Current State of the Art
Multipurpose offshore infrastructure is increasingly hailed as a way to address issues arising from the multiple demands placed in coasts and seas, while meeting growing demands through the integration of various user functions in a single unit (Schupp et al., 2019). Large and small offshore, multifunctional solutions (incl. floating) are increasingly highlighted as viable options for providing services (Dafforn et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2018) while improving effective resource use, decreasing economic risks for investors, and avoiding potential conflict over land disputes as they are perceived as less intrusive to existing land-based socio-economic activity. The most known example is that of Multi-Purpose Platforms (MPPs) or Multi-Use Platforms (MUPs), which are offshore platforms serving the needs of multiple offshore industries (e.g., energy and aquaculture). These platforms aim at exploiting the synergies and managing the tensions arising when closely co-locating systems from these industries (Abhinav et al., 2020). The literature in MPPs and MUPs is however, relatively recent, and there are many aspects that are yet to be explored and contextualized, including the connection between multifunctionality and open by design. Moreover, there is an important local element connected to regulations, permits, and the web of actors involved in the marine space, which make it fundamental to assess multifunctional interventions on a case base (Przedrzymirska et al., 2021).
C2B2 advance beyond the State of the Art
C2B2 will advance knowledge of multifunctional interventions, including the potential of less explored characteristics such as modularity, mobility and open by design. This includes exploring the conditions which can allow organizations across sectors in the marine space to design open and multifunctional services and applications, but also, whether and how open and multifunctional services and applications can in turn enhance synergies through collaboration among actors and ultimately change the way we plan, govern and monitor our seas. An important characteristic of open by design is agility – the ability to adapt or reconfigure production systems (Gligor et al., 2019). C2B2 will explore what more agile blue systems could look like, whether in the deployment of offshore monitoring devices, in the business model of a firm, or in the design of marine spatial plans.
Task
Contact persons
Karina Barquet
