MarRI-UK Announces the UK's Academic Capacity and Capability for Shipbuilding Report

Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK) have announced the publication of The UK’s Academic Capacity and Capability for Shipbuilding Report funded by the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO). This report aims to provide insight into the UK’s current research capabilities, understand what other nations are doing and provide recommendations to industry and government for enhanced competitiveness.

This report aligns world leading maritime innovation and research conducted by the UK’s academic sector with the 2022 Refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS). By linking the UK’s current academic research strengths and future research opportunities with the Shipbuilding Strategy, the report aims to drive understanding in Industry and Academia of the latest technological and environmental innovations and propel the UK industry to the forefront of the global shipbuilding sector by 2030.

MarRI-UK’s academic partners have reviewed research output across the UK, focussing on the maritime engineering and technologies that underpin the UK’s shipbuilding industry. They identified that the UK produces leading research in the areas of decarbonisation, design and specialist ships. By concentrating efforts and resources on these areas and utilising the UK’s research capability, the UK Shipbuilding Enterprise can improve its global competitiveness.

Key Findings:

• The UK has a leading position in key research areas including:
  • Decarbonisation: analytical strategies, energy-saving devices, alternative fuels and carbon capture.
  • Ship design research: ship systems optimisation, biomimicry for propulsion and ship control.
  • Specialised ship types: specialist vehicles and underwater vehicles (including remote/uncrewed)
  • Autonomy and design: focused on route optimisation and the development of intelligent systems.
• The UK has the greatest potential in adopting Industry 4.0 and 5.0 techniques into current shipbuilding activities
• The UK has a significant opportunity in lean manufacturing and large-scale additive manufacturing techniques, optimising and producing more efficient methods of shipbuilding.
• The UK needs to focus its maritime research into autonomy, decarbonisation, innovative technology (including IoT, digital twins & additive manufacturing) and the maritime application of industry 4.0, utilising these research areas to achieve enhanced global competitiveness.
• Competitor nations have common focus areas for research.

Read the report