The blue revolution


is on its way First Blue Week a great success


The very first Blue Week at MARIN’s headquarters


proved to be a big success, providing a platform, which encouraged an


interesting exchange of ideas and knowledge


about renewable activities in the maritime industry.


More than 120 people attended and several themed seminars were organised, as well as an open forum for JIP initiatives and current JIP meetings were held on the same day. Additionally, it resulted in many fresh ideas for possible cooperation and future projects. Nature inspires our industry in different ways whether it concerns gathering energy which is simply present in the sailing environment or recovering energy from wind, waves or current to produce emission and carbon free electricity.


Guilhem Gaillarde g.gaillarde@marin.nl


Although Natural Propulsion (use of wind, waves, sun or current) is still relatively young the sector is maturing in the way products and ideas are being developed. The products themselves - old methods or innovative solutions - are poised for use on a mass scale, but the step towards imple- mentation on board fleets is still the missing link. It was very impressive to realise that all those in this market had adopted the same conclusion and decided to put their efforts into convincing shipping companies


or authorities into making that important step. MARIN will hopefully be able to play a role in linking these solutions to the industry and further supporting what is a potentially, a blue (r)evolution in the shipping industry. Those from the more mature market of energy conversion from floating wind turbines and current or waves focused on the methods to optimise and assess system performances and interesting JIP proposals were made to further strengthen this sector.


Nature inspired solutions gave us an extraordinary overview of the possibilities but it also highlighted the difficulties of engineering simple and robust solutions for the industry. However, several pioneering companies presented their developments. The Blue Week is maturing as well, we are already thinking of the 2015 edition when there will probably be even more time dedicated to discussions and interaction. 2015 may also be hosted by one of the participants. We will keep you posted. In the meantime may blue innovation continue!


report 21


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