Sharing a Sustainable Future. Results of the round table.

On May 28 the regular round table meeting “Sharing a Sustainable Future: Economy of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster ” took place in Mykolaiv coinciding with the annual European Maritime Day.

The event gathered representatives of shipbuilding and research enterprises (MDEM, C-Job Nikolayev, “KLIVER”, “OCEAN Shipyard”, “AMICO Digital”), educational institutions (Mykolaiv Polytechnic College, Admiral Makarov Shipbuilding University, University of the Aegean), business structures and organizations (Team Europe Mykolaiv, APPAU , Business Support Center, RInnoHub, “MediaCompass”, etc.), the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Ukroboronprom and Mykolaiv City Council.

The event included three sections. The first one included opening of the Round table with a welcoming speech of Artem Vashchylenko (Team Europe Mykolaiv). Then key aspects of EU blue economy development were described (Denis Chernikov, Mr.Sotiris A Bouzeas, Ms.Maria Lekakou). Olena Zhukova, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster, presented the role of the Cluster in the maritime industry of Ukraine functioning, its strategy and priority development projects. The main activities, each of which includes a list of measures and tools for implementation, for the current year are as follows:

Export-internationalization (representation of the industry on the international arena)
Development of educational infrastructure (development of human resources)
Development of innovation infrastructure (including digital technologies)
Promotion in the industry, lobbying (in the legislative sphere, as well as policies and decisions of the central government)
Attracting investments (to the development of production and innovation infrastructure of the region)

It is important to note that the UMC offers functions of cooperation with European industry clusters to strengthen the export opportunities of domestic enterprises. Also, the Cluster offers services for the implementation of development projects to attract grant funds from international institutions.

Oleksandr Yurchak, General Director of APPAU, told about the progress of the ”Integration 4.0” project, as well as internal Cluster cooperation.

On the second section of the round table issues of digital infrastructure of industrial enterprises were raised (Igor Lisitsky, Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine), best practices of education and industrial policy were highlighted (Yurii Zhukov, C-Job Nikolayev), programs for the digital economy of the EU region development (Volodymyr Yevsieiev, “RInnoHub”). Informative reports on integration into the European Security System of the Black Sea Economic Space of Ukraine (Oksana Vrublevska, “KLIVER”), as well as prospects and tools for cooperation between Ukrainian shipbuilding and the world shipbuilding community (Olha Zierkalova, “MediaCompass”). At the end of the second session, participants exchanged views on the development of the maritime sector, international cooperation and partnership.

On the third section of the Round table the General Meeting of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster was hosted, where Olena Zhukova presented a report on the activities of the Cluster, plan and budget calculations for the current year.

The solemn part of the General Meeting was the presentation of membership certificates, and the total number of members today is 19, they are representatives of shipbuilding and ship repair, engineering and RDI, education and science, services and marine equipment suppliers, naval subcluster and partners.