Besides institutional activities, the unit is involved in a range of competitive and technology transfer activities, which take the form of contract research work through partnership in shared-cost actions' under the EC Research Framework Programme, competitive support for the European Commission and third-party work.

The unit extends its activity through the following competitive projects:

• Wide Maritime Area Airborne Surveillance (WIMAAS)
• The Structure of Fish Populations and Traceability of Fish and Fish Products (FishPopTrace)
• Automatic Oil-Spill Recognition and Geopositioning integrated in a Marine Monitoring Network (ARGOMARINE)
• Sea Border Surveillance (SeaBILLA)
• Integrated System for Interoperable sensors & Information sources for Common abnormal vessel behaviour detection & Collaborative identification of threat (I2C) (I2C)
• New Service Capabilities for Integrated and Advanced Maritime Surveillance (NEREIDS)
• Container Security Advanced Information Network (CONTAIN)