WMU Participates in Danish Maritime Research Day, Copenhagen

World Maritime University

May 30, 2013

Nearly 100 people attended the Danish Maritime Research Day held at Copenhagen Business School on 28 May which highlighted projects supported by the Danish Maritime Fund. Established in 2005 through ownership of Danish Ship Finance, The Fund provides financial support for initiatives and measures to develop and promote Danish shipping and/or the Danish shipbuilding industry through support of projects and initiatives with a maritime focus. This includes a steady flow of financial support to Danish universities ensuring a wide range of maritime research projects. To date, The Fund has dedicated 75 million Danish kroner to maritime research projects and is currently supporting 22 projects, all of which were presented at the event with titles such as “Operation of Special Vessels in the Offshore Sector”, “Metabolic Syndrome”, “Collaborative Logistics”, and “Piracy, Capacity Building in East Africa”. In addition, presentations were made by all of the Danish Universities informing about their initiatives for maritime research and education.

The Danish Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, Mr. Morten Østergaard, spoke about the new initiative by the Danish government called “Inno+” that involves funding 700 million Danish kroner to sectors that can create research and innovation in order to further the Danish economy. The maritime sector has applied for a portion of these funds and later this year it will be announced which projects are viable for funding.

WMU delegates Vice President Neil Bellefontaine, Associate Professor Ilias Visvikis, Associate Professor Aykut Ölcer and Assistant Professor Lisa L. Froholdt were invited by The Fund’s Chairman, Mr. Knud Pontoppiddan, and The Fund Administrator, Mr. Carsten Melchiors, in connection with the recent funding of the Corporate Social Responsibility project WMU succeeded in obtaining earlier in May. Overall, the event provided an excellent opportunity for the WMU delegates to network and strengthen their contacts with Danish researchers, research institutions, and industry representatives.

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