The Fourth Marine Industrial Revolution: Ports 4.0

The Ports 4.0 Fund - managed by ‘Puertos del Estado’ - seeks to promote innovation in the logistics-port community. The fund should facilitate the development of innovative projects, as well as support start-ups and entrepreneurs in the industry.

This Friday 18th of September at 13:00h Balearic Marine Cluster and Autoridad Portuaria de Baleares will organize an online event to solve doubts and obtain more information about how to apply for this fund. Register to the Port 4.0 event today.

What is Ports 4.0?

Ports 4.0 is a public fund part of the so-called 4th industrial revolution. It was created to promote and incorporate more innovation in the sustainability, efficiency, protection and safety of the Spanish logistics-port sector. The fund is expected to help both public and private sectors to transition to the 4.0 economy.

To achieve this, up to 20 million euros have been put aside to encourage the creation and development of startups or new business lines in existing companies. These initiavies should develop or implement processes, services or products that stand out for innovation in the port logistics sector.

Who can apply for the ports 4.0 fund?

Any entrepreneur or company either national or international, with an innovative idea or project can apply for the fund. They should be capable of improving the port’s efficiency or competitiveness and commercial logistics sector. They should do this by using new technology or improving processes with the so-called 4.0 economy (e.g. Big Data, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Robotics...)

The terms of the fund were published in the Official State Gazette of July 15, 2020. The applications for ideas can be made until September 28th, while the projects deadline is October 28th. After this phase, there will be another month for application evaluations and the final award phase will be opened one month later.

Requirements to apply for Ports 4.0

The ideas or projects must meet the following requirements:

Develop a new product, process or service or improve a pre-existing one applied to the logistics-port sector.

Promote measurable advances in logistics efficiency, environmental sustainability and energy or safety and security.

Contribute to the ‘economy 4.0’ with an innovative component which doesn't yet exist either nationally and internationally.

It must be made available, duly tested and implemented in one or more facilities in the Spanish port area.

To determinate, elaborate and present the Ports 4.0 project, it was associated with the UTE KPMG/Innsomnia. This way, we will carry out mentoring, advising and acceleration of the ideas and projects. Not only in the design phase but also in the theoretical and practical implementation, in order to maximise the success of the activities financed by the program.

This collaboration will be developed in two phases.

Pre-advice phase: the aim is to enable candidates to obtain, draft and present the technical documentation in an appropriate manner, as established in the public call for proposals.

Acceleration and incubation phase: its objective is that those whose candidacy has been selected in the previous phase have sufficient practical knowledge to maximise the project’s success and its effectiveness in the port logistics sector.