"OPERAMAR is meant to provide the foundations for pan-European Maritime Security Awareness by addressing the insufficient interoperability of European and national assets with a view to generating unified data models for seamless exchange and contributing to address the discrepancies of the behavioural, organisational, and cultural issues. It is today recognized, that effective management of Maritime Security activities by the EU requires the capability to collect and fuse available data into a common and comprehensive picture to be shared as appropriate among the organizations of participating Member States. However, the achievement of this capability is hampered by the fragmentation affecting the Maritime Security domain in the EU, i.e.: 1. at national level, the various missions dealing with Maritime Security are the responsibility of a wide range of sectoral organizations; 2. the EU still lacks a coordinating framework for Maritime Security which could maximise synergy with Maritime Safety initiatives and means, coordinate the specific operational needs and priorities of Member States, and promote regional maritime clusters; Available and future technology systems supporting Maritime Security activities would be largely based on the integration of national legacy assets. In pooling and networking the experience and competences of national users belonging to EU Member States and Associated countries, European agencies and industry partners dealing with the Maritime domain, OPERAMAR will: - grasp a better knowledge of Maritime Security users needs and organizations, define interoperability models and analyse the associated issues, taking into consideration the specific characteristics of the organizational environment in which they will be implemented; - develop common interoperability requirements and translate them into technical requirements; - study the consequences and recommend a relevant strategic research roadmap including standards."