Marine South East wins new resource efficiency European Project
Increasing Europe’s innovation capacity in maritime resource efficiency is the aim of a new European project that MSE will be working on from October 2012.
The global maritime market is on a strong growth trajectory, and this new European project aims to harness that growth to create economic and employment benefits for Europe.
On the one hand, growth is driven by commercial megatrends such as demand for marine/offshore renewable energy, fish products and emerging potential for ‘blue biotech’ products; on the other hand, there is high demand for efficient use and management of the ocean resource, as described in the EU Integrated Maritime Strategy.
Increasing Europe’s innovation capacity in maritime resource efficiency will underpin successful exploitation of these growth opportunities.
Traditionally, the maritime industries have been slow to explore how demands for resource efficiency would impact on them. Fish stock depletion and rising fuel costs have, of course, risen quickly up the political and commercial agendas, and shipping companies as well as builders and engine manufacturers have invested in improving fuel efficiency. However, the wider needs for maritime resource efficiency are posing challenges which in many cases lack viable solutions.
Emerging marine activities (for example in exploiting marine
renewable energy) are presenting new opportunities for innovation, but are also highlighting areas where further
improvements in resource efficiency need to be achieved.
European member states contain a number of Regional Research Driven Clusters (RRDCs) which are active in
the fields of maritime development and marine & coastal resource management.
This project aims to add significant value to this existing cluster infrastructure, via three main approaches that will
support their long-term development and sustainability:
* Facilitating interaction and knowledge exchange between RRDCs each focused on its world-class strengths (Smart Specialisation)
* Raising the effectiveness of RRDCs by strengthening shared approaches to innovation support
* Using RRDC activities to stimulate involvement of supply chain companies
More information about the project and the partners will be given in future updates via the Marine South East newsletter.
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