1 M EURO – GALATEA Blue Growth Accelerator selects and supports 9 innovative projects led by SMEs across Europe

This call aims to support the development of innovative cross-sectoral and cross-border technologies, services or products addressing the 22 challenges identified in 4 key Blue Growth domains: Smart Port, Smart Ship, Smart Shipyard and Maritime Surveillance.

After two intense months of joint evaluation operated by the GALATEA consortium partners and associated experts, the results have been announced to the applicants.

19 selected SMEs will get direct financial support from the voucher scheme (1.018.900€ in total) to undertake development and technology transfer activities, prototyping projects, and large-scale demonstration projects that aim to tackle challenges related to energy, logistics, environment, digitalisation, service development, security and manufacturing.

With the fostering of GALATEA’s personalized support and funding on up to 12 months, the beneficiary SMEs will implement their project and present an output answering to the project’s challenges.

The funded projects are distributed by country as follows: 31% France, 31% Spain, 16% Greece, 16% Romania and 6% Poland.

Project in the “Smart Port”

SMINTIME

The SMINTIME Project offers an innovative mobile and automated solution for reducing inefficiencies and inaccuracies in the inspection process of maritime TEU containers, with corresponding reduction in economic losses and blaming procedures on the non-traceable container defects.

It also increases the safety in the inspection procedure by reducing personnel risks and potential injuries, linked to the fact of works in height, personnel climbing up to ladders in very windy situations leading to accidents and economical losses. The solution makes use of advanced Robotics, Computer Vision, AI and User-Experience techniques for achieving practical and easy-to-use tools for the personnel of the port, taking advantage of mobile apps in handheld devices (e.g. tablet or voice command), that will enable the reporting of the containers’ status and its traceability in an efficient way.

SMEs developing this project: ZeniaLabs Automation Intelligence, S.L. (Spain) https://www.zenialabs.com/index.html/, Braintronix SA (Romania) https://www.braintronix.eu/ & Tuito Digital Interaction Lab (France) https://www.tuito.fr/

ADVARPOL

ADVARPOL aims to provide a reliable and cost-efficient solution for the management of MARPOL wastes in port facilities. In recent years, the application of anaerobic digestion, a biological process that allows a significant reduction in the volume of waste to be managed and the production of energy, has spread in various sectors. However, this technology must be tested at a laboratory scale in order to assess its suitability for complex wastes, such as MARPOL. Therefore, ADVARPOL proposes to carry out specific studies to assess whether the application of anaerobic digestion to these specific wastes is feasible and adequate. Specific lab-scale studies will be carried out under different conditions with the purpose of maximizing the rate of gasification of the waste.

SME developing this project: Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales SL (Spain) http://aeris.es/

Project in the “Smart Ship”

SEAREBBEL

Searebbel is born under the concept of Easy Boating: Easy to install and easy to use.

In the automotive industry, autonomous driving has experienced a real revolution, while in the nautical industry, the industry has not evolved significantly.

The first product of this SME is a self-sufficient system. The ambitious product development roadmap with the objective of achieving complete autonomy in navigation.

With Galatea’s contribution, the SME will develop an application that will make navigation fun, sociable and safe. The SeaRebbel App, core of their business model, will establish a direct relationship with customers. SeaRebbel will provide users with a revolutionary interface designed to facilitate an “easy boating” concept, making the navigation experience accessible to everyone: from non-expert users to children, promoting sustainability awareness of the marine ecosystem, and help end users’ to plan their trips and share their experiences with their friends and family.

SME developing this project: SeaRebbel SL (Spain) https://www.searebbel.com/

NepH2AIR

The project conducted by NepTech, H2Pulse and Caponnetto-Hueber aims at enhancing the operational performances (speed and range) of hydrogen-powered passenger vessels thanks to a breakthrough air-injection system.

SMEs developing this project: NepTech (France) http://neptech.co/, Caponetto-Hueber (Spain) https://www.caponnetto-hueber.com/ & H2PULSE (France) https://h2pulse.com/

H2D

The Hydrogen Fueled Water Transport in Danube Delta (H2D) is aiming to develop a comprehensive Business Plan analyzing all relevant aspects of introducing this sustainable mobility solution in an area which, according to UNESCO, represents the largest and best preserved of Europe’s deltas. The advantages of the H2 as a fuel are in complete compliance with the environmental demands (no diesel/petrol leakages during supply and exploitation, no CO2 / SO2 / NOx emissions, noise elimination).

