Technological clusters and innovation trajectories in shipbuilding in Europe: An analysis of FP6 and FP7 European projects

This work intends to explore the innovation trajectories in the shipbuilding industry and identify the key players of innovation in Europe, as well as map the industry's possible geographical clusters. The analysis is based on the EU CORDIS database of R&D projects financed in FP6 and FP7 from 2003 to 2011. Fifty-nine EU projects have been analysed, involving 540 actors obtaining 186 million euros in funding over a decade. Through Social Network Analysis, the most innovative actors have been identified and technological clusters have been geographically represented with maps. Results highlight the innovation trajectories of the last decade in Europe and confirm the dominance of the big players from both technological and geographical points of view. In addition, mapping analysis points out the phenomenon of firms clustering that strongly emerges, even in this industry, in major technological hot spots in northern Europe.