Marine technology advances driven by rapid innovation represent commercial and scientific opportunities, but also an evolving oversight challenge for regulators that must find a balance between progress, safety and international guideline compliance.
Marine technology advances driven by rapid innovation represent commercial and scientific opportunities, but also an evolving oversight challenge for regulators that must find a balance between progress, safety and international guideline compliance. For the United Kingdom, this responsibility falls to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which has created the UK Maritime Innovation Hub (UKMIH), a function designed to bring innovators and regulators together early in the development process.
The UKMIH covers four areas, including decarbonization, Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), digitization and digital systems, as well as nuclear propulsion. Near the top sits Jonty Slater, assistant director at the UKMIH, who started his role 10 months ago alongside the program itself, with the goal of improving regulatory accessibility and collaboration.
"I think the key part is how can we move the perception of the MCA in the past as an organization that may have been known to say, "no," to yes. If you can give us the safety information, if you can give us an understanding of why you believe that you're going to be safe, we will look at it in a proper and clear way. That was the bigger thing that we took into this," he explained. This
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