The EMSO DEV general objective is to catalyse the full operations of the EMSO distributed Research Infrastructure, through the development and deployment of the EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM). EGIM will provide accurate, consistent, comparable, long-term measurements of ocean parameters, which are key to addressing urgent societal and scientific challenges (e. g. climate change and hazards). This will lead to an increased interoperability of EMSO nodes and to the common collection of ocean essential variable time series. The specific objectives are: (1) to design and implement a state-of-the-art, standardized multidisciplinary EGIM, a common, harmonized, observation system; (2) to fully test, calibrate, validate and assess the effectiveness of this innovative module in order to ensure its maximum quality, long-term durability, and reliability; (3) to strengthen the data management and delivery backbone of the EMSO RI; this will require a coordinated approach to data capture, archiving, management, and delivery, in turn spurring the development of a wide range of data products and services; (4) to promote the uptake of the project results and public-private partnerships establishing links with industry and SMEs for technology transfer. These objectives will be achieved through: (a) Research & Innovation activities focused on the design, development, test, replication and deployment of EGIMs at EMSO nodes and data management system implementation; (b) Communication, dissemination and exploitation activities aimed at disseminating and facilitating the uptake of the project results, and setting up activities to increase the innovation potential of EMSODEV technological output, and to explore EGIM commercialization. All these activities are in line with those listed in the part B of the section “Specific features for Research Infrastructures”. The consortium includes 11 multi-skilled partners, with two industries, ensuring the fulfilment of the objectives.