Nowadays, a fast and challenging digitalisation process is underway within the maritime domain. Many disruptive technologies will cause a radical modification of the operations, of the logistics and of the labour market in the near future. With particular attention to the Adriatic region, this work provides an extensive review of the disruptive innovations that might be applied by port authorities, shipping companies and terminal operators. The analysed technologies, dealing with both freight and passenger transport, are divided into three digitalisation macro trends: informatisation, big data and automation. In the further stages of this research activity, the most promising technologies to be implemented in the Adriatic area will be selected by prime stakeholders and then subject to impact analysis. The planned methodology is here presented and discussed.