In February 2021, the Ocean Technology Campus was recognized by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as a future cluster in the "Clusters4Future" competition. Technology developments for the sustainable use of the oceans are integrated in the Future Cluster in the establishment of an innovatively working cluster of research, business and society. In its innovation fields Subsea Mobility & Autonomy, Digital Mission, Ocean Lense, Sustainable Ocean Use and Ocean Open Innovation, the cluster will work on research and development projects over the next three years. Thus, a unique research, business and education cluster in the field of underwater technology will be created, which will bundle creative potentials and create innovation-promoting structures. In the coming years, the Ocean Technology Campus will become an internationally recognized center of innovative maritime technologies and applications, demonstrating that ecology and economy do not have to be at odds with each other.
Together with the other six selected future clusters, the Ocean Technology Campus is a winner of the first funding round. The new clusters have been in the first of three possible implementation phases since fall 2021. Each implementation phase covers a period of three years and is associated with a funding of up to 15 million euros each. Consequently, in the event of a positive evaluation towards the end of the first and second implementation phase, the selected cluster has the opportunity to receive funding totaling up to 45 million euros over the next nine years.
For the stakeholders of the Future Cluster, it is clear that the economic use of the world's oceans will be greater and more intensive in the future than it is today. In this context, the maritime economy makes significant contributions to addressing global problem areas such as energy, food or raw materials extraction. In order to not further endanger the fragile balance of marine ecosystems, innovative and sustainable solutions are indispensable. This combination of economic use and sustainability is therefore the declared goal of our Future Cluster. Based on a close interdisciplinary cooperation of marine research, engineering sciences and computer science, the aim of the Future Cluster is to interlink university and applied science as well as entrepreneurial innovation. The interfaces thus created are intended to bundle competencies and expertise from the field of marine research and technology, from basic research to the development and application of finished products.
Traditionally strongly represented in these subject areas, the research facilities in northeastern Germany offer ideal conditions for those responsible to create such an excellent network. The spatial concentration of important partners helps to sustainably strengthen the innovative power of Rostock and Germany as science and business locations and to send out significant impulses for regional and supra-regional development. As an important task, the future cluster also specifically addresses the promotion of top executives and young scientists in the field of maritime research and technology. This not only strengthens existing research infrastructures, but also helps to establish new value chains. The aim is to create the necessary conditions in the long term to position Rostock as a leading national and international center of underwater technology with an international appeal for science and industry.
