Finland-based maritime innovation network DIMECC has introduced a new Sea for Value programme (S4V) to provide research-based recommendations on regulation, data sharing and standardisation for maritime transportation, as part of a longer term mission to prepare the industry for autonomous operations and navigation.
S4V includes a number of academic and governmental partner organisations, as well as commercial technology firms like Awake.ai, Brighthouse Intelligence, Ericsson, Meyer Turku and Tieto. DIMECC is also the leader of the One Sea autonomous vessel research programme, which includes a wide selection of international partners.
The S4V programme will be implemented across several projects, DIMECC says, with the first project focusing on ‘future fairway services’, such as remote pilotage.
“We see that utilising modern technology can enable new pilotage services,” said Sanna Sonninen, pilotage director at Finnpilot Pilotage.
“The aim is to demonstrate and experiment important milestones on the journey towards a smart and autonomous maritime transport system. We are happy to have DIMECC programmes implementing technologies that are on the One Sea roadmap.”
The first project, named ‘Fairway’, is funded by Business Finland and its industrial partners. Forthcoming projects under the programme will address maritime digitalisation to support One Sea’s ongoing work, following the structure and model of DIMECC’s previous ventures.
“The DIMECC Sea for Value programme is closely linked to the One Sea roadmap in creating safer, more efficient and sustainable maritime transport through the exploitation of digital opportunities,” said Jukka Merenluoto, senior ecosystem lead at One Sea.
“Implementing the programme will bring us closer to realising the One Sea vision, which is to deliver an autonomous maritime ecosystem by 2025, an open alliance for global commercial organisations committed to achieving maritime autonomy.”