SMM Digital to stream free online conferences

2 February 2021

Maritime conference to focus on forward-looking issues from February 2-5

The world's leading maritime trade fair SMM (Shipbuilding, Machinery & Marine Technology) is going entirely digital when it opens its doors from February 2-5, 2021. This year’s fair is being held free of charge under the motto "Driving the Maritime Transition” and brings movers and shakers in shipbuilding, machinery and marine technology together to focus on artificial intelligence, big data, hydrogen and sustainability in various live streams. SMM DIGITAL’s programme will be streamed on two channels featuring top international speakers. All conferences will be streamed live to participants' computer screens. A number of discussion panels and interviews have been pre-recorded in the dedicated SMM studio in Hamburg. This recorded content will be broadcast on the second “Open Stream” The conferences will be presented by the digitalisation expert Carmen Hentschel and the U.S. journalist David Patrician.

Maritime Future Summit

SMM launches Tuesday with the "Maritime Future Summit" on the topics of artificial intelligence, digitalization and big data. The parallel Open Stream will explain how the Port of Hamburg might establish itself as an important hydrogen hub in the coming years. Michael Westhagemann, Hamburg's Senator for Economics and Innovation, and Heinrich Klingenberg, hydrogen expert at Hamburg Invest, will highlight the strategy. This will be followed by the "Offshore Dialogue" event on how to harness and convert wind and sea power into energy. Other topics on the agenda include technologies for ocean monitoring and eco-friendly dismantling of offshore equipment. The closing panel "New Approaches for Sustainable Innovation in the Maritime Sector" will look at collaborations between science and practice by means of real laboratories, presented by Veronika Reichboth, Head of Hamburg Invest's Startup Unit.

SMM panels on sustainability and security

During Wednesday's global maritime environmental congress (gmec), industry experts will exchange views on the role of shipping in dealing with the climate crisis. Guest appearances by representatives of Fridays For Future and NABU, the German nature conservation society, are highly anticipated. MS&D, the closing event on Friday, will highlight maritime security and defence and will feature experts investigating current and future threats at sea including cybercrime. SMM has been held at the Hamburg Messe und Congress (HMC) exhibition complex every two years since 1963. The entire programme of events can be found on: www.smm-hamburg.com.

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