DOCKSTHEFUTURE THE NETWORK OF EXCELLENCE TOWARDS THE PORT OF TOMORROW
DocksTheFuture1 Network of Excellence is a voluntary cooperative gathering the most
innovative ports willing to team up and take actions to support the maritime community
achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, using the opportunities given by
International funding programmes such as the ones set by the EU Green Deal.
WHY WE ARE SETTING UP THE NETWORK
On December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, a new
growth strategy that aims to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, as an
integral part of the EU plan to implement the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development
Agenda.
Since transport accounts for a quarter of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, there are
essential contributions required from the port and shipping sector to achieve the UN and EU
targets. Despite being a challenging path, it also provides promising benefits for the whole
society and important business opportunities for the sector.
WHAT IS THE NETWORK
The DocksTheFuture Network of Excellence is a tool supporting ports to develop innovative
projects to achieve their sustainable targets, based on the opportunities deriving from
funding programmes such as the ones promoted by the Green Deal.
● It shall promote ideas for the Port of the Future, inspired by other ongoing initiatives
and proposals and have a leading and proactive role in the process of overcoming
the industry challenges of today and tomorrow, also in order to implement cofunded projects and support policy changes;
● It shall speed up the distribution of practical innovative ideas, hasten the spread of
best practices, promoting new technologies to innovate the business and the whole
port industry;
● It shall enrich the dialogue with and among other organisations such as the European
Technology Platforms, international associations and maritime clusters – without any
kind of competition character.
The setup of the Network is based on ports participation while other maritime and logistics
actors will be invited to join and contribute to the activities based on their willingness to
cooperate and their relevance in the different initiatives.
THE CORE TOPICS THE NETWORK WILL FOCUS ON:
Essential parts of the EU Green Deal founding elements clearly relates to port industry:
● Supplying clean, affordable and secure energy to any port related transport means
● Mobilising the community and the industry for a clean and circular economy
● Building and renovating port infrastructures in an energy and resource efficient way
● Supporting smart digital seamless solutions for the entire port community
● Accelerating the shift to sustainable and smart mobility, to achieve a 90% reduction
in transport emissions by 2050
In this respect, some preliminary core topics to set up new projects have been identified:
➢ Energy efficiency (e.g. cold ironing, smart grid)
➢ Alternative fuels (e.g. bio-fuels, hydrogen)
➢ Sustainable and resilient transport infrastructure system
➢ Emerging technologies and digitalisation across the logistic chain
➢ Cyber security
➢ Innovative financing tools
➢ Multimodal transport
➢ City-Port relation
➢ Circular economy
WHAT THE NETWORK OFFERS TO ITS MEMBERS
The members can benefit of the following services:
- News on best practices and industry insights via a set of digital channels such as a
web portal (www.docksthefuture.eu) and the related social networks - A monthly newsletter with selected articles and anticipation about forthcoming calls
for proposals - Bimonthly webinar on selected topics with the participation of top-tier experts
- Biyearly DocksTheFuture events (in synergies with other sector events)
- Business to Business facilitation
- Find an expert service (i.e. among the expert involved in the DTF project activities)
Members are invited to participate in the Network’s digital and physical gatherings.
Each year, depending on the evolution of the sector, cutting edge topics will be assessed
to boost port innovations and creation of new projects.
The list of supporting organisations will be published on the website and the members will
have the opportunity to acknowledge themselves as active members of the network on all
their promotional materials.
WHAT THE NETWORK ASKS TO ITS MEMBERS
Ports can become members of the DocksTheFuture Network of Excellence by endorsing the
attached declaration and committing to its principles. Joining the Network, each port should:
- appoint contact persons in its organisation for each area of interest (among “core topics”) and an overall coordinator to be in touch with the Network organisation
- exchange information and best practices related to the shared main themes through the tools provided by the Network
- take part on regular basis in the activities organised by the Network and promote them via its channels
- propose and promote relevant activities and events within the Network framework
- commit its organisation, when possible and relevant, to develop collaborative projects with other Members
- promote its membership by putting the Network of Excellence banner on its website and the logo on its promotional materials
- send out a press release announcing the membership and send it to be published on dockthefuture.eu
Members are strongly invited to propose and promote activities within the Network framework.
HOW TO JOIN THE NETWORK
DocksTheFuture membership is free of charge.
In order to join, please, fill in and sign the attached application form and send it back to burlando@circletouch.eu
Join the Network towards the port of the future
1 The Network of Excellence is one of the many outputs of DocksTheFuture project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, to encourage innovation in ports and links with the port cities, therefore defining the concept of “Port of the Future”. The DTF Network of Excellence is run by the partners involved in the DockTheFuture project www.docksthefuture.eu/project-partners/