SME developing this project: SC Travel Delta Star SRL (Romania) https://www.traveldeltastar.ro/

Project in the “Maritime Surveillance”

KITEYE

This project proposes to use high-altitude kite implemented from any type of surface vessel to deploy powerful optical means and provide access to the third dimension to equipped vessels. The equipment is composed, for the aerial part of a carrier kite, a powerful day-night optical device and a wind-turbine. This part is connected by cable to a control station comprising an intelligent winch and the display and control devices (screens and controls) dedicated to the operator. This station is mobile and can be deployed on any type of vessel. The operator can deploy the kite sail which carries the optical device up to altitudes of 100 to 200 m, where wind is stronger and constant. The on-board wind generator power the optics and transmissions. The operator carries out his mission from the on-board control station or from a remote station connected to the control station. Ships will see their observation, search and identification capacities greatly increased.

SMEs developing this project: Kitewinder (France) https://kitewinder.fr/, Akeros (France) https://www.akeros.com/ & ACR SYSTEMS SA (Poland) https://acr-sys.com/

SEAGRASS

SEAGRASS platform integrates a unique solution for Maritime Spatial Planning, mainly targeting the conservation of Posidonia Oceanica meadows. Although a protected habitat and species, Posidonia has suffered a general regression over the past few years. SEAGRASS is aimed at integrating high-resolution satellite imagery and autonomous USV data acquisition to obtain high resolution spatial measurements and produce the most accurate results that will meet the requirements of the users. The combination of both applications on a unique platform, SEAGRASS, will allow to perfectly track the conservation of key environmental parameters. Τhe innovation of SEAGRASS platform relies on the following different fields:

• Integration of multiresolution data (high spatial resolution satellite imagery, high spatial resolution from USV) on a unique platform.
• Route planning on a single platform, from satellite to drone, in few clicks.
• Aggregated data to obtain health and conservation indicators on Maritime Areas
• Cloud hosted SEAGRASS solution.

SMEs developing this project: Planetek Hellas Ltd. (Greece) https://www.planetek.gr/ & GPASEABOTS SL (Spain) https://www.gpaseabots.com/

Project in the “Smart Shipyard”

HECTOR

The HECTOR project aims to create the first-ever fully autonomous solution for inspections of ship confined spaces relying on a drone that collects visual and ultrasonic data. It significantly pushes the boundaries in the fields of robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Condition-Based Maintenance which contributes significantly to the Digital Transition of the shipping industry. Also, by considering the fact that UAV-based inspections are fully recognised and supported by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), HECTOR is fully aligned with Smart Shipyard activities that aim at the development of advanced remote and predictive maintenance techniques.

The developed solution will be provided as a product to numerous service providers or shipping companies that are looking for an in-situ inspection method to enable them to reduce manning and maintenance costs, in opposition to the current practice followed, which causes high costs in terms of labor and ship downtime.

SMEs developing this project: Artemis Agraia Symvouleytiki S.A \ Hellenic Drones (Greece) https://hellenicdrones.gr/en/home-en/, RoboSurvey Ltd. (Greece) https://robosurveytech.com/ & ACCENT PRO 2000 S.R.L. (Romania) https://www.accent.ro/

CompoDeep

The CompoDeep project lead by CES Works (France) and Compoxi (Spain) targets the ROVs market (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and especially Heavy Work-Class for Oil & Gas, Mining or Science applications (hereinafter ‘WCROV’). CompoDeep aims to pre-validate the design of a kit of standardized structural elements in composite materials allowing the vehicles’ infrastructure to be made / modified / replaced, onboard. The demonstrator will be equipped with an embedded instrumentation and validated through a campaign of tests subcontracted to IFREMER in a hyperbaric chamber up to 600 bars before and after impact. This step will enable the integration of these different technological bricks to be validated on the future generations of WCROVs developed worldwide and more generally into structures used in harsh environments.

SME 1: CES Works SAS (France) https://www.linkedin.com/company/ces-works/

SME 2: Compoxi (Spain) https://www.compoxi.com/es/

The GALATEA Call for Services, an opportunity to get expert support

The GALATEA Call for Services remain open until September 30th 2022, 17:00 CET.

Offered by experts of the maritime / ICT / aerospace sectors of the GALATEA partners, across 5 European countries, these business services are thought of as a set of coaching services to facilitate and support SMEs to carry out their innovation and scale-up activities.

SMEs can apply individually to get support on:

• Business model elaboration: Support on business model assessment to ensure proper planning set, alignment with market requirements and conditions, etc.;
• Technology expertise: Support on technology potential for given markets;
• Internationalisation: Support on international diffusion of beneficiary/solution to develop new business, to participate in matchmaking sessions and Implement actions to maximize collaborations;
• Funding opportunities: Support on exploring funding opportunities suitable to SMEs’ mission and needs and on developing and submitting proposals to funding.