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Last week, at the kick-off meeting in Wageningen, representatives from 17 different partners set the cornerstone for a promising three years research. The Horizon 2020 funded project [email protected] aims to revolutionise working and living offshore by developing standardised and cost efficient modular platforms with low ecological impact. Believing that in the future there will be an increasing demand for safe and cost efficient deck space at sea, our team and its European partners will be addressing the conceptualization of marine floating islands that are intended for human habitation. We are glad to be part of such an innovative and exciting research project and can’t wait to start collaborating!

To access the official [email protected] twitter account and with it the latest tweet about the kick-off meeting in Wageningen please click here.

Next week the 5th World Ocean Council: The Sustainable Ocean Summit 2017 will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

We will be there and our co-founder Rutger de Graaf will be presenting during a plenary session on “Ocean 2030: Ocean Industry Projections and the Future of the Ocean Economy”. His presentation will be about floating developments and innovative monitoring on behalf of Blue21 and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

For more information on this event, please click here.

We already mentioned the article in The New York Times with Blue21 designs for the French Polynesia floating island project.

But there is more! This week, also NBC Mach published an inspiring article on Blue Frontiers and the French Polynesia floating village project on the south side of the main island of Tahiti.

Our creative director Bart Roeffen is quoted, explaining “he wanted to create something for the Tahitian lagoon that didn’t look out of place.”

“From a distance, the floating village will look almost like a natural island, with a green “living roof” of gardens that will also help filter waste water. The buildings will be constructed with recycled materials where possible, making extensive use of local renewable materials, such as coconut wood.

Roeffen says the technologies needed for floating communities will become increasingly important, especially in islands and in coastal regions threatened by rising sea levels. But there is also a primal appeal to living on the water, reflected in the high value of coastal land.”

“The fringes between the land and the water are where everything comes together,” Roeffen says, “so what we would like to do is to create more fringes.”

World Economic Forum had also published an article back in March 2017 including a former Blue21design for this project. Please read the full article here.

This week, The New York Times published an article on Seasteading and the role of Blue Frontiers on the French Polynesia floating island project.

Blue21 is working in close cooperation with The Seasteading Institute and Blue Frontiers and is primarily responsible for the designs of the complete island.

Please read the full article here.

Press release from MARIN.

Horizon 2020 funded project [email protected] commenced its work on November 1, 2017 setting out to make a step in efficient use of the maritime environment. The consortium consisting of 17 European partners aim to provide sustainable and affordable workspace at sea by developing a standardised and cost efficient modular island with low ecological impact. Project coordinator Maarten Flikkema (MARIN) says: “The three-year project can be regarded as a success if the modular design of the multi-use platform has successfully been validated in a relevant environment at model scale”.

[email protected] will study the most suitable shape of the floaters to minimise the motions. As starting point triangles will be used which also allow for a modular design maximising the flexibility to add and remove deck space and applications if necessary. Offshore specialists will contribute to design a shared mooring solution in combination with a remote monitoring and sensing system to reduce installation and maintenance costs.

In [email protected] four applications will be studied being farming, transport and logistics hub, energy hub and living. To show the potential of multi-use modular floating islands [email protected] will conclude with the evaluation of three business cases with combinations of applications for various locations throughout Europe. [email protected] will initiate digital communication to those interested through a project website and Twitter (@SpaceAtSea). Workshops and other result sharing activities will be announced through these streams.

[email protected] is partly funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme under project number 774253. Partners working together in this MARIN coordinated project are DeltaSync, DST, Nemos Delft University, Mocean Offshore, TU Hamburg Harburg, Bluewater, University of Rostock, Gicon-Grossmann, Wageningen University, University Duisburg-Essen, TU Graz, Waterstudio, Icepronav, Val Fou and DEME.