Q MARITIME HUBS
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NORWEGIAN INNOVATION
Picturesque Ålesund in Norway is now home to a large cluster of
diverse maritime industries working together to advance autonomous and green technology. Jake Kavanagh reports
The bustling Norwegian port of Ålesund lies within the western fjord coastal region of Sunnmøre. Rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1904, it is now home to nearly 50,000 people, making it Norway’s ninth most populous conurbation. The international airport on the nearby island of Vigra is linked to the rest of the country by some impressive undersea tunnels. Ålesund’s local marine business cluster is typical of several within
Norway’s progressive maritime industry, and pivots around the town’s Maritime Competence Centre. Norway specialises in bringing together complementary
technologies and connecting business with academia to drive the whole industry forward – a policy that was accelerated by the post-financial crash setback to the shipping industry, and later by rapidly plunging oil prices. A veritable ‘who’s who’ of prominent shipbuilders, maritime
engineers and OEMs are spread throughout Sunnmøre, which benefits from good communication links, deep-water access, and a healthy reservoir of skilled labour. The recently expanded Competence Centre is part of the Campus Ålesund and many of the cluster’s key players have offices within the modern building. The
campus itself supplies a steady stream of keen young engineering talent, and also supports groundbreaking research, most notably in simulation and virtual reality. The talent produced is needed, because the Sunnmøre cluster is
leading the charge towards fully autonomous ships and the greater use of hydrogen fuel cells. Per-Erik Dalen, CEO of the GCE Blue Maritime Consortium, explains
that autonomy and hybrid power are the future, and are seen by many as the way out of a depressed industry. “The crash in the oil price happened almost overnight,” says Dalen.
“This showed us that we had to innovate faster and in more complex vessels, whilst also bringing down the costs of those innovations.” The nearby fjord of Storfjorden is now dedicated to the testing of
autonomous ships in an arrangement open to all maritime nations, as it seems the Norwegians would rather work with competing countries than against them. Currently, no less than 18 major corporations are concentrating
their efforts on autonomous ship technology in the Ålesund hub, and a recent arrival has been satellite navigation specialist Inmarsat. At a recent presentation by Jotun, a huge international company
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