Co-organised by the Waterborne Technology Platform (TP) and the European Commission, more than 300 delegates attended the Waterborne Days collaborative conference on 26 and 27 September in Brussels. Leaders from the sector came together with representatives the European Commission to showcase the success of research projects supported by the EU and exchange ideas for ensuring a greener and cleaner future for the sector.
Exploiting synergies
Addressing the opening session, CINEA Director Paloma Aba Garrote, underscored not only the vast opportunities offered by the EU funding programmes managed by CINEA for greening the waterborne transport sector, but also the importance of exploiting their synergies:
“In CINEA, we are uniquely positioned to help you leverage the complementarities between programmes. We stand ready to help you navigate the funding opportunities and to support your ideas with the goal of bringing great green innovations to market.”
She recalled how CINEA is responsible for managing a large portfolio of EU projects in the area of waterborne transport, under several programmes. Worth almost €4.6 billion, this covers the entire pipeline from devising, developing and demonstrating green waterborne solutions through the Horizon Europe and EMFAF programmes, to scaling up and deployment through the Connecting Europe Facility (infrastructure solutions), Innovation Fund (net-zero industrial solutions), and the LIFE programme (environmental solutions).
Rosalinde van der Vlies, Clean Planet Director in the European Commission’s Department for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), reinforced the holistic approach for achieving wider goals:
“The EU has a clear mandate to become climate neutral by 2050. One of the most challenging aspects will be to decarbonise the waterborne transport sector. To achieve this, we need to push the boundaries of technology forward, towards a new green technological revolution.”
Eero Lehtovaara, Chair of the Board of Directors, Waterborne TP explained the strategic importance of the sector to Europe's trade and economy:
"81% of the EU's external trade and 34% of the EU's internal trade is carried by ship. The European waterborne transport sector also ensures 4.2 million direct jobs in the EU and contributes over €5 billion to the EU's annual GDP.
"Investing and strengthening its position as a worldwide frontrunner by embracing the green and digital transformation is therefore critical," he concluded.
Maximising opportunities
Pushing research to deployment was also the focus of the session on “Beyond Horizon Europe: Maximising the Opportunities of European Funding”. CINEA representatives shared the stage to provide a joined-up “deep-dive” into all the support available for "greening" the waterborne sector and how best to maximise those opportunities.
Six different thematic panel debates focused on different ship types (cruise, inland waterway transport, long distance, offshore, short sea shipping and ferries) providing a comprehensive overview on developments in waterborne transport sector, which is of fundamental importance to the EU. The event also included dedicated sessions on the main ship types as well as a series of workshops covering each of the areas of the Waterborne TP’s strategic research and innovation agenda – ports, electrification, sustainable alternative fuels, energy efficiency, design and retrofit and digital.
Awarding excellence
During the conference, the first Waterborne Days awards ceremony took place, recognising outstanding EU projects that demonstrated significant impact, innovation, and market-readiness capacity. A panel of industry and institutional judges met to discuss over 30 submissions, from which four were selected:
- Excellence award: ORCELLE (Horizon Europe)
- Economic viability award: AEGIS (Horizon 2020)
- Environmental impact and climate change award: SEATECH (Horizon 2020)
- Innovation award: iTERMINALS4.0 (Connecting Europe Facility)
Reinforced commitment
Overall, the stimulating discussions and productive exchanges between the projects, policymakers, researchers and industry demonstrated the value of collaboration for tackling the challenges facing the sector. The event provided an excellent forum for assessing progress, priorities and gaps, while also underpinning the commitment of the sector to the green and digital transformation
More
Waterborne awards press release
CINEA Waterborne Transport Horizon 2020 projects brochure
CINEA event article
Details
- Publication date
- 2 October 2023
- Author
- European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency