Dubai, UAE, October 2026 – CWP Engineering, the coastal, waterways, and ports specialists, has signed a five-year framework agreement with Università del Salento and EUMER lab (www.eumer.eu), Italy, to pursue joint research and consultancy in hydraulics, maritime construction, and offshore engineering, further deepening the firm’s presence in the Mediterranean.
The agreement connects CWP Engineering with the university’s Department of Innovation Engineering and its EUMER Laboratory, the European Maritime and Environmental Research facility on the Ecotekne campus in Monteroni, Lecce, whose Director is Professor Giuseppe R. Tomasicchio. EUMER’s wave generators and measurement systems give researchers a reliable path to test coastal and offshore concepts physically before they reach the field.
The timing reflects how much pressure Europe’s coastlines are already under. The European Commission’s latest Blue Economy Report put the sector’s gross value added at €263 billion, with port activities and maritime transport among its fastest-growing parts, while warning that unmitigated coastal flooding could cost the EU between €137 billion and €814 billion annually by 2100. Research partnerships like this one are part of how that gap between risk and readiness starts to close.
Under the agreement, CWP Engineering and the University will carry out joint research, pursue EU and public and private funding, and build physical and numerical models addressing sediment transport, wave mechanics, and port and coastal resilience. The work will also extend into digital tools the firm has been developing, including AI-supported design optimization and digital twins for port systems, paired with EUMER’s experimental data to validate how those tools perform under real conditions.
Headquartered in Dubai, CWP Engineering has built a track record on coastal and port projects across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. The Salento partnership marks a deliberate step in growing the firm’s footprint in Italy, with the goal of becoming a leading provider of coastal and port engineering solutions across the Mediterranean over the next five years. CWP Engineering expects its Italian team to grow past 20 staff by 2027–2028 as the research pipeline with the university takes shape.
“This partnership with Università del Salento and EUMER lab represents a strategic milestone for CWP Italy’s presence in the Mediterranean,” said Francesco Ciardulli, CEO at CWP Engineering. “The EUMER Laboratory’s world-class experimental infrastructure for hydraulics and offshore engineering, combined with the university’s excellence in innovation engineering, creates a powerful foundation for advancing coastal and port engineering. We are committed to driving innovation through AI integration, digital modeling, and sustainable design, while nurturing the next generation of Italian engineering talent through joint research, scholarships, and hands-on training.”
Professor Giuseppe R. Tomasicchio, Scientific Responsible and Director of the EUMER Laboratory, said the agreement gives students and researchers a direct line into industry practice. “The laboratory was built to test ideas under conditions that come as close as possible to the sea itself, in a challenging environment under the climate change influence” he said. “Working with a firm like CWP Engineering means our research is not limited to the publication of manuscripts. It gets applied to real projects, and our students get to see that process firsthand, which is exactly the kind of training we want to offer them.”
Talent development is a core component of the agreement alongside the technical research. Università del Salento students will have access to thesis placements, research scholarships, and short and medium-term involvement in CWP Engineering’s live projects, while CWP gains a direct line to talented trained young people for the same problems the firm works on daily. Joint training workshops and integrated teaching using EUMER’s facilities are also planned, alongside internships for engineering students.
With a five-year term and an option to renew, the partnership is structured to support a sustained pipeline of joint projects, shared publications, and applied research as coastal and port engineering challenges around the Mediterranean continue to evolve.
About CWP Engineering:
CWP Engineering is a leading specialist in coastal, waterways, and ports engineering, driving progress with unmatched precision, technical excellence, and a client-centric approach. Through a deep commitment to the principles of science and tailored methodologies, CWP masters the field of engineering to deliver efficient and lasting solutions with a positive impact across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
