Paper calls for research strategy agenda

Prof Baird is one of the authors of a new paper, Maritime Transport and Future Policies, which aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the hot topics facing the maritime industry in the North Sea Region.

The paper, which springs from the North Sea Interreg Programme Maritime Transport Cluster project led by Port of Hamburg Marketing, points out that the maritime business sector considers research to be one of the most important topics for the future. However, “despite the good intentions, there still seems to be a gap between the results achieved through research and development projects and what the business sector experiences in its day-to-day operations.”

Concepts developed in research projects are often not taken to the next level, and it seems that competition and confidentiality issues do play a role here.

There are priorities: for example, ship design was explicitly mentioned in the consultation stages, with emphasis on improving efficiency, sustainability and safety, and there’s a great need for new, innovative fuels which can help the industry meet the rising environmental legislation. The paper also noted that the impact of maritime transport on marine life also needs to be better researched.

However, the message is that better communication and dissemination of research results on a wider scale is going to be needed if the industry is to be able to take on the next set of challenges. During the consultation process, it was suggested that a knowledge exchange or coordination of research efforts could be helped along by an overarching maritime research network or a dedicated maritime think tank.

Whether this is followed up or not, the clear message is that the lifeblood of future development is research and innovation, and there needs to be more focus on maritime business strategy within the research agenda, says Prof Baird.

Prof Baird concludes: “There’s a need to involve more industry actors into the research, rather than let academics beaver away on their own, evolving conceptual ideas and theories. In short, due also to the ongoing economic crisis, there is now more need to get things moving faster than ever and that demands closer collaboration.”