Collaboration Between Ireland and Cyprus on a Maritime Centre of Excellence

The IMDO are a partner on the EU funded project on “Marine and Maritime Research, Innovation, Technology Centre of Excellence (MARiTeC-X)”. The European Union’s support is aimed at establishing a Centre of Excellence in Cyprus that fosters world-class research, technology development, and innovation activities related to the marine and maritime sector.
Dr. Paul Brewster, European Policy Adviser of the Irish Maritime Development Office, attended the inaugural meeting of the Cyprus Foundation of the Sea (CY-FOS), with representatives from industry and academia across the marine sector in Cyprus, and presented some key points of the work carried out within the framework of Ireland’s Integrated Marine Plan “Harnessing Our Ocean’s Wealth”.

The IMDO, the MARiTeC-X partners and the Shipping Deputy Minister in Cyprus, Natasa Pilides, met with President Higgins at Larnaca Fort during the recent state visit to Cyprus in October.

Motorways of the Sea

In November 2019, The IMDO attended the Motorways of the Sea seminar on “Financing the maritime sector and MoS”, which was organised by the European Coordinators for Motorways of the Sea and the Atlantic Corridor and hosted by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructures.
Prof. Kurt Bodewig and Prof. Carlo Secchi presented their report on “Enabling the uptake of the TEN-T project pipeline by the financial market” and stakeholders from across the EU’s maritime sector exchanged views on presentations on the wide spectre of funding and financial instruments suitable for the maritime sector.

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport held an information day in November for the 2019 MAP CEF TRANSPORT CALL, which has a budget of €1.4 billion. Officials from DG MOVE and INEA presented details on the call priorities and advice for the submission of successful applications.
This grant funding available includes €40m for Motorways of the Sea projects and there are several applications from Ireland aimed at improving connectivity with Europe and on reducing carbon emissions from maritime transport.

A joint working group meeting of the core and comprehensive ports of the Atlantic sea basin
will take place in Nantes on 31 March and 1 April 2020 and will address topics on the role of ports in the energy transition, Digitalisation and Smart Ports.

MarENet Project

MarENet is an Atlantic Region initiative, supported through contributions from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund of the European Union EASME.

The project aims to strengthen the cooperation between maritime business and academia across the Northwest European Atlantic Maritime Network by addressing identified skills shortages in the blue economy.

As part of this project, the IMDO are delighted to be coordinating a blue ‘Hackathon’ in Cork in early 2021. This Hackathon will feature internationally known Industry organisations and students from across Europe who will have the opportunity to sit down together to discuss the variety of challenges faced by Industry today, particularly in obtaining highly-skilled employees for specific functions. Students will have the opportunity to brainstorm and come up with entrepreneurial ideas they feel could assist in alleviating these issues for Industry, whilst making lasting connections in the process. This is a great opportunity to showcase the collaboration between maritime business and academia and to highlight the benefits of connecting the two.
Source: Irish Maritime Development Office