“The Ocean Technology Campus Rostock will inspire crucial innovation primarily for underwater technology but also in other sectors of the economy, as well. Through the use of autonomous underwater systems or the development of management systems for large quantities of data for environmental monitoring, important aspects of a digital, data-based economy 4.0 can be explored,” said Prof. Uwe von Lukas, manager of the Fraunhofer IGD in Rostock.

The seven future clusters that have now been selected are winners of the first round of funding. The new clusters are expected to begin the first of up to three implementation phases starting in fall 2021. Each phase lasts three years and comes with funding of up to €15 million. Consequently, if a selected cluster receives positive evaluations toward the end of the first and second implementation phases, they have the opportunity to receive a total of €45 million over the next nine years.