SFI Smart Maritime - Norwegian Centre for improved energy-efficiency and reduced emissions from the maritime sector

SFI Smart Maritime was a research centre in the period 2015-2023, dedicated to improving energy efficiency and reducing harmful and GHG emissions from ships. With particular attention to the Norwegian Maritime Industry, our mission was to provide our partners with technologies, tools and capabilities for effective identification, assessment and verification of performance optimization solutions. The research activity was conducted in collaboration between SINTEF Ocean, NTNU and the Centre's 21 partners representing the entire maritime value chain: ABB, Bergen Engines, DNV, Jotun, Kongsberg Maritime, HAV Design, Norwegian Electric Systems, Siemens-Energy, VARD Design, Wärtsilä Moss, the Norwegian Shipowner association, the Norwegian Coastal Shipowners Association, the Norwegian Maritime Authority, and 8 major Norwegian ship owners; BW Gas, Grieg Star, Höegh Autoliners, Klaveness, Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi, Odfjell Tankers, Solvang and Wallenius Wilhelmsen. The strength of the Centre has been the network and the constructive dialog between our research community and industry partners. Smart Maritime positioned itself as an attractive meeting place and platform for cooperation within energy efficient and environment-friendly shipping. Since its establishment in 2015, the Centre worked with pushing the state-of-the-art in each research discipline, provided insight on potential emission reduction from ships, tested out novel technology solutions, developed prediction models for hydrodynamics and power systems simulation, simulation tools for performance evaluation and benchmarking of designs on a full ship system level. There has been no doubt about the Norwegian Maritime Cluster's dedication to reduce GHG emissions from shipping and achieve IMO Goals, as testified by the number of spin-off research projects (30+) and innovations (50+) from the SFI Smart Maritime collaboration. The contribution has also been great on the scientific level, with 94 scientific articles, 186 presentations and popular science publications, as well as education of 13 Phd and 45 MSc students. The need for research within the topics of SFI Smart Maritime will remain and even increase in the coming years. The vision of a climate neutral maritime industry will drive research towards 2050, and further development of the results of the centre should be part of this picture.

SFI Smart Maritime has reached the expected outcomes defined in 2015: > More efficient and accurate early stage assessment of new ship designs. > Introduce new validation methods, such as correlating data from real-life conditions with simulation- and experimental data. > More accurate predictions of fuel consumption and emissions from alternative hull, propulsion and power system configurations and operational profiles. > Improved optimization of ship performance vs. cost profile at various operational profiles and sea states. > Improved methods and tools for cost and fuel optimization – on unit level and on fleet level. SFI Smart Maritime has stimulated innovation through active involvment of industry partners in research activity: - Engage our partners: identify their innovation process, challenges, potential. - Involve our partners in R&D projects. - Support industry partners in establishing innovation projects. - Facilitate dialog and joint industry collaboration. - Multidisciplinary workshops (network meetings). - Lab support to test, verify and implement new technologies and solutions. - Scientific input (papers, conference presentations, PhD projects, webinars).

The purpose of SFI Smart Maritime is to establish a Norwegian Centre for improved energy-efficiency and reduced emissions from the maritime sector. The SFI will contribute to greening maritime transport and strengthen the Norwegian maritime industry's international competitiveness by developing new knowledge, methods and technologies and educating students (PhD/MSc). The research partners SINTEF Ocean (host) and NTNU will collaborate closely the Centre's industry partners, which represent deepsea, shortsea and offshore shipping, ship equipment, ship design, and maritime services. The scope and objectives of SFI Smart Maritime are well aligned with the objectives and priorities of Maritim21, RCN's MAROFF programme, and the target research area "Smart Maritime" of Ocean Space Centre (OSC). After 2022, the SFI activity will be a permanent education and research activity in OSC. The SFI is organized in five work packages: - WP1: Feasibility studies - WP2: Hull and propeller - WP3: Power systems and fuel - WP4: Ship system integration, validation and monitoring - WP5: Environmental and economical due dilligence - Business Cases (Sub-projects) WP 5 and BusinessCases are core activities, comprising full-scale testing and verification of concepts, designs, products and technologies, and benchmarking wrt. environmental and economic performance. The Centre's contributions are: 1. Improved early stage assessment and qualification of new ship designs and operational profiles. Faster and more accurate. 2. New validation methods, e.g. correlation of measured data with simulation results and experimental data. 3. More accurate predictions of fuel consumption and emissions from alternative hull, propulsion and power system configurations and operational profiles. 4. Improved optimization of ship performance vs. cost profile at various operational profiles and sea states. 5. Improved methods and tools for cost and fuel optimization - on unit level and on fleet level