iSea R&D Initiative
Denmark’s Danelec Marine is the project leader for a consortium of companies in iSea, a two-year R&D project to improve efficiency in ship operations and safer navigation.
The iSea program has been approved for funding by the Eurostars program. Eurostars is a European joint program that supports international innovation projects by R&D-performing small- and medium-sized enterprises. It has been co-funded from the national budgets of 34 EUREKA countries and the European Union, with a total public budget of €1.14 billion for the period 2014-2020. EUREKA is an intergovernmental network launched in 1985 to support market-oriented R&D and innovation projects.
In addition to Danelec Marine, participants are Vessel Performance Solutions ApS (Denmark), i-Marine Technologies and Research Inc. (Turkey) and Deniztekno Danismanlik Bilgi Teknolojileri ve Bilgisayar San. Tic. Std. Sti (Turkey).
The iSea team will deliver a set of Expert Decision Support Systems (EDSS) for enhancing the performance and navigability of vessels. The novel EDSS will be enabled by a low-cost and low-risk telematics solution providing real-time transfer of crucial data from ship to shore. The main goals will be to increase fuel efficiency in open waters and facilitate near-shore navigation and reduce human errors, especially in difficult waters. The R&D program will commence in January 2017 and will run for two years. It will include sea trials of the EDSS solution.
By Jake Frith
