A new relationship between government, industry and knowledge institutes, the case of the maritime sector

¹ Department of Transport and Regional Economics, University of Antwerp, Belgium
² Policy Research Corporation, The Netherlands

Abstract

The paper titled ‘A new relationship between government, industry and knowledge institutes, the case of the maritime sector’ intends to provide a set of principles for the interaction of governments with industrial players. In order to furnish industry (and knowledge institutes) with sufficient flexibility to meet the challenges of the maritime world - with the goal of enhancing its sustainability - unfettered interaction between government, industry and knowledge institutes is key. Each of these players can extend the scope of their activities and responsibilities to enhance cooperation, so that the conglomerate of these parties can achieve the goal of increased sustainability in an increasingly dynamic maritime world. The goal of this paper is to prove the necessity of such cooperation, hence the research question: “Is a closer cooperation between government, knowledge-institutes and industry necessary to cope with modern day challenges within the maritime sector?” The question shall be answered by constructing a theoretical, descriptive argument, expanding on the challenges faced in the maritime sector, showing that current decision making processes are unfit to deal with these challenges, introducing novel principles guiding decision making processes based on commonality between government, industry and knowledge institutes and finally expanding on the role these principles may play in realising the goal of sustainability in the maritime sector.