s marina strategy is “not only about tourism, it’s about nation branding”, adding that her country will be one that “values sustainability, embraces innovation and guarantees excellence”.
Focused panel discussions
Conference sessions with industry panellists made up the majority of the second day. The three sessions focused on creating exclusive coastal destinations while preserving nature, financial and regulatory frameworks for developing coastal tourism destinations, and the role of data as a strategic lever for responsible marina management. Participants across the three panels included architects, advisors, investment experts, government officials and CEOs from Italy, Qatar, Belgium, USA, Brazil and Monaco, to name a few.
Roundtable workshops addressed start-up financing, adapting marinas to the needs of crews and vessels, and sustainable fuels. SEA Index®, a Monaco Yacht Club tool to measure and reduce the environmental footprint of yachts, also announced a collaboration with Pick a Pier.
The event closed with the annual Monaco Smart Marinas awards ceremony. Marina Resort Cavtat in Croatia was awarded the International Smart & Sustainable Marina Award for its “strong regenerative vision and fully integrated sustainability approach”, while IGY Marinas and Marina da Gloria in Brazil won two jury’s choice awards.
Gwilen (France) and BetterSea Power (Italy) won the two start-up awards, while Metarina (Germany/Spain) and Kontis (Croatia) won the two scale-up awards. Ingenhoven associates GmbH (Germany) won the professional architecture award and a team of students from the Iran University of Art won the student architecture award.
The event offered the opportunity for start-ups and scale-ups across the sector to pitch their solutions and products, resulting in vibrant discussions between companies and other industry representatives.
Impressive networking opportunities
While a relatively small-scale event compared to the much bigger Monaco Yacht Show, the Rendezvous impressed with the density and quality of networking opportunities. The full spectrum of marina industry stakeholders - ranging from the small start-ups that power innovation to the high-level political representatives that decide whether to give the governmental green light - were present, visible and engaged.
Uniting the small yet global marina industry, the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marinas Rendezvous succeeded in providing a targeted, specialist platform for knowledge sharing and valuable networking. It was a welcome and highly complementary warm-up to the Monaco Yacht Show, and Marina World looks forward to partnering with M3 Monaco for next year’s event.
