LEVIATAD Project aims at creating the 1st Eurocluster of Excellence on Naval Defense. This will be obtained following an Action Plan on three steps:

1) Map the Naval & Aero Naval Defence sector value chain post COVID-19 crisis to better understand the European ecosystem’s structure as well as possible transnational synergies and complementarities. This will allow the Consortium to draw the lessons concerning disruption and dependencies and manage a more efficient industrial strategy (including green and digital transition) to engage better resilience and competitiveness in a long-term European strategic approach.

2) Put in place actions to support SMEs in their up-skilling towards strategic technologies innovations that will be the base of their path towards resilience and autonomy boosting European sovereignty in Defence sector. Support measures will be for example training workshops and vouchers.

3) Go to international is the third step providing for other supporting measures (e.g. workshops, vouchers, studies of international markets) to help SMEs to acquire skills in some third countries markets as well as internationalisation to foster synergies and new business lines towards these non-EU countries. This will foster action plans to enhance the European position in the value chain and engage resilience activities by supporting innovation processes and helping SMEs join forces and better cooperate with major public and private groups including in European and within international markets. These plans would have a strong focus on resilience and European synergies.

THE PARTNERS:

The LEVIATAD consortium is built to cover the needed skills and value chain to successfully address the key objectives of the project, maximizing the impact on EU and global level and cover relevant stakeholders and experts in dissemination and networks and consulting. The consortium size includes 6 partners from 4 countries.

Clusters will have the role to involve SMEs that will be beneficiaries of services put in place to foster innovation and internationalisation. The Special Agency Riviere di Liguria is specialised in internationalisation boosting being an EEN Network point of contact.

 

The Ligurian Cluster for Marine/Maritime Technologies (DLTM) promotes research, innovation and education, boosting a continuous interaction and synergy between research organisations and enterprises. The cluster is actually involving about 120 enterprises – of which 82 SMEs – the University of Genoa, three major national public research bodies having research centers in Liguria (CNR, ENEA, INGV) dealing with maritime and marine research and technological development, and big enterprises (Fincantieri, LEONARDO, Intermarine, Termomeccanica) engaged in production and development of marine/maritime technologies in both software and hardware. The cluster also includes medium and big enterprises working in information technologies. DLTM, represents the Liguria regional excellences on specific technologies while operating at national and international level in naval technologies both for the defence and the civil sectors, shipbuilding and pleasure craft technologies and monitoring, remediation and security of the marine ecosystems. DLTM has the role to promote collaboration between maritime industry and marine science supporting research, innovation and education and new synergism between public and private organisations.

Toulon Var Technologies (TVT) is an association created in 1988 by public and private actors, dedicated to supporting innovative ecosystems in the Southern France Region of Var, with more than 600 members including regional and local institutions, R & D centers, SMEs and large companies working for innovation. Serving innovative businesses, startups and entrepreneurs, TVT supports innovation in all its dimensions: products, services, new technologies, uses and organizational approaches. TVT has 2 business units: TVT Innovation and Pole Mer Méditerranée. In 2018, TVT Innovation became the new metropolitan Economic Development Agency of Toulon Provence Méditerranée (TPM). Its mission aims to boost the strategic entrepreneurial ecosystem, support startups & innovative companies and host entrepreneurs. TVT is also a member of the regional consortium for the EDIH Move2Digital with SCS PMM/TVT/SF. TVT/System Factory is the Cluster Defence Division of TVT, dedicated to the acceleration of the innovation integration inside Defence sector. TVT/System Factory has a dedicated convention with French MoD called “GIMNOTE” that allow to propose SME’s innovation to be sponsored by DGA, procurement agency of French MoD, to enhance the use of new technologies.

Navigo was established in Viareggio in 2007 as a strategic support center for the leisure boat enterprises in different segments of their markets: yachting production, refitting services, tourism on the sea and port organization. Navigo with these aims has started a wide range of business services: Certification, Design, Training, Innovation, Financing, International promotion, Communication. The company has about 100 members and 320 associated as a center of innovation PENTA. Navigo is the point of reference of Tuscany regional public administration to coordinate the network of local agencies in order to improve the leisure boat industry’s competitiveness promoting its innovation opportunities and the coordinator of PENTA (Innovation Center for Tuscany Leisure boat and Naval Technology). Navigo is in close contact with all the universities and research centers in Tuscany. In particular, the company is able to turn on analysis, research and development skills inside the following centers: University of Pisa, University of Siena, University of Florence, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa, ISTI CNR PISA.

The Blawer Cluster is a not-for-profit cluster organization grouping over 180 private businesses and 18 public partners, dedicated to the blue economy. The Blue Cluster is recognized by the Flemish government as a spearhead cluster. The Blue Cluster is focused on innovation trajectories to stimulate blue growth but acts also as a sector federation defending the stakes of a sustainable blue industry. It is an important networking organisation to bring together many companies that work (often partially) in a maritime context. By fully incorporating cutting-edge SMEs in the cluster organisation and the innovation projects, the Blue Cluster ensures that they can accelerate their growth. Besides its role in innovation, the cluster takes the lead in the development of a blue strategy for Flanders, and provides policy advice to the Flemish authorities to implement this strategy. Their thematic focus is on offshore renewable energy (bottom fixed and floating offshore wind, floating PV, offshore hydrogen production,…), clean and smart shipping, coastal defense with nature based solutions, marine aquaculture and blue biotech, sustainable coastal tourism and ocean health and waste solutions.

The Croatian Defense Industry Competitiveness Cluster HKKOI vision in the Croatian defense industry is to consistently boost and encourage the innovativeness of domestic science and production resources for defense and security, as well as to increase the share of research and development investments for the development of new defense and security products and services. During financial perspective 2014-2020, they have demonstrated their capacities and worthy projects and they have been recognized in several key strategic documents important for the development of the Republic of Croatia, such as Croatian Innovation Strategy 2014-2020, and Croatia Smart Specialization Strategies 2016-2020. One of their main goals is to serve as a constant platform for support and exchange of ideas between business entities dealing with defense-security production and scientific and state institutions in order to produce new products and services that address current and future security threats for society as a whole. It is also their goal to express a united standpoint of defense industry stakeholders in Croatia towards the relevant state institutions and policymakers on the issues of scientific research, technological development and modernization on the basis of their real capacities and interests of domestic industry stakeholders. Research and development collaboration and new innovative projects are key to achieving the technological progress of the overall industrial sector of the Republic of Croatia and they will especially encourage this type of investment and cooperation in the goal of strengthening the Croatian economy.

 

Riviere di Liguria is a Special Agency of Riviere di Liguria Chamber of Commerce, including the Provinces of Imperia, Savona and La Spezia, that works since October 1995, for the economic promotion of its territory, with particular reference to SMEs, consortium, clusters and local authorities. Riviere di Liguria is an independent Agency with its charter, board of governors, balance sheet and financial administration. The Agency is a partner of ALPS’s consortium since 2019, one of the five interregional consortiums in Italy responsible for the management of the Enterprise Europe Network (former EIC and then EEN contract with Unioncamere LIGURIA). Main Activity Sectors are Green and Blue Economy, Marine technologies, dual use activities, yacht building and shipbuilding, ICT, tourism, Agro-food industry and Environment. Local integrated development. Furthermore, it participates in many EU/interreg projects to support directly or indirectly (by means of new services) local SMEs, and developed a strong cooperation on events and activities with EDIC Provincia della Spezia, Eures and West Med Initiative – National Hub for Italy.