Projects

Soft coastal protection measures such as dune, beach or foreshore replenishments present specific challenges in terms of design and maintenance for governments, engineering firms, dredgers and the insurance industry.

The aim of the SSAVE project is to improve the quality of the data, the interconnectivity and the interoperability in maritime shipping and inland navigation. Safe and verified direct and indirect communication between assets will be created to this effect.

The aim of this pilot project is the remote control of an estuary vessel between the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. This is done with a reduced crew on board and a captain in a control centre on land.

Aquaculture is often put forward as a solution to meet the growing demand for healthy products from the sea. But is large-scale aquaculture feasible in the Belgian part of the North Sea? The MARCOS project explores three possible scenarios in this regard in detail.

This project will develop a toolbox for the assessment and integration of social and spatial risks of multifunctional marine infrastructure. The eventual goal is to maximise the success rate of complex marine infrastructure projects.

Although desalination technology has been globally adopted, some challenges remain to make this way of fresh water production more sustainable and scale it up further. This project looks for innovative solutions for the high energy consumption and discharge of concentrated saline streams.

In Belgium, man-made islands are considered an element for coastal protection against the rise in sea levels. Making these coastal protection islands multifunctional could make a significant contribution to their financial affordability.