Successful launch of the Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures
June 30, 2017
Successful launch of the Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures
Dennis Göge (fourth from the left), Executive Board Representative Defence and Security Research and founding director of the Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures, and Pascale Ehrenfreund (eighth from the left), Chair of the DLR Executive Board, welcome the President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF), Professor Otmar D. Wiestler (second from the left), and the evaluators.
On 10 November 2016, the German Federal Government’s Budget Committee approved 42 million euro in funding for the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) to set up six new institutes. The concept for one of these new institutes – for the protection of maritime infrastructures – was successfully reviewed by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren; HGF) on 20 April 2017.
Single institute for maritime security research at DLR
“We are pleased that the future strategy of our first dedicated institute for security research at DLR was assessed so positively,” said a delighted Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chair of the DLR Executive Board. Based in Bremerhaven, the institute will formally institutionalize DLR’s maritime security research, which has been a strong area of interest for some years now as part of the ‘R&D for maritime security and associated real-time services’ topic. At the moment, eight DLR institutes collaborate in this area to deliver substantial contributions to the development of innovative solutions for current and future challenges within maritime security. Together with the maritime industry, this research area is helping to introduce innovative technologies and services that will strengthen German competitiveness in the field of maritime security systems – including, in particular, governmental end users such as the maritime division of the federal police. Until now, however, there has been no facility or institution in Germany tasked with comprehensive research into the protection and security of maritime infrastructures that directly addresses user needs from the private and public sectors. The newly established Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures will now fill this gap.
Digital vision of the future
“We want to play a decisive role in shaping the future maritime scenario, taking into account the protection status of the relevant infrastructures,” is how Dennis Göge, Executive Board Representative Defence and Security Research at DLR and founding director of the new institute, explains the ambitious goals of the new facility. “In the first instance, we envision a virtual situation map that is beneficial for a variety of users and will hence accommodate security objectives with extremely heterogeneous degrees of complexity. Creating this map, where it will also be necessary to include social and socio-economic requirements, will place the highest demands on the available scientific and technological solutions,” Göge continues. But however ambitious the institute’s vision may be from a scientific and economic perspective, it remains within reach – commented the four-strong assessment committee after the presentation of the concept. “The Helmholtz Association wholeheartedly endorses the foundation of this interdisciplinary institute, to operate at the interface between security research and information technology – a fascinating concept that will now depend decisively on the persons entrusted with turning the defined goals into reality,” said Otmar Wiestler, President of HGF, at the end of the meeting.
Institute structure and strategy
The digital vision of the future will be realised in two departments. The Resilience of Maritime Systems Department will develop analysis methods that enable measurement and evaluation of the degree of resilience achieved in complex systems. The findings will be used to devise and optimise new security concepts that permit a technological and systematic organisation of infrastructure components in accordance with the principle of ‘resilience by design’. In contrast, the Maritime Security Technologies Department will address a broad variety of technological questions where solutions are required for the implementation and testing of innovative system concepts for the protection of maritime infrastructure components. They include the development of new methods as real-time processors, their efficient integration in complex assistance and consulting systems or in autonomous monitoring systems, as well as the creation of the necessary information management structures. In addition to interdepartmental procedures, this will require the involvement of many DLR institutes and external partners from among industry, science and government in particular. The target structure predicts a 50 to 60 person staff at the institute.
Security research at DLR
The German Aerospace Center undertakes research activities with a bearing on defence and security, planning and managing them in collaboration with partners in government, academia, industry and international organisations. Here, the cross-sectoral area of security research brings together core competencies from established DLR programmes within aeronautics, space, energy and transport. As part of their security-related work, more than 20 DLR institutes and facilities contribute to the development, testing and assessment of technologies, systems and concepts, as well as to the analysis and evaluation of the capabilities of applications relevant to security.
