Digital Excellence towards a Smart Port Ecosystem Strategy for Small and Medium-sized Ports

Small and medium-sized ports (SMSPs) contribute to regional development, being a regional capacity and main actor of Blue Growth with a high potential to enhance regional growth through strong and sustainable connections with the hinterland. However, SMSPs tend to suffer from lower trade volumes and freight turnovers compared to bigger seaports, but also face economic, geographic, and environmental disadvantages. Moreover, SMSPs are highly underrepresented when it comes to EU Smart Growth as well as Regional Innovation Strategies on Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Nevertheless, the term Smart Ports is increasingly used in economic and scientific debates without a unified definition for what a smart port actually is. Whereas one stream argues a smart port needs to be fully automated, the focus on SMSPs reveals smart ports being surely digital, but also resource-efficient, environmentally friendly and innovation-driven. Standardised solutions or technologies are not working in the majority of SMSPs of the South Baltic Area, as requirements and conditions at the port sites are highly individual and partly unique. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions for SMSPs. Thus, it is necessary to develop a Smart Port Strategy particular for SMSPs, which can be adapted to individual requirements and provides the most applicable innovations, being digital, environmental-friendly, socially beneficial and economic – or in one word: smart. The envisaged project is in line with SO 1. 2. and requires the seed money funding to set up the Smart Port Strategy for SMSPs as a validated concept for further project development.