Now it’s certain: A new Interreg project will create innovation on both sides of the Fehmarn Belt. The experience gained from the underwater activities around the tunnel construction will provide inspiration for new business ideas.
30 Danish and German companies
At least 30 Danish and German companies will get a good boost for idea production when a number of new collaboration opportunities become a reality from 1 April 2023. This is clear after a number of new activities across the Fehmarn Belt have now been given the green light and funding from both the EU and Region Zealand.
The activities are called Fehmarn Belt Innovation, colloquially FBI, and they are to strengthen Danish and German companies’ collaboration on innovation – across the Fehmarn Belt.
– The Fehmarn Belt connection will open up a number of new opportunities for companies that want to create new products, services or new business ideas across the belt. The aim of the new effort is, in short, to ensure that the companies take full advantage of both the tunnel construction itself and of the new situation we find ourselves in when the tunnel is finished, says project manager Morten Pristed from Erhvervshus Sjælland, who is in charge of the FBI.
Financing in place
The financing of the ambitious project finally fell into place on Wednesday after a grant from the EU’s Interreg 6A Germany-Denmark program and Region Zealand was granted on 15 December.
Knowledge from both sides of the belt
Innovative business ideas are the focus of the effort, which begins on 1 April 2023 and runs until 31 March 2026.
The effort is based on contributions from both German and Danish knowledge institutions, but the project will use the new knowledge in the companies’ practical reality. The project will also create collaborations on common maritime and marine challenges, as well as look at the common major challenges within food and biotech.
Big environmental ambitions
There is a lot of innovation and development work linked to the ambitious construction project: On the one hand, there is the purely technical front when building the world’s longest submersion tunnel, but there are also great ambitions on the environmental front. It is these ambitions that must now be translated into new business ideas, says Morten Pristed.
The project’s participants will work to optimize construction using new technologies such as drone surveillance, deep-sea video, optimized ventilation, and AI control. But the project will also work to minimize the use of water, energy, and other resources in construction projects.
Latest knowledge must flow
– By involving educational institutions on both sides of the Fehmarn Belt and connecting them to the Fehmarn Lighthouse’s knowledge and learning center in Rødby, we achieve that the latest knowledge flows as best as possible between practice and learning. We hope that it gives air under the wings to new innovative business ideas, says Morten Pristed.
The effort begins on 1 April 2023 and runs until 31 March 2026. The project has a total budget of 2,2 million euros. The subsidy from the EU’s Interreg 6A Germany-Denmark program is 1,4 million euros, while Region Zealand has given 130,000 euros to the project. The financial partners behind the project finance the remaining approximately 600,000 euros themselves.
