Maritime meeting with Swedish MP:s

In a meeting with Swedish MP:s, Lighthouse talked about the importance of long-term investments in maritime research and innovation. 

What kind of meeting was this?
- This was a meeting, after work hours, in the Parliament, about maritime education and research. Just over three hours of information and discussions, where we got to present maritime related education and research at the different universities Chalmers, KTH, Kalmar Maritime Academy/Linnaeus University and University of Gothenburg. The Swedish Shipowners' Association gave their views, Stena participated and talked about their view of research and innovation and the future of shipping, and we at Lighthouse presented our vision, Åsa Burman, Director of Lighthouse says.

Responsible for the invitation was Suzanne Svensson (s) and Anders Åkesson (c), members of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Communication. A total of about 20 people participated, most of them politicians or political secretaries.
 
What was your message to the MP:s?
- That we have world-class research and education in the maritime field in Sweden, and that research and training is important in order to be at the forefront.

What else?
- That the shipping and maritime sector are important to Sweden, and there are both challenges and opportunities that can provide jobs and export revenue, as the same time as we deal with climate and environmental challenges. But it requires a substantially increased investment, by the government, of funds for research, development, innovation and demonstration activities in the maritime sector, and that the commitment from the government is long-term.

How was the response?
- All were very interested, asked questions and many stayed behind and continued to talk after the meeting. My understanding is that they were satisfied with the information they received and the MP:s expressed that they had much more knowledge and understanding of the sector afterwards, Åsa Burman says.