Name: Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies
for Sustainable Blue Economy
Acronym: CoE MARBLE
Funding: Horizon Europe
Grant Agreement Number: 101136349
Start and end date: 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2030
Coordinator: University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (LABUST)
Partners: NTNU, CNR, IRB, MARINN, AFC, MZOM
Web page: https://marble.eu/
Abstract
The main goal of the project MARBLE is to create a new “Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies for Sustainable Blue Economy” (CoE MARBLE) that will engage Croatia in a path of sustainable innovative growth in blue economy in strategic partnership with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and National Research Council (CNR, Italy).
The strategic vision of MARBLE is to put Croatia on the map of R&I excellence by becoming a European lighthouse and a role model in the field of maritime robotics and technologies, focusing on 4 key research areas identified as essential enablers with the highest impact on the blue economy sectors aligned with the mart Specialization Strategy of Croatia:maritime robotics and autonomous systems, maritime green endurance, maritime Internet-of-Things, and maritime digital twins.
UNIZG-FER is leading a consortium comprising of relevant quadruple helix actors of the Croatian blue economy ecosystem: Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) as representative of science end-users; Maritime Innovation Cluster (MARINN), a cluster of maritime industry stakeholders; DIH Agrifood Croatia (AFC), a hub of aquaculture stakeholders and end-users; and the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Youth (MZOM), a representative of policy makers, and leading partners from Norway (NTNU) and Italy (CNR).
CoE MARBLE facilities will be partly distributed across Croatia to support deep industrial transformation of Croatian regional economies and reduce the developmental disproportion between the City of Zagreb, the administrative and industrial centre of Croatia, and the Adriatic part of Croatia (cities of Rijeka and Šibenik). CoE MARBLE headquarters will be in Zagreb while three pilot sites will be set up in Šibenik and Rijeka: 1. smart mussel farm in Šibenik under the operation of DIH AgriFood Croatia; 2. smart marina in a port in Rijeka under the operation of MARINN; 3. autonomous marine vehicle operation site in Šibenik in front of marine station Martinska (Ruđer Bošković Institute)