Regional Research Driven Marine Clusters

The competitive advantage of the European Union in the maritime industry sector has to be sustained and depends mainly on the sector's performance, its flexibility and continuation of competitiveness. In this regard, shipbuilding is an important and strategic industry in a number of European Union member states and for the European Community as a whole. Research and development investment for boosting the sector is needed and has to focus on the development of critical and dynamic technologies both for products and production processes, helping the maritime industry compete successfully in global markets and benefit from the exploitation of the so called "motorways of the sea."The STARNETregio (FP7) project has been conceived to increase the overall capacity of regional players in the regions Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), Slovenia and the County of Rijeka (Croatia) to invest in research and development and carry out research activities concerning the marine industry, in specific the shipbuilding and port equipments, intended to strengthen and develop the sector's scientific and technological basis and ultimately the economic growth of the regions.This paper researches the results of the first phase of the project: establishment of the cluster framework, mapping of regional development plans and R&D key actors