Any activity developed on water, in water and at the
bottom of the sea uses marine technology
An interview with Konstantinos Kalogeropoulos
Vice President of H.I.M.T.
Hon. Consul General for Malta
Master Mariner – LLM (Soton)
Mr. Konstantinos Kalogeropoulos, Vice President of H.I.M.T., presents his views on the importance of promoting the
Marine Technology advances in Greece and the need to further enhance the role of young researchers.
This year you organized the Annual Meeting of Marine Technology for the 11th consecutive year. Why did you choose to focus on Blue Growth?
Our Annual Meeting is currently a flagship event for promoting Marine Technology advances in Greece and this is why it is
supported by the majority of the shipping industry. Each year, the Meeting attracts shipping executives, business partners, the
public sector and of course the Academia. The title of 2017 was “Boosting Blue Growth: The Marine Technology Factor”. The meeting’s theme was broader this year including technological developments related to all kinds of maritime economic activities. The main reason is simply one; any activity developed on water, in water and at the bottom of the sea uses marine technology. Besides, Greece is not only a
maritime country but also a coastal one, so the sea is a vital component of its development.
What are the Annual Meeting’s main conclusions?
The main conclusions emerged from the Round Table of the conference, entitled “Autonomous ships and digitalization”. During the session, distinguished field professionals developed the individual parameters of the subject including technological feasibility, ship management, regulations etc. The autonomous ship has left the sphere of imagination, and now existing technology allows us its implementation
and for this reason, we see many pilot applications, especially in North Europe. However, there are many difficulties such as the lack of an appropriate legislative regime to regulate mostly operational issues and cyber security, while at the same time managerial aspects are expected to arise from the transition of shipping offices to control and management centers. Similarly, human resources education and training and of course social acceptance are additional parameters that require particular attention. As it turned out, technological developments change the nature of shipping, but as it was stated the greatest threat would come from our resistance to adapt.
What are the future goals of H.I.M.T?
H.I.M.T.’s primary goal is to strengthen our institution’s relations and cooperation with universities and institutions in Greece and abroad. Recently we have developed a network of collaboration with European and International Institutes and other Marine Technology Bodies such as the IMAM, the Confederation of European Maritime Technology Societies (CEMT), the Society of European Maritime Technology Societies (CEMT) Naval Architects & Marine Engineers (SNAME) and the Royal Institute of Naval Architect (RINA). In particular, regarding SNAME, a Cooperation Protocol was signed in April 2017 with the Greek Department aiming at the exchange of information and know-how,
and the development of joint activities. In addition, H.I.M.T aims at further enhancing the role of young researchers, and hence we plan to develop a specialized campaign to attract more young scientists through introducing awards for the “Young Scientist of the Year” and the “Best Scientific Paper” to our Annual Meeting. In the same context, we are in the process of designing a regional initiative to foster scientific thinking and excellence in the Eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, we focus on enhancing collaboration with International associations and presently we have started cooperating with BIMCO in the field of Regulation processing.