Shipbuilding 5.0: Digital Transformation Is Underway – and SEUS Project Is Part of the Journey.

We are pleased to see the SEUS project featured in Maritimt Magasin (March 2026) in an article focusing on Shipbuilding 5.0 and the digital transformation of the maritime industry.

SEUS - Smart European Shipbuilding demonstrates how ship design is evolving from document-based processes to integrated, model-centric workflows. By bringing data, design, and collaboration together in a shared digital environment, shipyards, designers, and technology providers can work more efficiently, reduce errors, and make better-informed decisions at an earlier stage of the design process.

Digitalisation is about more than adopting new tools—it is about creating new ways of working together. Projects like SEUS - Smart European Shipbuilding are helping lay the foundation for a more connected, innovative, and competitive maritime industry. As Hans Petter Hildre said: 

- This is about ensuring that we can continue to develop and build the most advanced vessels in the world. To achieve this, we must develop new methods — and we must do it now. 

For the shipyards on the west coast of Norway and the rest of Europe, the message is clear: The competitive strength of the future is built not only in the dock and at the drawing board, but in the interplay between technology, knowledge, and cross-border collaboration.

The full article in Norwegian, written by Runar Bølgen Andersen, is available as a paid subscription under the title "Skipsbygging 5.0: Digital transformasjon."

​SWZ|Maritime: A New Era of Digital Ship Design?

The article from February 2026 on SWZ|Maritime, "A New Era of Digital Ship Design," written by Diego De León, Researcher and PhD candidate on data-driven early ship design at NHL Stenden Hogeschool, and Herbert Koelman, Lector Maritime Innovative Technologies at NHL Stenden Hogeschool and Founder of SARC, highlights how advanced digital platforms and smart collaboration are driving efficiency, innovation, and sustainability in shipbuilding.

Key takeaways include:

• Integrated Digital Platforms: Moving away from traditional design methods to fully integrated digital solutions enables seamless collaboration across disciplines, reducing errors and shortening development cycles.  
   
• Enhanced Collaboration: Digital tools bring together shipbuilders, designers, software developers, researchers, and academia to facilitate real-time information exchange and joint problem-solving.

PIAS’ Layout module is getting an upgrade to accelerate internal design with “chunks”: predefined, scalable sections of a ship that snap together like modular blocks.

• Sustainability Focus: Digital design helps optimize material use and energy consumption, supporting the maritime industry's commitment to greener, more sustainable vessels.
   
• Innovation in Practice: The SEUS – Smart European Shipbuilding project exemplifies this collaborative spirit, uniting industrial partners like Ulstein, GONDAN Shipbuilders, Cadmatic, CONTACT Software, SARC BV, with academic partners such as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Turku, and NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. Their combined efforts have advanced PLM platform implementation, ERP and CAD integration, hull integration concepts, testing planning, and more — driving the future of shipbuilding.

Combining industry expertise and academic research, this partnership fosters innovation that shapes a smarter, more efficient, and sustainable maritime sector. As digital transformation accelerates, this powerful network of collaborators is ensuring that the next generation of shipbuilding meets modern demands for quality, efficiency, and environmental responsibility.

Explore how these collaborations are paving the way for cutting-edge ship design and construction in a new era of maritime innovation. The full article, "A New Era of Digital Ship Design," is available to read for free online at SWZ|Maritime.

The first PhD of the SEUS Project is successfully completed!

On 17 June 2026, Pengcheng Ni successfully defended his PhD dissertation in Knowledge Management at the University of Turku. The dissertation, titled “The Human-centric Knowledge Management System in a Complex Environment,” represents a significant contribution to the field. Pengcheng’s research has been closely connected to the SEUS project, forming an integral part of its work since the project’s launch in 2023.

Abstract

In the shipbuilding industry, research on human-centric knowledge management systems is lacking. For a long time, shipbuilding has been considered a labour-intensive sector. However, the digital revolution is ongoing in the European shipbuilding industry and we cannot rely on the traditional way of running businesses. It is necessary to pay attention to the management of knowledge assets to maintain strong competitiveness in the global market.

Knowledge management, as an interdisciplinary field, contributes to the study of the knowledge asset in knowledge-intensive organizations. However, many modern firms are not treating knowledge assets as a competitive advantage in the operation of their organizations. Knowledge, as an invisible asset, needs to be managed systematically, and knowledge management now plays a pivotal role in different organizations. Therefore, this thesis examines knowledge management through the architecture of a knowledge management system.

This work employs a multi-method approach to build a human-centric knowledge management system for shipbuilding. The result shows that such a system is suitable for the European shipbuilding industry. The system is decoupled, which means we need to follow a sequence of design parameters when implementing it. Additionally, the dissertation finds that tacit knowledge has a vital role in the human-centric knowledge management system in shipbuilding. This evaluation uses a systems engineering approach to explore the system’s architecture and applies a multi-method knowledge management system to construct it. The process can serve as a significant reference for other architectures in knowledge-intensive industries.

Doctoral Dissertation is available at UTUPub.