FLOATING TEST PLATFORM FOR SAFER, SMARTER AND GREENER MARITIME TECHNOLOGY

The shipping industry has a reputation of being conservative when it comes to adopting new technology. A conservatism that might have its roots in the following barriers: ? Slow turnover ? Short investment horizon ? Spilt incentives ? Low visibility to global consumers ? Burden of proof on new technology How can yards, equipment manufacturers and other stakeholder?s aid shipping in overcoming these barriers and to become safer, smarter and greener? One way of doing this is to more realistically demonstrate the ?proof of concept? of new technology in a full-scale demonstrator vessel. Main project description The world?s largest Classification society, DNV GL, together with Norwegian ship owner Eidesvik, aims to explore the possibilities of building a floating laboratory, in the function of an offshore supply vessel (OSV), for dedicated testing of state of the art in maritime technology. The OSV will act as a platform where innovators will have the opportunity to test their technology in realistic environments and in full scale. ? Business case: Is there a market potential for a test platform like this? ? Modularization: Testing of different technology should be carried out in a timely and accurate fashion. ? Operation requirements: The ship needs to be able to emulate a big variety of ship operations ? Technology: What kind of technologies has the potential of being tested onboard ? Patenting/transparency: Legal aspects regarding patenting new technology must be sorted out. How to ensure the appropriate mix between transparency and secrecy? ? Governmental involvement: Funding from governmental funding institutions should be explored. ? Cooperation with academic institutions The potential collaboration with academia will be looked into. The pre-project aims at scoping a project outlining the tasks that should be addressed on the way to scoping the vessel and building a robust business strategy.