The European Commission (EC) has signed a grant agreement to begin the New, Advanced and Value-added Innovative Ships (NAVAIS) research project.
The multiannual NAVAIS research project for the European shipbuilding industry aims to improve efficiency in design and flexibility in production networks.
As part of the project, the EC intends to invest a total of €6.5m over a period of four years through its Horizon 2020 initiative.
Damen Shipyards will coordinate the NAVAIS research project in collaboration with Netherlands Maritime Technology.
The project will also have 14 other partners, including Marine Design Engineering Mykolayiv, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, Technische Universiteit Delft, Dassault Systems, Eekels Technology, and Heliox among others.
According to Netherlands Maritime Technology, the European maritime technology sector generates €91bn in turnover annually and creates more than 500,000 direct and 400,000 indirect jobs primarily for European citizens.
However, the sector is required to develop new concepts to keep itself competitive in the fields of design and building complex, value-added and highly specialised vessels.
A platform-based modular product family approach supported by the 3DEXPERIENCE integrated business platform is expected to be developed under the NAVAIS research project.
The proposed concept is due to increase efficiency in vessel design and flexibility in production networks.
NAVAIS will put special focus on the development of sustainable passenger / road ferries and multi-use workboats.
The project will also support the transfer from an engineered-to-order business model to an assemble-to-order business model to enable reduced process lead-times, constant quality, and minimised design and production costs, as well as offering other benefits.
