The Nordic Virtual Maritime industrial cluster NOVI-Maritime is a close cooperation between the Scandinavian maritime industrial organisations Danish Maritime, Norwegian Industry and Swedish Marine Technology Forum. The strict environmental rules that are introduced globally often have the origin in the Scandinavian countries.

The administrations of the three countries also often find themselves in agreement while working to promote each country's own priorities. IMO and EU are central to the issues that concern the global maritime industries in the region and a coordinated activity in these organisations could promote the innovative, environmentally friendly agenda that manufacturers and governments in the three countries stands for.

Today, each of the participating organizations is active at national and international levels, but there is no mechanism to ensure that initiatives are coordinated. The project will create such an arena. Some of the regulations specific to the area - eg. limitations of SOx emissions - have proven difficult to implement with potential for delays in implementation and distortions due to differences in national rules. Regional cooperation could improve implementation. This type of problem seems to recur, and other examples are seen with regard to ballast water and NOx.