Plug and Play launches maritime innovation platform in Antwerp, Belgium

Plug and Play launches maritime innovation platform in Antwerp, Belgium

Published: 22-04-2021 13:20:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 4402 | Tags:

Global innovation platform, Plug and Play, together with Founding Partners City of Antwerp, CMB, DXC Technology, Euronav, and Port of Antwerp, announced the launch of their first maritime program in Antwerp, Belgium.

The purpose of the program is to connect international startups with the Founding Partners to pilot their technologies and drive the future of maritime as world-class leaders of R&D and innovation.

Led by a local team of four people, Plug and Play Maritime aims to strengthen an innovative startup ecosystem centered around the seafaring sector, that brings new technologies and entrepreneurs to the region and enables technological and business development. Plug and Play Maritime will be situated at the pre-campus of Maritime Campus Antwerp. The launch event, which will mark the start of the first program batch, is planned for June 2021. 

Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO, Plug and Play: "The launching of our first maritime platform in Antwerp represents the beginning of a new 'voyage' for us at Plug and Play. We are eager to support our founding partners and the existing local innovation community through our global ecosystem, by means of impactful startup-corporate collaboration."

Claude Marinower, Vice-Mayor for Economy, Industry and Innovation, City of Antwerp: "With Plug and Play, the City of Antwerp and Port of Antwerp strengthen their position as innovation leaders in the international maritime business. The city wants to be part of the European top of scale-up cities by 2025. We take a lot of initiatives in our growth clusters: digital and circular economy. The City and the Port work closely together in the digital innovation hub The Beacon. With Plug and Play this collaboration gets a new dimension. We are confident that thanks to this new initiative, Plug and Play Maritime, we will be able to accelerate our joined ambitions." 

Antwerp, home to the second largest port in Europe, is a hub for the maritime industry with a longstanding tradition. With its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play's expansion into this sector will provide an opportunity for the five Founding Partners to increase their innovation activities with access to a network of over 30,000 global startups. Initial technology areas for scouting will include clean fuels and energy, big data and Internet of Things, future logistics, efficient shipping, autonomous vessels, sensors, and more. By providing innovation-as-a-service, this platform will also play a strategic role for the partners in pioneering a sustainable maritime industry of the future throughout Belgium and around the world.

Further offerings for startups, partners, and the growing ecosystem include business development, dealflows, workshops, weekly mentorship sessions, networking between partners, investment opportunities, and a series of monthly events including, Selection Days, Innovation Days, and EXPO Days. Plug and Play Maritime will run local operations from the pre-campus of Maritime Campus Antwerp, a co-working space for startups to utilize and scale their business.

Alexander Saverys, CEO, CMB: "For the moment we have world class ports like the Port of Antwerp and a world class maritime industry in our country. To maintain our position, we need to look and think ahead. Joining forces with partners creates scale in know-how and competencies resulting in R&D and innovation. This will help us to stay on top of new evolutions in the industry. Plug and Play, together with our Maritime Campus Antwerp, will help us to support our ambitions."

Bart Huybrechts, Managing Director, Maritime Campus Antwerp: "The fundamental idea of the Maritime Campus Antwerp is to create scale and combine forces among those maritime players and stakeholders that want to tackle the huge innovation challenges for the maritime industry in the decades to come. The Plug and Play Maritime platform will contribute to the Maritime Campus Antwerp ecosystem by bringing the best startups and early scale-ups from all over the world to Antwerp to accelerate the introduction of maritime tech for our corporate partners."

The basis of Plug and Play Maritime will be the 12-week open innovation program, run twice a year. Each program welcomes 20+ selected international startups that are addressing the specific technological needs of the Founding Partners. The startups and business units of the partners will work together on pilots and proof of concepts, leading towards production-ready implementations. The goal is to have at least one joint project completed for each startup, to be showcased at EXPO Day, the final event at the end of each program. 

Annick De Ridder, Vice Mayor of the Port of Antwerp: "Innovation can play a key role in making the future and prosperity of the port of Antwerp sustainable. The ecosystem represented by the Antwerp port platform is an ideal testbed for technology on a large scale. With Plug and Play Maritime we can live up to this ambition and play a pioneering role as a port of the future. In this way we seek to be a source of inspiration and to set an example for other ports." 

Hugo De Stoop, CEO, Euronav: "The Plug and Play platform will enable us to leverage our R&D capabilities and set up structural collaborations with start-ups and the wider ecosystem to drive mutual growth and benefits. We must invest in new technologies to further digitalise our Industry but also to make shipping cleaner and more efficient. This is at the heart of our sustainability program to ensure our future relevance and competitiveness. Engaging in innovative ecosystems such as that of Plug and Play, together with the founding partners, is critical to achieve our long-term ambitions."

www.plugandplaytechcenter.com