Transport Research Institute

NMU - Northern Maritime University

funded by the EU Interreg IVB North Sea Programme,

Duration: May 2008 to April 2010.

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The creation of a transnational maritime business knowledge cluster as anticipated with the NMU seems a timely and visionary response to back up and engender the development of maritime industries and to constructively contribute to the development of a North Sea and European Maritime Policy.

The project "Northern Maritime University" therefore has the following central aims:

Strengthen the maritime business sector and to increase its capacity for innovation within the North Sea Region (as well as in the Baltic Sea Region);
Contribute significantly to enhance the innovation capacities of the beneficiaries from SME and maritime industry with the development of the NMU qualification offerings. This will all lead ultimately to more effective, and a greater absolute level of, investment in product and process innovation by the trained maritime business actors in the North Sea Region;
Exploit the likely future growth potential in the fields of short sea shipping (SSS), port operations and global maritime transport and related industries (e.g. logistics services);
Strengthen the competitiveness of the industry and services sector and to step up efforts in the areas of industrial policy and the service market;
Contribute to sustainable development of the growing maritime transport business sector especially in terms of environmental protection;
Establish a European Area of Research and innovation for the maritime business sector, contributing towards the Lisbon strategy to make Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world” and reaching beyond the project period;
Strengthen the competitiveness of the European education industry in the maritime business sector in comparison to global competitors and removing obstacles for labour, academic and student mobility.

The objectives of the NMU are:

Build up the NMU as a strong transnational network of universities in the North Sea Region (NSR);
Integrate potential beneficiaries into the network (i.e. international and SME shipping companies, port authorities, logistics operators etc) to verify
qualification needs for business innovation, to enhance the design of educational programmes and to provide continuous evaluation of the NMU qualification portfolio;
Carry out a transnational stakeholder study on qualification and policy needs and on this basis to make policy recommendations to foster innovation in the maritime business sector in the NSR at all corporate levels (esp. SMEs);
Develop a common NMU product and service portfolio based upon a flexible framework that facilitates a modular approach and, once tested, to extend these offerings to partner regions through pooling existing programme and qualification content and teachers, enhancing the content according to the needs of stakeholders, making the content easily accessible with regard to language and administrative issues, offering a range of maritime business related modules, degrees and awards and applying e-learning methods that enable the lifelong learning of recipients;
Undertake a pilot test with learners from the participating universities and companies from the NSR for the purpose of evaluation and in preparation for the full-blown market entry;
Build a nucleus of skills, experience, competences and infrastructure for undertaking common research projects in the maritime sector and to also advise and enable governments, institutions and other public sector organizations to take forward policy decisions by offering expert panels and foresight exercises;
Create a knowledge cluster which disposes a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insights that provides a framework for evaluating, incorporating and anticipating developments in the maritime business sector.

Project partners:

Lead Beneficiary: Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University

Partner