Tools for maritime cooperation
European maritime small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could collectively benefit and compete internationally, providing they collaborate and share the outcomes of research. Yet, at present, the industry is insufficiently aware of such benefits, to its detriment, and adequate collaboration has not been achieved. The EU-funded EUROVIP project aimed to coordinate European maritime SMEs and related organisations, and to promote application of research results. The purpose was to promote operational and technical collaboration. The 21-member consortium ran between June 2011 and May 2014. Project partners devised two sustainable means of achieving its objectives. First was the European Maritime Collaboration Portal (EMCP), a website enabling industry members to collaborate. The EMCP offers a searchable database listing innovative services and technologies, their providers and opportunities for collaboration such as tender calls. Users may build partnerships according to their needs and resources. The project's second solution was the Technical Collaboration Platform (TCP). This provided an integrating and coordinating environment, supporting design and engineering software tools such as computer-aided design and computational fluid dynamic. The core functionality was the web-based ticket system, enabling automated online computation. Such mechanism is cheaper and more efficient than conventional solutions. EUROVIP prepared six case studies showing how EMCP and TCP benefit the maritime industry. Two operational-level examples illustrated effective use of the EMCP for finding tender calls and potential collaborators. Further examples illustrated TCP use for novel online computation services and for collaborative design work. Dissemination activities included a project roadshow, and a series of events held across Europe. Such events expanded the participating membership almost 10-fold, and the pool of EMCP users increased from 30 to over 200. The project was able to promote three business success stories. The team prepared system documentation, including best practice guidelines, and other user information such as instructional videos and presentations. EUROVIP facilitated collaboration among maritime industry members by offering two sets of online tools. Such opportunities help the European industry remain competitive.
Keywords
Maritime, SMEs, collaboration, European Maritime Collaboration Portal, Technical Collaboration Platform
