Newsletter September 2023

Foreword from Simon Reid, Director of MarRI-UK

I hope as you read this newsletter you are inspired by all that we are doing, together.

MarRI-UK is proud to announce that Cygnus Atratus has become our fifth Associate Member.

Cygnus Atratus is a Not for Profit organisation which specialises in fuel cells and aims to support the establishment of regional SME fuel cell manufacture.

Nicholas Abson, Founder of Cygnus Atratus, introducing his organisation said “Cygnus Atratus is a IP holder and developer in the fuel cell and hydrogen production space. Currently it is working with partners in producing a metre square electrode fuel cell system for Maritime applications. As an Associate Member of MaRI UK, we are listening to members, offering our views on strategies, and contributing to technology solutions. As a practical developer, we are open to collaboration with the Maritime industry and supporting development of zero emission energy systems to meet IMO decarbonisation ambitions.”

MarRI-UK held our showcase event, “Unleashing the Potential of Maritime Innovation and Research through Collaboration” at the QEII Centre in Westminster on the morning of Thursday 14^th September.

The event kicked off with a keynote speech from Petra Wilkinson CBE, Director of Maritime from the DfT, who emphasised the importance of collaboration between industry and academia to drive the UK’s maritime sector forward through innovation and research.

This was followed by an overview of the refreshed MarRI-UK strategy by Simon Reid, Director of MarRI-UK, and the way in which the organisation can bring together people across the maritime industry, from the large industry players to the smaller SMEs developing specialised products, to work alongside academia in ground breaking research projects to the benefit of the whole maritime industry in the UK.

“Found the session really useful, interesting to hear from different experts and their approaches within their own areas of expertise. Useful UK Gov dept insights too. Great work by all at MarRI-UK for previous work and pulling this session together.” – Nigel Quinn, CEO Bibby Marine Ltd”

To read more about MarRI-UK at LISW, click here

At the beginning of the year, the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) approached MarRI-UK to undertake a piece of research to highlight the UK’s existing academic research expertise in the shipbuilding industry and identify the opportunities to disrupt the market to stay one step ahead and improve competitiveness compared to other nations. The work will enable a better understanding of how to achieve the refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) vision of being a globally successful, innovative and sustainable UK shipbuilding enterprise.

The work is being undertaken by the MarRI-UK academic members and partner:

• Liverpool John Moores University
• Newcastle University
• The Alan Turing Institute
• University College London
• University of Liverpool
• University of Southampton
• University of Strathclyde

Over the course of the last six months, 19 researchers and 9 Principal Investigators (PI) have been working on the project, conducting research on a wide range of topics to be able to provide the NSO with information on the areas of leading research in the UK and which of these areas critically require further investment to benefit existing and emergent members of the UK’s maritime shipbuilding industry.

We are now coming to the end of the project and the writers are completing the final report which will be submitted to the NSO over the next few days.

There have been some interesting findings that we will include in the report to the NSO which we hope will support  investment prioritisation and fufill the vision set by the refreshed NSbS. Once the report has been finalised we hope to be able to share some of these important conclusions so that we can help to drive the shipbuilding industry forward.

Ecomar Propulsion are proud to annouce they have demonstrated the feasibility of zero emission offshore survey vessels.

Ecomar Propulsion unveiled ground-breaking results of a research and development  project which proves the technical and economic feasibility of achieving zero emission operations in offshore survey and research vessels (OSRVs).

The project which started in January 2023 involved eight partners and investigated innovative ship designs and integration with energy efficient hybrid drive train systems to increase overall ship efficiency resulting in significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating the transition to zero emission fuels. The results were presented at The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition final showcase on 16 September at the Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Day at London International Shipping Week.

For more information contact: info@ecomarpropulsion.com

University of Plymouth

£5.4million project aims to develop world’s largest network of electric workboats

British Ports Association Conference – 17th – 19th October 2023

MarRI-UK shall have a stand at this year’s conference. Don’t forget to say hello if you are attending the conference!

To access the final reports click here.

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