New Realisation Lab Smart, Safe & Resilient Mainports Launched at World Port Days

By tipping over an innovative container, the new realisation lab Smart, Safe & Resilient Mainports was launched. The realisation lab offers a physical place where innovations can be tested to make mainports safer, clearer, and more efficient through the development of secured sensor platform and big data linkages and applications. SS&R Mainports’ goal is to quicker develop ‘marketable’ products in order to create economic gains and safer mainports, like the Port of Rotterdam.
 
The realisation lab is an initiative of Studio Veiligheid and InnovationQuarter and is supported by national security cluster ‘The Hague Security Delta’ and the ‘Digitale Steden Agenda’.  The theme plaza ‘Port Innovation’ at the World Port Days and the participation in the World Port Hackathon 2015 are the first results of this joint effort.
 
SS&R Mainports accelerates innovation
In recent years, many promising projects on Mainports and Transport & Logistics showed to have a positive business case, but for various reasons did not come into production. This led to a waste of money and missed societal and economic opportunities for the Netherlands.
 
To prevent this in the future, SS&R Mainports specifically focuses on the final stages of the innovation chain, also known as the Valley of Death. This is where research, market and society meet, but where businesses, research institutions and governments have difficulties finding each other. The realization lab’s goal therefore is to bring these parties together in order to better align supply and demand, create synergy and bring new products and services into production quicker.
 
Together strong through innovation
The SS&R Mainports’ core exists out of Studio Veiligheid (Future Events), SCS Multiport, KPN, Havenlab, World Port Hackathon and InnovationQuarter. Every subject has its own problems and challenges in mainports. They actively strive for cooperation with cluster organisations like Digitale Steden Agenda and The Hague Security Delta (HSD), as well as other consortia and parties like Blik van Boven. Realising crossovers and new business consortia provides momentum to existing product market combinations and helps accelerate innovations.
 
Method

To bridge the Valley of Death, SS&R Mainports’ approach is based on a proven innovation method called Future Events and the development of a digital utility service (working name PortCloud).
 
The Future Events approach, ‘Orchestrating Innovation by Events’, was recently endorsed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by Rabin Baldewsingh, representing the 32 cities behind the Digitale Steden Agenda, and Paul Musscher, Police Chief of the unit The Hague.
 
The PortCloud architecture and functionality is based on the EventCloud, which is currently being implemented with funding from HSD. This environment provides all the necessary technical and process capabilities for developing services in the operation of a main port.
SS&R Mainports is directly connected to ongoing initiatives and organisations, like Smart Port, Havenlab, World Port Hackathon, SmartCity, Safety Deal, Opendata and Coalition of the Willing, which are mainly focused on transferring knowledge and stimulating pre-production innovations. The output of these initiatives will be used by SS&R Mainports.
 
Theme plaza ‘Port Innovation’
The World Port Days in Rotterdam offer the realisation lab an appropriate stage to annually manifest itself to a wide audience, hence the choice for launching SS&R Mainports at this event. This year’s theme is ‘Dream Port’. At the innovation plaza, visitors get an impression of the port of the future with a variety of innovative projects with crossovers to Safety & Security, Maritime Technology and Smart Industry, such as a ‘smart’ container and demonstrations of drones and UAVs in the Drone Zone. Businesses like Indymo, Munisense and FiberCore Europe also present their innovations.