CMMI CYPRUS MARINE AND MARITIME INSTITUTE

The main objective of Green Marine is to significantly accelerate climate neutrality of water borne transport through retrofitting existing fleets with cost and emission control solutions. To support decision makers retrofitting protocols and a software tool catalogue that gathers knowledge will be developed and validated. We will demonstrate these tools and the innovative solutions aimed at carbon capture mineralization, which also aids in deacidifying our seas; energy savings for HVAC systems through air-reuse; carbon and water capture with membranes, and the use of excess engine heat to produce a syngas to save on fuel consumption. An ultra-sound technology will be tailored to suit vessels allowing air-reuse saving energy for HVAC systems and operated as pre-treatment enhancing a membrane carbon capture process. The Ca/Mg – alkali solvent capture process is capable of removing 75% of the CO2 from flue gases. All solutions will be demonstrated first on a land-based engine followed by the selection of the most suitable solution for a demonstration on a waterborne vessel. The (land-based) demonstrations will represent the operation of a majority of vessel engines. By developing retrofitting protocols, simulations of the solutions, data generated at the demonstrations a software catalogue tool will be developed. Through engagement activities this tool will gain more users and more knowledge, its value and effectiveness will increase for all users. The project aims to bring the different solutions to TRL 8. The demonstrations, the software tool catalogue, and the dissemination and exploitation activities ensure that project results will be replicated globally. The consortium consists of 10 partners from 7 countries with 4 research institute, 1 ship company, which will host a demo as end user and 5 SMEs.

With the economic recession behind it, the economy of Cyprus is expanding at a rate comparable to that of the global economy. Despite this welcoming trend, the investment landscape in research, technology development, and innovation (RTDI), a key factor in the economic competitiveness and sustainability of Cyprus — remains stagnant, with bottom-up initiatives towards a change remaining fragmented and underutilised. As a direct result, the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Cyprus remains at an embryonic stage, leaving Cyprus as a low-performing RTDI country within the European Union. Innovation activities in SSP cannot proceed without a solid scientific and research and technology development foundation. Despite Cyprus hosting three state universities (and a number of private ones) with a wealth of excellent research and scientific expertise, this significant resource remains untapped and rarely exploited beyond the confines of academia. To reverse this ultimately detrimental relation between research and innovation, Cyprus is in dire need of an intermediary to help the country rise out of its RTDI slumber. This proposal seeks the European Union’s support to establish in Cyprus a Centre of Excellence that fosters world-class research, technology development, and innovation activities. This will not be another academic entity but an institution developing practical solutions/products addressing the needs of the economy, and society, in Cyprus, the EU and the rest of the world in activities related to the marine and maritime sector. The proposed project, Marine and Maritime Research, Innovation, Technology Centre of Excellence (MARiTeC-X), seeks to play a key role in the country’s economic and social transformation through RTDI transformation, by setting up the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI).

The THETIDA project approaches safeguarding and protecting Europe’s coastal and underwater cultural heritage from the effects of climate change and natural hazards in a holistic manner that includes risk management, protection and preparedness, as complementary strategies to prevent damages to CH sites, identify and ward off additional threats and promote policy tools for climate neutrality and economic resilience in coastal areas. THETIDA project achieves this goal through the development of a preventive conservation strategy that includes monitoring, risk preparedness and management, for underwater and coastal CH (U&C-CH) sites, identify and ward off additional threats and promote adaptation, reconstruction and other post-disruption strategies to restore normal conditions to the historic area, as well as long-term strategic approaches to adapt to CC and to wield policy tools for economic resilience. In this project, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, experts and practitioners will develop, test and validate an integrated multiple heritage risk assessment and protection system with evidence-based monitoring frameworks, innovative tools and instruments and through participatory processes (Citizens’ Science and Living Labs). The project implementation actions will link the social innovations with cutting-edge technologies (ICT and IoT harmonised tools).

EmpowerUs will enable coastal communities to act for change and transition towards sustainable, inclusive and resilient coastal developments. We assume that true empowerment implies R&I should catalyze, facilitate and support coastal communities in the acquisition of power through a variety of tools, methods and coproduction with the inclusion of all actors, at local, regional, national and European levels. EmpowerUs will develop an adaptive transformation mechanism via on a network of six Transition Coastal Labs (TCLs) across all EU coastal regions. Recognising that no one solution will address the myriad of challenges coastal communities face, the EmpowerUs transformation mechanism will be adaptive and based on a multi-actor transdisciplinary approach. The project will co-create, pilot and evaluate Tailored Empowerment Programmes that include a portfolio of social innovation and Nature-Based Solutions. By facilitating capacity building through improved understanding of challenges, barriers and enablers of change and increasing Ocean Literacy through nature connectedness and cultural heritage, EmpowerUs will support social innovation and self-sustaining communities. The EmpowerCoast digital twin/digital GIS platform will ensure the EmpowerUs mechanism is available to all coastal communities to uptake and use to support sustainable action. EmpowerUs consortium is balanced, complementary and transdisciplinary with key expertise in socio- economic technical, and ecological issues and the science-policy needed to achieve the project’s aims and objectives. EmpowerUs will provide innovative platforms to empower citizens to take transformative actions in line with EU policies to meet global challenges including biodiversity degradation and climate change at a local scale, supporting just, inclusive and sustainable coastal development.