Pentagon Helix Cluster. Baltic Sea & Space Cluster of Hubs [ZEVInnovation, ICT & AI, GREENTECH]
https://www.bssc.pl/2022/04/06/pentagon-helix-cluster-baltic-sea-space-…
Baltic Sea and Space Cluster specialized research teams operate within six Hubs, which brings together 60 Polish innovative companies.

There are currently six Hubs: ICT & AI, construction of zero-emission ships – ZEVInnovation, design and construction of installations producing green energy – GreenTech, scientific-research, legal-financial and educational. All hubs bring together around 60 companies, research centers and R&D units. They cooperate with a group of approximately 2,300 cooperators, companies specializing in the design and implementation of innovative marine and space technologies, research and development, education and professional training for maritime industries.

Thanks to the active cooperation, the best Polish initiatives have a chance to be commercialized in the maritime sector. Among others, there is already an emission-free ship HUB, ICT & AI HUB as well as an idea for a hybrid system of renewable energy production.

For over a dozen years the Baltic Sea and Space Cluster (BSSC) has been supporting innovations and development in the field of research, entrepreneurship, administration and local government, which are related to the Baltic Sea Region and the world ocean.

Pentagon Helix Cluster

The Baltic Sea and Space Cluster is a continuation of activities undertaken by its members, who over 25 years ago took the initiative to establish a maritime cluster in Poland. During the period of economic transformation, it integrated the activities of leading maritime enterprises on innovative undertakings and new markets. As a result, in 2009 the leaders of the National Chamber of Maritime Economy established Polish Maritime Cluster.

After a short period of incubation and activities in the Triple Helix formula, the cluster through participation in international projects transformed into an organization operating in the Qudralupe Helix system.

– Today the cluster develops in the Pentagon Helix formula, integrating the transfer of knowledge between science and business, supporting social initiatives, local government and administration, developing investor relations, says Marek Grzybowski and explains that today the cluster’s activity is characterized by a holistic, integrative and global approach, making the activity of maritime industries part of Economy 4.0. – We owe our position also to the close cooperation with the Space Science Commission of the Gdańsk Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences. 4 conferences on space and maritime technologies, maritime and space law, economics and social sciences are organized jointly every year.

Cluster of HUBs

Within the „Cluster” there are currently six Hubs: ICT & AI, construction of zero-emission ships – ZEVInnovation, design and construction of installations producing green energy – GreenTech, scientific-research, legal-financial and educational. All hubs bring together around 60 companies, research centers and R&D units.

Within the „Cluster” Hubs, i.e. highly specialized small clusters, operate successfully, a type of consortia. Within them, tasks are carried out in a specific field and professional activity. In other words, a team of experts from a given hub is responsible for issues it knows best.

– The essence of creating Hubs in a cluster was to organize their intellectual potential, research and development capabilities, commercialization and internationalization of innovations, explains Zdzisław Długosz PhD., Director of the Safety & Security Research Institute and participating as an expert in the GALATEA project.

In order to work well on a given project, the idea of thematic Hubs was born. Many of the projects that the BSS Cluster conducts have an international character. For this reason, someone has to watch over, for example, the compliance with international law.

– The lack of this quality may result in legal problems when settling a project, a contract. We do not have such problems, emphasizes Długosz PhD. – Guarding all

these complexities is within the scope of our legal and financial hub, coordinated by Mateusz Romowicz from Legal Maritime.

– Very often Polish companies compete with each other. Our task is to extract their optimal potential and use it on the international arena, explains Michał Igielski PhD. from the BSSC Project Office, responsible for coordinating the ZEVInnovation project, implemented under the Norway grants with partners from Norway and Croatia.– However, what matters to us the most are the companies that „want to do something” with the greatest potential for innovation and technology. To make it easier for them, we create cooperation groups, i.e. thematic Hubs.