Ocean Technology Campus Rostock funded through the “Clusters4Future”-Program

The “Zukunftscluster” Ocean Technology Campus (OTC) Rostock is one of 7 winners in the nationwide competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany “Clusters4Future”. Providing up to 15 million EUR in funding from the “Clusters4Future”-program over the next three years, this will support Rostock’s development into an internationally reknown location for underwater technology. The OTC is now one of seven new regional innovation networks that can call themselves “Zukunftscluster”, as was announced by the Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek on February 3, 2021.

Coordinated by the University of Rostock, a member of the DAM, the consortium of Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, also a member of the DAM, Forschungsverbund MV and Rostock Business, as well as 13 further companies and start-ups from the region, was able to convince the jury with the quality of its innovative approach. “We are very happy to celebrate this great success achieved by our strong network in close cooperation of research and industry,” says Professor Wolfgang Schareck, Rector of the University of Rostock, Germany. “Once again, it pays off that we already promoted cross-disciplinary work ten years ago, founding the Interdisciplinary Faculty including the Department Maritime Systems. The Future Cluster now offers us an outstanding opportunity to grow into a leading location in underwater technology,” emphasizes Professor Udo Kragl, Prorector for Research and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Rostock.

The OTC-“Zukunftscluster” will integrate technology developments for the sustainable use of the oceans with the establishment of an innovatively working cluster of research, business and society. The actual developing Ocean Technology Campus, located at the “Fischereihafen Rostock”, will offer a genuine platform for networking. Within its innovation fields Subsea Mobility & Autonomy, Digital Mission, Ocean Lense, Sustainable Ocean Use and Ocean Open Innovation, the cluster will work on specific research and development projects over the coming three years. Some cover the entire value chain up to product delivery. This will be achieved through accompanying innovation-enhancing projects that extend the momentum and development from research institutions to ocean technology companies. A unique research, business and training cluster will thus be created in the field of underwater technology. It will bundle creative potential and create innovation-promoting structures. In this way, the OTC is to become an internationally recognized center of innovative maritime technologies and applications over the next few years, demonstrating that ecology and economy need not be at odds with each other.

Further information:
https://www.inf.uni-rostock.de/mts/otc-rostock
BMBF competition “Clusters4Future”: https://www.clusters4future.de/zukunftscluster-initiative

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Udo Kragl
University of Rostock
Prorector for Research and Transfer of Knowledge (PFT)
Tel: +49 381 498-1002
pft(at)uni-rostock.de

Header photo: Chair of Control Engineering, University of Rostock