KETmaritime: Setting course to energise maritime uptake of Key Enabling Technologies
Authors:   University College Cork, Scarrott Rory , O'Mahony Cathal , Sweeney Michael , Williams Jonathan , Gault Jeremy , Sullivan Timothy , Vila Ana 
Published: April 2024

Key Enabled Technologies(KETs) have the potential to impact on many aspects of society, whilst transforming European industrial competitiveness at the local, national, and global scales. Studies funded by the European Commission have shown that European advances in six technology areas would not only enhance the leadership and competitiveness of European business, but also drive advances across Europe’s business sectors and society. Despite their applicability across sectors, KETs represent a change, and a new manner of moving forward. Business and society view change both positively, welcoming advances in technology and new tools and products to make life somewhat easier for citizens, and negatively, recognising that with change comes risk and a reticence to change. Like society, different industrial sectors will view innovation and new technology differently. As such, each sector requires a slightly different approach to energise KET uptake into their daily operations and lives. Recognition of this reality underpinned the development of this roadmap. Stakeholders have been engaged across the Atlantic Area, through the use of online surveying, face-to-face workshops, and one-to-one interviews conducted virtually. This has enabled the authors to develop an awareness of the maritime scene and community which offers such opportunities and potential for KETs. It also provided insights into the reality of energising this uptake when framed in the context of social, financial and governance realities. Over the course of the project, the team conducted an analysis of the maritime sector, to identify and map out any KET applications that were in development. In parallel, a diverse pool of academic and commercial stakeholders identified the opportunities they could see for KET applications in the maritime sector. They also identified factors which restrict uptake, and restrain viable trans- disciplinary innovations from effectively making it to market. Stakeholder perspectives were combined with the investigative findings to develop a vision for a KET-maritime innovation ecosystem. The barriers and challenges shaped a range of proposed actions, which target different facets of the innovation ecosystem to ease growth and shape development. These actors were iteratively reviewed by stakeholders, and amended accordingly. These actions form the basis of this roadmap, a proposed path towards realising a vibrant growing KET-maritime innovation ecosystem. It contains a suite of 60 inter-linked, systemic actions, framed within 35 action areas to achieve 9 core goals, spread across 5 thematic agendas (policy, funding, building a sustainable innovation ecosystem, capacity building, and awareness raising). This envisioned KET-maritime innovation ecosystem fosters application-led innovation, and advances societal and market benefits for all. Each of the 5 thematic agendas are summarised as a policy brief, provided in the Appendices. The actions applicable to each policy brief are detailed in this report, alongside a proposed timeframe for implementation. Each action is codified, and can be traced through the iterative review process using the provenance table supplied. The potential for KET applications across the Blue Economy is extensive, and all sectors offer at least some opportunities for KETs. Within this landscape, the following sectors are identified as having strong growth potential where KET’s can help to drive that growth: Fisheries and aquaculture; Blue biotechnology; Maritime surveillance; Marine renewable energy; Ship and boat building. Within these sectors, four specific KET-maritime applications research priorities are highlighted: Advanced materials application in marine renewable energy; Photonics application in maritime surveillance; Micro- and nano-electronics in maritime surveillance; Advanced manufacturing techniques in ship and boat building. Finally, the project team would like to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders who participated in the workshops, interviews, and review activities which culminated in this roadmap.