Oriani Hellas organized, curated and hosted the event Navigating Excellence: The Norwegian – Greek Maritime Innovation Summit, held on March 13th & 14th at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece.
The event, supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants Greece 2014-2021, in the frame of the Innovation, Business Development and SME's program, brought together industry leaders, innovators, and stakeholders to explore digital and technological solutions that are and will transform the maritime landscape. A dynamic mix of startups and global leading companies took center stage, showcasing the diversity and depth of Norway's maritime technology landscape. From promising startups with fresh perspectives, to established industry players, the presence of these innovative entities led to a fruitful exchange of ideas and expertise.
As Her Excellency Ms. Lajla Brandt Jakhelln, Ambassador of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Athens, pointed out opening the event: “The strong advantage for European economies has always been our ability to innovate and we must not forget this advantage in order to take the European shipping industry to the next level. Competition from Asia is fierce. Finding the right technology is crucial. These technologies again need the support of digitization and big data.” Shipping is going through a period of massive change, at a much faster rate than ever before. Technology is being developed rapidly and while other industries are changing and adopting these tools, shipping is still traditional, and needs to catch up fast to ensure they remain competitive. We need technology, not only from a business perspective, where processes / people can become more efficient and more productive, but also to increase safety, to take better care of our crews, and to do everything we can to help save the planet.
Ms. Lajla Brandt Jakhelln - Norw. Ambassador, Philip Nielsen - ORIANI Co-Founder, John Vandoros - ORIANI General Manager
Regarding the “unique location” which was the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Philip Nielsen the Co- founder of ORIANI HELLAS, mentioned: “…This building (the museum) has the aroma of the sea, of the Aegean Sea where Greek shipping began thousands of years ago. The Cycladic civilization placed human beings at its center. This same heritage, these same principles and same values are carried by the successful Greek shipping of today, where human is still at the center for everything, we do.” The first day of the event focused on three topics: & Vessel Performance", & Fuel Optimization” and & Big Data. The first session on Vessel Performance moderated by George Teriakidis, Area Manager at DNV Maritime, discussed the “Hull Maintenance and its Role in Performance Optimization” with Age Hojmark, CEO of Shipshave, the “Smarter Hull Management” with Manolis Levantis, the Global Data Science Team Leader at Jotun and the “Practical Approach to Digital performance management” with Darri Gunnarsson, the General Manager at Ascenz Marorka.
The Fuel Optimization session, moderated by Mike Konstantinidis, Managing Director at ZeroNorth A/S, continued the discourse on “Hydrogen Fuel Cells” with Cristian Skajem, Head of Communications, Teco 2030, as well as on “Quantifying Environmental Impact” with Tonje Sellevoll Imafidon, Commercial Director at Ecoxy and on “FuelOpt Solution” with Richard Engelhart Bjercke, CCO at Manta Marine Technologies. The day concluded with the session of Big Data, moderated by Dr. Ioannis Lagoudis, Associate Professor at UNIPI, exploring the topics of topics of “Using Data to improve efficiency: Drydocking and beyond” with John Wills, VP - Product Management at Shipnet, of how to “Simplify, Improve and Optimize your IT Solutions” with Rolf Nøstdah, Sales Manager at The Ship AS, and of “How to build a solid digital strategy by leveraging your fleet’s data” with Dionysis Asimakopoulos, Growth Manager at Kongsberg Digital.
Vessel Performance Panel
The second day started with the Crew & Training session with moderator Katerina Skourtanioti, Managing Director at VENLYS. It emphasized on the “Next Generation Safety Culture Program” with Didrik Svendsen, CEO of Sayfr, on “Gamification Training for the Industry” with Felix Gorbatsevich, CEO of PaleBlue and on “Data in action: optimized decision making in crewing” with Agapitos Diakogiannis, CEO & Co-founder of Seafair. The day followed the Crew Health & Safety session with moderator Constantinos Triantafyllou, the Head of Strategy & Development at HELMEPA, outlining the importance of three topics: “Enhancing Maritime Safety with Dimeq Solutions” with Øystein Bondal, CEO of Dimeq, “Digital Management of ships medicine chest” with Geir Østrem, CEO of ShipMed AS, and “Pioneering Maritime Healthcare with Data-Driven Innovation” with Laura Benzonana, PhD, the CEO at Health4Crew.
To conclude, this gathering was not only about Norwegian companies showcasing maritime digital solutions. The summit provided Norwegian representatives the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of the intricacies of the Greek shipping industry. Likewise, Greek shipping executives had the chance to gain insights from Norwegian maritime solutions and operations through case studies and new technologies. An environment was created where both could engage in constructive dialogue and gain a deeper understanding of each other's operational dynamics.
