Exclusive : Polish startups are satellites of Neptune. From the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone

The Pomeranian Special Economic Zone in the Gdańsk Science and Technology Park creates special conditions for companies that develop innovation – emphasized by President Przemysław Sztandera

By: MAREK GRZYBOWSKI

Exclusive info for eBLUE ECONOMY

Pomeranian young companies SeaData and REXS.IO received congratulatory letters for winning competitions under the GALATEA project. Each of the companies will receive a subsidy of 60 thousand euros from the HORIZON 2020 program. The money is intended for the implementation of innovations in maritime industries.

Congratulatory letters were received by: Anna Wenta and Rafał Wolak from SeaData. REXS.IO was represented by Agata Kukwa. The congratulatory letters were handed over by Przemysław Sztandera, president of the management board of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, and Marek Grzybowski, project manager of the GALATEA project from the Baltic Sea and Space Cluster.

The projects will be implemented in an international partnership. Polish companies are the project leaders. The partners of Polish SMEs are small companies operating in maritime, logistics, and ICT clusters participating in the GALATEA project.

The Pomeranian Special Economic Zone in the Gdańsk Science and Technology Park creates special conditions for companies that develop innovation – emphasized by President Przemysław Sztandera. The  „Spece3ac Intermodal Transportation” project was implemented at PSSE. Its participant was SeaData, then a startup, and today an independent micro-enterprise operating on international markets under the wings of the Baltic Sea and Space Cluster.

– SeaData, together with partners from Spain and France, will design a comprehensive system for monitoring the air condition and port waters using not only stationary installations but also drones – explains PhD. Marta Wenta.

– REXS.IO will develop together with GSData, a Romanian partner from the Galatea project, a system that will use blockchain for document circulation in maritime logistics – explains Agata Kukwa. This solution can be used in any business.

– GALATEA aims to develop new cross-sectoral and cross-border industrial value-chains integrating technologies and know-how from aerospace and ICT communities to key Blue Growth domains: smart port, smart ships, smart shipyard, and maritime surveillance.

For that purpose, we have built a consortium of 8 partners (7 clusters from maritime, ICT, and Aerospatiale sectors) and one Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) from 5 European countries: France, Greece, Poland, Romania, and Spain) – informed Clémence Le Corff, Chargée de mission Europe/ EU Project manager, Pôle Mer Méditerranée in exclusive interwiev for BLUE ECONOMY.

– In the current sanitary context, the principle of GALATEA that is concretely to create new bridges between actors from different sectoral and cultural ecosystems is even more necessary. SMEs owners and their teams are facing new difficulties to keep their businesses afloat, representing the aerospace sector we know that breath of fresh air to allow enterprises to conduct activities has become necessary.

On GALATEA we are not only talking about punctual grants but also and mainly about a complement accompaniment of the SMEs in their project concretization. For this reason, we plan services regarding notably internationalizing of the businesses or even sustainability of the projects developed through GALATEA – informed Diego Carballo, European  projects manager, Aerospace Valley

In Poland, the project is supported by the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, Port Boards of Gdynia, Gdańsk, and Szczecin-Świnujście, Crist and Nauta shipyards, as well as ports concentrated in the Association of Small Sea Ports. Port authorities and shipyards generated needs that were on the list of groups of needs of the GALATEA project.

– Thanks to the work done by all partners in the 5 GALATEA countries, GALATEA was able to identify the needs of end-users from the port, ship, shipyard, and maritime surveillance sectors. More than 45 end-users of which many port authorities, large companies in the field of shipbuilding or repair and surveillance maritime stakeholders have been heard by the GALATEA consortium. These needs have been then analyzed and transformed into challenges that SMEs could overtake, as solutions for end-users – Clemenence Le Corff said.

Out of the GALATEA Innovation Support Mechanism Call#1, 178 SMEs applied for fundings of which 18 Polish, 20 Romanian, 59 Spanish, 28 Greek, and 52 French. 77 vouchers applications have been submitted. The two highest-rated consortia, the leaders of which are SeaData and REXS.IO, received funding for innovative projects. Other Polish SMEs that qualified for the competition also fared well. They literally missed a few points to get grants. So strong was the international competition.

PSEZ and GPNT continue to support the development of cooperation between innovators and large companies – President Sztandera emphasizes. The Baltic Port of New Technologies operating in Gdynia is also a place where innovative products are created. In this zone, ships and structures are built for maritime transport, fishing, and wind offshore industry, as well as other industries. The second phase of the GALATEA project will continue in September.