London, 27 July 2026 – The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project is pleased to announce a new partnership with Ulysses, an ocean technology company developing autonomous systems designed to support ocean stewardship, monitoring and exploration.
Founded in 2023, Ulysses is building networked fleets of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles capable of operating at scale across the marine environment. Combining advanced sensing, robotics and data collection technologies, the company’s systems support a range of applications including habitat restoration, environmental monitoring and seabed mapping.
Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), which seeks to inspire the complete mapping of the world’s ocean, and to compile all the data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map. The Project is formally endorsed as a Decade Action of the UN Ocean Decade. GEBCO is a joint programme of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and is the only organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.
Advances in autonomous marine technologies are creating new opportunities to collect ocean data more efficiently and at greater scale. The partnership brings together Seabed 2030’s mission to accelerate ocean mapping and Ulysses’ expertise in autonomous marine systems, creating opportunities to support the collection and sharing of bathymetric data.
Commenting on the announcement, Seabed 2030 Director Jamie McMichael-Phillips said: “Much of the ocean remains unmapped, and accelerating progress will require new approaches to how bathymetric data is collected. Autonomous technologies are opening up exciting possibilities for gathering ocean data in a more scalable and efficient way – particularly in areas that have traditionally been difficult to survey.
“We are delighted to welcome Ulysses as a Seabed 2030 partner and look forward to exploring how emerging ocean technologies can help support the global effort to improve our understanding of the seafloor.”
Akhil Voorakkara, CEO and Co-Founder of Ulysses, said: “At Ulysses, we believe that understanding the ocean is fundamental to stewarding it effectively. As humanity’s relationship with the ocean continues to evolve, autonomous systems have the potential to expand both the scale and persistence of ocean observation.
“We are delighted to partner with Seabed 2030 and help expand humanity’s understanding of the ocean through innovation, collaboration and the responsible application of autonomous technologies.”
All data collected and shared with the Seabed 2030 project is included in the free and publicly available GEBCO global grid.
ENDS
For media inquiries contact:
Pegah Souri
external.relations@seabed2030.
Find out more about Ulysses here.