In mid-April, the 12th International Conference on Computer and IT Applications in the Maritime Industries (COMPIT) was held in Cortona. Around 75 experts from all around the world took part in this leading event
The COMPIT conference offers information on advanced IT applications for the life cycle of ships and offshore structures. Topics such[ds_preview] as virtual reality, 3D models, marine robotics, and IT tools for fuel efficiency, amongst others, were discussed by the participants – the majority coming from industry, but also many from academia. As in previous years, Germanischer Lloyd was a main sponsor of the event.
First held in the year 2000, COMPIT has established itself as a leading conference in the IT field for the maritime industries, bringing together software developers and users. In addition, it serves as a contact platform for recruiting and the preparation of international R&D projects.
The GL COMPIT Award 2013 went to Herbert J. Koelman for his paper »Midterm Outlook on Computer Aided Ship Design« (see pp. 60ff). The Dutch Computer Aided Design (CAD) expert is the Managing Director of SARC BV, which is an acronym for »Scheepsbouwkundig Advies en Reken Centrum« (Naval Architectural Software and Engineering Centre), a company he founded in 1980 when the computer age was still in its early days. Koelman was among the first to recognize the potential of computer applications in the field of naval architectural calculations.
At COMPIT the jury singled out Koelman from a short list of several highly qualified candidates, because his paper outlines a roadmap for advanced ship design approaches over the next decade. It received the highest praise for both its content and form. The jury noted that his highly readable and unpretentious paper offered a number of avenues for exploration for the industry. Of particular note, they said was his advocation of 3D laser printing as a hands-on manifestation of 3D design approaches as well as his identification of underused opportunities to create numerical design series and rapid design formulas based on CFD and machine learning approaches. Above all is the challenge that the paper puts to the community to avoid complacency and mental standstill and strive for innovation in methods rather than user-interface wizardry.
This is the sixth time that an outstanding scientist has been presented with the GL COMPIT Award at this prestigious conference. Winners of the previous two years were Rachel Pawling, UCL (UK), and in 2011 Denis Morais, SSI (Canada).
Interviews with industry experts at the conference as well as quotes and abstracts from COMPIT papers are featured on the next pages. All papers in full text and further information are available at www.compit.info. The next COMPIT takes place from 12–14 May 2014 in Redworth, UK.
