Overview
The EUROMAR-BRIDGES project contributed to the objectives of the FP6-2002-Transport-2 call, as well as to the objectives of the Sustainable Surface Transport Priority (Priority 1.6.2) of the FP6. The project also supported the objectives of the EU policy. The gathering the knowledge, state-of-art data and bringing Europe down to the people within the New Member States and Candidate Countries as well as in third countries as Russia, for pushing forward the cooperation activities between them and states coming from Old Europe, which were one of the key factors of accelerated economic growth at the EU level, was considered as flag objective of the EUROMAR-BRIDGES. EUROMAR-BRIDGES aimed to contribute to the improvement of the competitive advantages of the EU maritime transport sector, including shipbuilding by the identification of potential valuable contributions from Candidate Countries, Russia and Turkey in maritime research and joined EU initiatives.
EUROMAR-BRIDGES overall objectives were to:
- increase the co-operation and intensify the efforts in Research and Development which were vital for improving the competitiveness and technological excellence in maritime field by building the cluster comprised of Candidate Countries, New Member States and Third Countries;
- identify valuable R&D, SMEs, and other actors with significant and original experience, and stimulate, encourage and facilitate the participation of organizations from the Candidate Countries and New Member States by providing up-to-date information on maritime related European projects;
- provide the contribution for Integrated and Sustainable Maritime Transport System in Europe by realizing and promoting the idea of European Research Area across the chain of stakeholders at national level;
- rise the awareness of benefits coming from commonly solving problems related to Sustainable Maritime Transport System;
- ensure a sustainable development and security of transport by active participation of organizations from New Member States and Candidate Countries.
The project activities were grouped in the following work packages:
- WP1 - Project management and co-ordination;
- WP2 - Building bridges with European Research Area;
- WP3 - Increase participation in EU maritime activities;
- WP4 - Promotion, Diffusion and Implementation of the results within ERA.
Funding
Results
It was estimated that the project could contribute in meeting the demands of European transport policy via the enhanced exchange of information, technology transfer and research cooperation.
Various workshops were organised to raise awareness towards achieving the project objectives. Moreover, EUROMAR-BRIDGES included events devoted to the presentation of new project layouts, which resulted in the elaboration of specific proposals for future research. The communication and cooperation of the participants was facilitated by the construction of the project website. Finally, ten contact points were established and further developed.
The project was successful in spite of its short duration. The various communication activities resulted in rising awareness regarding the importance of joint RD activities at the European level. In addition, dissemination and exploitation of information was stimulated while stakeholders knowledge regarding management and administrative issues was increased.