Wärtsilä Banks on Innovative Tech Startups

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Wärtsilä turns to startups to help solve some of the biggest problems in the maritime industry, reports PortNews.

Hunt for mature startups 

Wärtsilä’s in its company release said that Vesa Marttinen, Director Cruise and Ferry discussed the challenges in maritime industry together with partners in the first cycle of the program in May 2019 in Hamburg.

The second cycle of the Trade & Transport Impact Program is launching their search for 10 mature startups to work together with Inmarsat, Cargotec, Shell, HHLA and Wärtsilä on solving some of the biggest problems in the maritime, trade and transport industry.

Trade & Transport Impact Program 

First of its kind, the Trade & Transport Impact Program is disrupting the maritime logistics industry together with its partners. 

It is designed to address real challenges within maritime trade and transportation by matching industry leaders with tech startups and scale ups in a collaborative outcome-oriented program.

Outcome of the program

The first cycle of the program, which ran in the spring of 2019, resulted in 11 pilot-projects between the 8 selected startups and the partner corporations. 

Now, the Trade & Transport Impact program is back and looking for 10 startups to join the second cycle.

In this second cycle of the program, Rainmaking expects more than 500 startups with relevant technology and business models to be identified.

Program for the Startups 

Upon the application deadline on September 8th 2019, startups will be screened and the 10 teams will be invited for Selection Days in Hamburg and ultimately matched with the partners. 

Throughout the program, the corporate-startup engagement will be facilitated by Rainmaking in a 6-week long semi-remote program focused on building collaborative pilot-projects.

Need to digitize

The shipping and supply chain industry has a need to digitize, however manual processes can be difficult to change on a large scale. 

Lack of automation, inefficiencies in terminal operations and insecure data leveraging are some of the issues that need to be handled, along with issues surrounding illegal access into ports and vessels.

Future into present?

Startups can help bring the future into the present for the partner companies, and

  • enable transparency,
  • enhance data leveraging and
  • apply preventive measures to safeguard
    • the port,
    • the ship, and
    • the crew. 

These issues are costing the industry millions, if not billions, of dollars, and ultimately taking a toll on the environment. 

The Trade & Transport Impact Program will match the best tech startups with global leaders in maritime and logistics for mutual results.

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Source: PortNews