Representatives of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) Visited the University of Turku
Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) Eng Dih Teo and his seven-person delegation visited the University of Turku for the first time on 17 January 2023.
One of the actors operating under the MPA is Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) which is responsible for the sector's R&D funding and programmes and has had a partnership agreement with the University of Turku since 2016. The aim of the collaboration is to advance and develop sea and maritime research and development operations between the University of Turku and universities in Singapore.
One of the already implemented results of this collaboration is the Maritime Innovation Camps that have been organised in Singapore in 2018 and 2020, and in Turku in December 2022. The aim of these camps has been to attract interest among students towards maritime innovation activities and at the same time, to offer innovative solutions to partners as well as to participate in the joint development of the maritime sector and growing the maritime innovation ecosystem in Finland and Singapore.
The goal of the visit was to deepen research collaboration in particular and to find common research topics.
“Both parties have a clear and strong will to study two topics more extensively: green transition of maritime industry as well as smart harbours and the supporting smart infrastructure and services. We will be increasing research collaboration on these topics in the future,” says Kalle-Antti Suominen, the Vice Rector responsible for research at the University of Turku.
The participants of the visit also included Ecosystem Lead Riku Mäkelä from Business Finland and Director of Digital Innovation & Strategic Projects Chris Chung who is the representative of the University's strategic partner Wärtsilä and responsible for developing Wärtsilä's operations in the Singapore and Asia area.
