Marine Weather Intelligence has won the i-Lab innovation competition for WUMRO, a project that will transform how maritime routing is performed by accounting for weather uncertainty.
PRESS RELEASE, Auray, September 16, 2026
Marine Weather Intelligence is a laureate of the i-Lab innovation competition for its WUMRO project (Weather Uncertainty Management and Routing Optimisation), an advance that will transform how maritime routing is performed. This award is the highest recognition France can grant to a technological innovation of this scale.
Choosing the best route, whatever the weather does next
With the WUMRO project, Marine Weather Intelligence is shifting the paradigm: accounting for weather uncertainty in maritime routing is essential to guarantee the reliability of a route, whatever the possible evolutions of conditions at sea.
Why this changes the industry:
- More safety, through better account of weather variability
- Less fuel consumed and fewer greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to optimised routes
- More savings, through the reduction of unforeseen delays and operational risks
Thanks to this distinction, awarded by Bpifrance on behalf of the French State and funded by France 2030, the Marine Weather Intelligence team will be able to work with Sorbonne University to carry out this project through 2028.
Expertise rooted in offshore racing
This breakthrough draws on more than thirty years of offshore racing meteorology from Christian Dumard, co-founder and weather consultant for the world’s biggest sailing races (Route du Rhum, Vendée Globe, Trophée Jules Verne, The Ocean Race). Offshore racing plays the same role for the maritime industry that Formula 1 plays for the automotive industry: a genuine research laboratory, where analytical finesse and extreme precision push an entire industry forward. It is this constant pursuit of excellence that gave rise to the idea of factoring uncertainty into routing decisions, without reducing a vessel’s performance. This know-how is now embedded in the algorithms behind Marine Weather Intelligence’s solutions, and will go even further in precision thanks to the WUMRO project.
"Being an i-Lab laureate is the most demanding recognition France can grant a young technology company. It confirms that the approach we are developing has the potential to durably change the way we navigate, with a concrete impact on safety and on the decarbonisation of the industry."
Christian Dumard, CEO and co-founder of Marine Weather Intelligence
