Edinburgh Napier University

  In summary, the pivotal aims of the NMU project are to: 1.    Strengthen the maritime business sector and to increase its capacity for innovation within the North Sea Region; 2.    Contribute significantly to enhancing the innovation capacitiy of the project beneficiaries from the maritime industry. This will ultimately lead to more effective, and a greater absolute level of, investment in product and process innovation by trained maritime business actors in the North Sea Region. 3.     Exploit the likely future growth potential in the fields of short sea shipping (SSS), port operations and global maritime transport and related industries (e.g. logistics services); 4.    Strengthen the competitiveness of the maritime product and services sector and to step up efforts in the areas of industrial policy and the service market; 5.    Contribute to the sustainable development of a growing maritime transport sector, especially in terms of environmental protection. 6.    Establish a European Area of Research, Innovation and Enterprise (EARIE) for the maritime business sector, contributing towards the Lisbon strategy to make Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world” and securing outcomes that reach beyond the project duration. 7.    in comparison to global competitors, to strengthen the competitiveness of the European maritime education sector by providing direct support to the European maritime industries and, removing obstacles for labour, academic and student mobility.