Platform operator of maritime position data turns to Steinbeis experts for support
Developed by JAKOTA Cruise Systems, FleetMon helps reduce the carbon emissions of maritime vessels, also making them safer to sail in. For the past five years, Technology Management North East, a Steinbeis Research Center, has been supporting JAKOTA with research management, networking, and financing acquired through funding programs.
FleetMon – Tracking the Seven Seas. This is the tagline used by JAKOTA from Rostock to promote its cruise systems under the brand name FleetMon. The company has been providing access to real-time AIS maritime traffic data held in FleetMon databases since 2007. It also makes evaluations available, as well as a compendium of technical information, FleetMon databases, and photos of over 500,000 vessels. Every day its computer centers in Ireland, Finland, and Germany process around 550 million coordinate updates on ships operating throughout the world. This makes FleetMon the most successful commercial platform worldwide for the provision of maritime industry and logistical data used in port management. It also leads the way in smart environmental monitoring and many other fields. R&D conducted by the company has paved the way for a variety of maritime solutions and innovative concepts based on its comprehensive archive of AIS data. It has also helped match its products to customer needs, ultimately making maritime travel greener, safer, and more transparent.
More wind in the sails thanks to Steinbeis
But who has an overview of the funding options needed to finance FleetMon’s research activities? Who helps the firm find the right partners? Who lightens the load for the innovative enterprise when it comes to the organizational side of research management? This is where the team from Steinbeis comes in. For the past five years, the experts from Rostock have been supporting and complementing the skill base of the company with the preparation, organization, and administration of R&D projects. Acting as a research management contractor, Steinbeis Entrepreneur Frank Graage and his colleagues have been operating in Rostock since 2004. Since 2008, he has been a member of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). This has made it possible to focus attention on international business operations, also lining up contacts and partnerships in roughly 70 countries. On a regular basis, federal and EU funding programs are announced and it is important to track and interpret the latest developments to allow FleetMon to decide which projects it would be best to become involved in.
In the meantime, the company has built a considerable network of partners and collaborative agreements with more than 120 universities, research institutions, and other publics bodies. There are also times when a special type of international partner is needed, in which case the Steinbeis experts tap into their contacts in the Enterprise Europe Network. This has led to partners being lined up in the Netherlands, Poland, and Mediterranean countries. Another way to find partners is to organize partnership events, which are similar to speed dating and take place on the sidelines of leading conferences. This allows companies to quickly get to know other partner companies that are otherwise difficult to meet up with. FleetMon has also arranged meetings with firms in the maritime services industry during business trips. One such occasion was Industrial Bridge, a partnership event in Szczecin in Poland organized every two years with the EEN. Other B2B events are similarly successful, such as MariMatch, which takes place during the leading international maritime trade fair in Hamburg.
Autonomous, low-emission shipping
The support activities organized and carried out by the Enterprise Europe Network for European SMEs currently place emphasis on the European Commission Green Deal, with particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, economic resilience, and digitalization. FleetMon has also placed these priorities on its agenda and is investing much energy in the future fields of autonomous and low-emission shipping, as well as novel control and monitoring models applied to maritime and crew safety. Together, FleetMon and the Technology Management North East Steinbeis Research Center have also set their sights on the latest environmental and security challenges and will continue their successful collaboration for at least another five years.
Research and development projects conducted for FleetMon since 2018 by the Technology Management North East Steinbeis Research Center in collaboration with JAKOTA Cruise Systems:
- EmissionSEA: The Assessment, Reduction, and Avoidance of Shipping Emissions by Evaluating AIS Signals (2018-2021)
- PRESEA: New Software and the Plotting of Real-time Forecasts of Maritime Traffic (2019-2022)
- WIPANO: Knowledge and Technology Transfer Through Patents and Standards (2019-2021)
- CADMUSS: Collision Avoidance Domain-Method Used by Ships and Ashore (2020-2023)
- SEAPeople: Real-time Plotting of the Number of People at Sea (2021-2022)
- MAREMIS: Modeling and Validation of Maritime Traffic with the Aim of Reducing Shipping Emissions (2021-2023)
- LEAS: Shore-side Decision Support for Traffic Situations with Highly Automated or Autonomous Vessels (2022-2024)
Contact
Frank Graage (author)
Steinbeis Entrepreneur
Steinbeis Research Center Technology Management North East (Rostock)
www.steinbeis-nordost.de
Dr. Antje Hiller (Autorin)
Project management, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN)
Steinbeis Research Center Technology Management North East (Rostock)
www.steinbeis-nordost.de
Corinna Riemenschneider (Autorin)
Project management, FleetMon
Steinbeis Research Center Technology Management North East (Rostock)
www.steinbeis-nordost.de