ENMC Annual Meeting
The meeting of representatives of clusters operating in European Union countries took place on November 18, 2022. The meeting was chaired by Fabrice Maire, President, ENMC, President of Luxembourg Maritime Cluster. Marjolein van Noort assisted the president in organizational matters.
Since its foundation in 2005, the ENMC main mission is to establish an efficient framework for maritime sectorial cooperation, focused on vocalizing the unambiguous maritime interest to European policy makers towards a European maritime level playing field; a single European Maritime Cluster. The central goal of ENMC is thus to become an European Maritime Cluster as direct partner to the European Commission in all maritime affairs. Our objective is to promote and reinforce the European maritime sector and the maritime economy as a whole. Moreover ENMC is focusing om the EU maritime labour market (Blue Career), innovation and sustainability and level playing field.
The meeting was held in a hybrid form. During the meeting, cluster representatives informed about current activities and plans.
Baltic Sea & Space Cluster
After a short period of incubation and activities in the Triple Helix formula, the cluster through participation in international projects transformed into an organization operating in the Qudralupe Helix system.
Today the cluster develops in the Pentagon Helix formula, integrating the transfer of knowledge between science and business, supporting social initiatives, local government and administration, developing investor relations – says Marek Grzybowski, President BSSC and explains that today the cluster’s activity is characterized by a holistic, integrative and global approach, making the activity of maritime industries part of Economy 4.0. – We owe our position also to the close cooperation with the Space Science Commission of the Gdańsk Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences. 4 conferences on space and maritime technologies, maritime and space law, economics and social sciences are organized jointly every year.
Within the „Cluster” there are currently six Hubs: ICT & AI, construction of zero-emission ships – ZEVInnovation, design and construction of installations producing green energy – GreenTech, scientific-research, legal-financial and educational. All hubs bring together around 60 companies, research centers and R&D units.
BALTIC ZEV Innovation HUB can produce zero-emission service ships for servicing wind farms and installation platforms for the construction of offshore wind farms. CRIST shipyard is the coordinator of the hub. Crist Shipyard offers innovative ships to its foreign contractors. There are often unique products. We have been building vessels, platforms and offshore constructions
BALTIC ZEV Innovation HUB operates as part of a project implemented with Norwegian funds ZEVInnovation HUB. , together with partners from Norway and Croatia, is developing cooperation to position zero-emission ships on European Union markets. ZEVinnovation is a transnational cooperation platform that supports development of innovative zero-emission vessels and related technologies. ZEVinnovation is commited to advancing transnational collaboration and bringing together a professional community interested in zero-emission technologies and preservation of our environment.
ZEVInnovation HUB has professional and experienced members from around the EEA. Connect with experts in your business activity area and secure your innovation potential with mentorship and guidance. ZEVInnovation HUB invites to demonstrate specific zero-emission technologies and dominate on the global market, and to learn through knowledge-sharing, innovation and internationalization of business in the EEA, and to explore and apply usable tools that tackle SME needs during the process of innovation and commercialization and strengthen your capitalization and sustainability potential.
BSSC Smart Specializations
The Baltic Sea and Space Cluster (BSSC) participates in the innovation project development in the smart port, smart ship, smart shipyard and maritime surveillance fields. BSSC was invited to the project by Pôle Mer Méditerranée and Aerospace Valley from France. They appreciated the strong brand of the Cluster on the market of the Baltic Region and Central Europe. The activity of the Cluster members on international markets and in regional projects, participation in the development of innovation, knowledge transfer and commercialization of research, gained special recognition from the partners of the GALATEA project.
GALATEA is a continuation of the „NEPTUNE, INNOSUP-1, Blue Growth Accelerator” project. Both projects are financed from the Horizon 2020 program. Neptune initiated the first major wave of innovation in the European Union’s “blue economy”. It has achieved significant results in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) producing innovative products and services. Neptune accelerated the process of successfully implementing innovation in EU maritime industries.
During the project, cooperation in cross-border arrangements was developed and new value chains were created. Small and medium-sized EU companies related to the maritime economy, thanks to the funds obtained from Horizon 2020, could exist on a transnational scale. Importantly, small businesses were supported in introducing innovative products and services to the international market.
GALATEA will receive 3.67 million euro from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. 79% of this will be dedicated to direct financial support for SMEs, as well as services provided by GALATEA partners and other organized activities. Around 100 European SMEs are expected to receive support. Finance will be spent on the development of innovative products, services or processes, the development of interdisciplinary projects on a large scale or impact of innovation positioning on international markets.
Therefore, an important feature of the project is the integration of activities of strong partners from 3 sea basins: the Atlantic, the Baltic and the Mediterranean Sea, emphasize the authors of the project. The leader is the strong French Maritime Cluster Pôle Mer Méditerranée – Toulon Var Technologies. The GALATEA project will support the development of technological and process innovations in the following areas (https://twitter.com/galatea_project): seaports (Smart & Green Ports), ships (Smart & Green Ships), shipbuilding and ship repairing business (Smart & Green Shipyard) and control and monitoring of sea areas (maritime surveillance).
