The sixth edition of the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous is set to begin this Sunday, 20 September, at the iconic Yacht Club de Monaco.
Stretching over two days, this year’s event will include high-level addresses and focused panel discussions while also providing a platform for ambitious start-ups and scale-ups to present their solutions to hundreds of industry representatives.
The first day will begin with welcoming speeches from the master of ceremonies, David Seal, as well as José Marco Casellini, CEO of M3 Monaco, and Bernard d'Alessandri, general secretary of Yacht Club de Monaco.
This will be followed by structured one-on-one networking introductions between marinas, sponsors, innovators and captains, before moving on to three dedicated round-table workshops on marina cybersecurity, new construction materials and meeting international marina standards.
The stand-out session of day one is a comprehensive panel discussion on the future of waterfront development in Egypt, a topic featured in the most recent issue of Marina World, here. Moderated by Neity Maddock, this unique session will welcome ambassadors, diplomats, politicians, real estate developers and more, and is certainly not to be missed.
Government, investment, engineering, architecture
The second day of the event will kick off with a landmark keynote address from the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Widiyanti Putri Wardhana. Spearheading a cross-governmental effort to transform the country into a world-class yachting destination, H.E. Widiyanti Putri Wardhana will speak on the topic of “From Archipelago to Global Destination: Indonesia's Vision for Sustainable Maritime Tourism”.
Bali Gapura Marina is currently the country’s most significant and advanced marina development to date, and you can read more about the project in this article, published in issue 151 of Marina World and online in November 2025.
The body of the second day will consist of diverse panel discussions on three topics: biodiversity and the business case, capital investment, and architecture and innovation. Speakers across these sessions include but are not limited to:
- Dr. Megan Clampitt — Head of the Pont Science Program, Ponant
- Luca Gamberini — VP & co-founder, Nemo's Garden
- Rodrick T. Miller — President & CEO, Miami-Dade Beacon Council
- Chris Wong — General Manager, Land & Skytopia Projects at Airport Authority Hong Kong
- Andreas Bäckman — Investment Director, Infravia Capital Partners
- Joe Greene — Head of Ports and Maritime, MSEA Engineering
Density and quality of networking opportunities
As part of the Smart Marina Rendezvous’ commitment to showcasing leading start-ups and scale-ups in the marina industry, day two will also see two separate “Innovation Top 5 Pitching” sessions, in which young and ambitious companies will pitch their solutions to the attendees. These will focus on pre-revenue and post-revenue, and scaling revenue.
The afternoon will see three parallel round-table workshops on “AI and the Waterfront”, “The Modern Berth” and “Marina Projects”, with the whole event closing with the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina awards ceremony and closing words from José Marco Casellini, CEO of M3 Monaco.
Editor of Marina World, Patrick Norén, said that last year’s event “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 Marina Rendezvous succeeded in providing a targeted, specialist platform for knowledge sharing and valuable networking.”
He added: “Looking at the line-up for 2026, which is replete with high-level representation from government, leading marina investment companies and innovative start-ups and scale-ups, the sixth edition of the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous promises to be even better than last year.”
A visitor package costs €480 including VAT, and provides access to the exhibition area, conference sessions, round-table discussions, networking sessions and the networking breakfast, lunch and cocktail dinner.
Visitor packages to the event can be purchased here. The full programme, including timings and speakers, can be viewed here.
