Autonomous Ships Research & Development Centre inspires Finnish maritime industry

Rolls-Royce, a dynamic international operator in the marine industry, has announced that it will centralise its remote-controlled and autonomous ships research and development centre in Finland. "From the perspective of Finland's economy and maritime industry, this is significant and highly welcomed news," says Anne Berner, Minister of Transport and Communications.

"This centralisation decision will inspire the Finnish marine and ICT industries in the direction of product development and cooperation between universities and research institutes, and will offer new possibilities for subcontractors and product developers in the sector. "The decision reinforces Finland's position as a developer and utiliser of autonomous traffic, and as one of the world's leading modern marine technology manufacturing nations," Minister Berner asserts.

Aside from the perspective of the domestic sector concerned, the development of automation also has, in Ms Berner's view, far-reaching global advantages for marine transport - safety and productivity will increase and emissions decline.

"Our goals in international cooperation have long been that the utilisation potential of digitalisation, automation and data should be taken effectively into consideration also in the International Maritime Organization and EU maritime transport," Minister Berner states.

Ms Berner is of the view that the decision of Rolls-Royce to concentrate its development operations in Finland will accelerate both the priority project of digitalisation and the decision in principle by the Finnish Government concerning smart robotics and automation.

Rolls-Royce is one of the key founder companies in the Finnish project to promote unmanned marine transport which was launched within the context of last autumn's Tekes Arctic Seas programme. The goal of the Autonomous Marine Transport Ecosystem 2025 project is to create, in Finland, the world's first unmanned marine transport products and services as well as a viable ecosystem by 2025. The project is being coordinated by DIMECC Oy. The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) and the Finnish Transport Agency's Älyväylä (Smart Waterway) project are creating the prerequisites for the testing of automation operations in Finland.

For more information, please contact:

Päivi Antikainen, Director of Unit, tel. +358 (0)295 342101

Kari Saari, Senior Adviser, tel. +358 (0)295 34 2557