Port Innovation Lab AccessDay: 11 ideas for a smart and sustainable port
5 March, 2021 by
Port Innovation Lab AccessDay: 11 ideas for a smart and sustainable port
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The port of Rotterdam can be a lot safer, more efficient and sustainable, say the 11 startups that pitch during AccessDay of Port Innovation Lab (PIL).

PIL is a collaboration between incubator YES!Delft and Port of Rotterdam Authority to accelerate innovative business ideas for the harbour. CEO’s of big port corporations like Engie and Vopak gathered at YES!Delft on Tuesday to check out the latest ideas in the field.

The winner of the day was Hydra Storage.

Hydra Storage develops a strengthened container to store and create hydrogen gas through electrolyse. Jury-members Paul Smits, Daan Domhof (Incubation & Growth Manager YES!Delft) and Karin Govaert (Rivermaas) found this idea the most promising. The team, consisting of Davey Kreeft and Ivar Luiten, wins €2.500, a ticket to the selection committee of YES!Delft LaunchLab and a lunch with Paul Smits, CFO of the Port of Rotterdam.

“Port Innovation Lab links innovative business ideas directly to the port. This way startups can quickly figure out what the opportunities and needs of potential customers are. Faster development of these startups means faster development of the Port of Rotterdam as a whole,” said Smits.

Port Innovation Lab started for the first time last year, leading to at least ten successful port-related startups, including companies like We4Sea (winner 2015), MgAubel and OCRS. In this second edition, 11 innovative ideas from all over the world were selected out of 22 teams to pitch.

The best ideas will be developed further within the pressure cooker program LaunchLab “Port Innovation Lab offers the best of two worlds”, Daan Domhof says. “The proven approach of a successful incubator and the network of Europe’s largest port company.”

Here are the 10 other ideas pitched at PIL Access Day:

SolarPORT: Enabling the sun to power the ports of the future, Solarport deploys floating solar platforms in the port’s empty slots and underutilized waterways.

PassPORT: What if smuggled goods found themselves? PassPORT offers a block-chain based digital passport for cargo containers that keeps track of the goods.

DS Propulsive Solutions: Turbomachines as efficient as they can get, DS Propulsive Solutions enhances the efficiency of blades of ship propellers.

Avy: building a new type of self-flying long range and large payload drone.

Datura Molecular Solutions BV: Monitoring of biodiversity using DNA, to improve the quality of sea water.

Tow-Botic: disrupting the 100-year old methodology of manoeuvring ships in ports, through an automated towing technology.

Appsilon Data Science: improving the safety within the port using machine learning and sensor data.

First Island Kit: turning obsolete boats into distributors of goods and services (food, energy, employment) for ever-growing cities.

Owl Tech: the positioning system of tomorrow – manipulation of cargo using magnetic fields in order to reduce movement.

Q-layers: converts passive coating into a massive opportunity to reduce cost and improve sustainability.

Image Wikimedia

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