Smart Ports: Piers of the Future 2021 will focus on the five essential attributes for an innovative and competitive logistics hub, synthesized in the acronym SMART. (Smartports.tv)
Smart Ports: Piers of the Future 2021. More than ever, sustainability, collaboration and innovation
Countdown to the start of the third edition of Smart Ports: Piers of the Future. On this year's edition the focus will be on energy transition, digitization, blue economy and the collaboration between ports and cities. After the success of 2020, the streaming format is kept to increase its planetary reach.
Posted on
10.28.2021
Smart Ports: Piers of the Future 2021 will focus on the five essential attributes for an innovative and competitive logistics hub, synthesized in the acronym SMART. (Smartports.tv)
The five essential attributes of an innovative hub
The emphasis of the 2021 edition of Smart Ports: Piers of the Future will be on the five essential attributes for an innovative and competitive logistics hub, according to the IV Strategic Plan of the Port of Barcelona 2021-2025 synthesized in the acronym SMART (sustainability, multimodality , agility, resilience and transparency).
Damià Calvet, President of the Port of Barcelona, highlights that “Smart Ports has established itself as a meeting point for the world's leading ports in innovation that share with us the idea that this innovation has to be sustainable, open and collaborative.”
Calvet points out that, as the event is held within the framework of the Smart City Expo World Congress and the Port of Barcelona is one of the two sponsors of its Agora, "it allows for the Smart City program to also talk about smart ports."
In this sense, Calvet recalls that Smart Ports: Piers of the Future is an example of how the most innovative ports in the world can collaborate. For this, corporate leaders, public representatives, entrepreneurs, experts and academics will share experiences and best practices and will have the possibility of learning from each other to advance together in decarbonization, digital transformation and the design of more resilient, competitive and inclusive infrastructures.
Ports will share their experiences
One characteristic of Smart Ports: Piers of the Future is that it offers a global stage for the world's most innovative ports to share their innovations, the so-called Project Spotlight. Attendees will, for example, learn from the experience of the Port of Antwerp, the first in the world to implement a drone management system in its facilities, thanks to 5G and the automation of these devices.
The port of Busan will expose how the blockchain platform, Chainportal, is changing the management of the port by providing greater transparency to its processes. Hamburg, on the other hand, will share how quantum computing allows a better optimization of the road traffic that circulates through their facilities.
Several panels with international experts addressing current issues such as the energy transition in ports, multimodality and autonomous transport or the importance of collaboration will also take place.
Blue economy and port-city relations
The Director of Innovation and Business Strategy of the Port of Barcelona, Emma Cobos, highlights that the nine projects that will be presented this year “combine innovative and sustainable solutions aimed at making maritime transport and port operations more competitive while also working to reduce its impact on the environment.”
Cobos reminds that the port-city relationship and the development of the blue economy will also be protagonists of the Smart Ports 2021 program. And also highlights the presentation of the HyperPort project, dedicated to the application of hyperloop technology in the transport of goods, devised by the aerospace company SpaceX.
The Port of Barcelona will present two projects. The first is an innovative geolocation solution based on 5G technology and artificial intelligence. The second is the first pilot test of the energy community to be carried out in a State port, the energy community of Moll de Pescadors, which aims to produce renewable energy to meet the consumption needs of both the pier itself and other users.
The Port of Barcelona, in the Smart City Expo World Congress program
In addition to the projects that will be presented within the Smart Ports: Piers of the Future, the Port of Barcelona will also participate in the Smart City Expo World Congress program with a conference by Santiago Garcia-Milà, Deputy Director General of Innovation and Business Strategy of the Port of Barcelona and former president of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), on how the new economy and environmental regulations are setting trends in ports around the world. The second collaboration will be in the innovation session with the 3D Incubator and BCN Tech HUB.
In numbers, the previous editions were a success. Smart Ports 2020 received more than 5,700 unique users and 20,000 live visits from 94 countries. This year, the forecast is to exceed 6,000 unique users.
