Institute for Ocean Engineering Research Presentation
Acknowledgement
The University Institute of Oceanic Engineering Research wishes to pay a permanent tribute to the great Professor Dr. Javier Poncela, who was one of its founding members, for his dedication to this project and, in general, for his intelligent and efficient dedication to the University of Malaga.
Creation
The creation of the University Institute of Oceanic Engineering Research (IIO) of the University of Malaga (UMA) was approved by the Governing Council of the UMA on May 28, 2019 and ratified by the Social Council of the UMA on July 24, 2019.
The University Institute of Oceanic Engineering Research of the University of Malaga, IIO, is inspired by what the European Union has called "blue growth", which is "...a long-term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors. It recognizes the importance of the seas and oceans as drivers of the European economy because of their great potential for innovation and growth. It is the contribution of the Integrated Maritime Policy in achieving the objectives of the 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth".
Malaga is a coastal city, with an important seaport that presents important economic and cultural interests related to the sea. These interests are, to this day, hardly exploited. Ocean engineering, understood as those specialties of engineering that are related to the sea, should be an important contribution to the local and regional economy. The province of Malaga has 175 km of coastline, which plays a major role in the provincial economy, since coastal tourism is one of its main activities. Five of the eight provinces that make up the Autonomous Community of Andalusia are coastal, and a sea and an ocean bathe its coasts, on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, with a total of 910 km of coastline.
On the other hand, the University of Malaga has three large centers dedicated to engineering: the Higher Technical Schools of Industrial Engineering, Computer Science and Telecommunications. The most important Andalusian universities are located in Seville and Granada, which are not coastal cities. The universities in the coastal cities of Huelva, Cadiz, Malaga and Almeria do have numerous university research groups and institutes dedicated to marine biology, ecology, geology and physical oceanography, but these universities had not brought together their engineers researching marine-related technologies in a university research institute. All this led us to think about the creation of an institute that would bring together these researchers and with the strong support of the Vice-Rectorate for Research and Transfer of the University of Malaga in 2019 this Institute was created.
Motivation
Our vocation is to develop technologies, methods and services that serve both for the conservation of the seas and to allow their sustainable exploitation, and at the same time to share the singularities that the marine environment introduces in the methods of engineering. All this makes the IIO-UMA a multidisciplinary organization, since its members are engineers and scientists from different branches of knowledge who are convinced that this type of collaboration is the main creator of synergy. Engineering must never forget one of its two main sources -Science-, nor the users of its service. This is the reason why at the IIO-UMA there are mathematicians, physicists, biologists, ecologists and geologists researchers. Several of them are researchers at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), an important institution at the forefront of international marine research. In addition, the organization is of a cross-cutting nature, dealing with issues that interrelate different economic areas, such as fisheries, energy, security, tourism, transport and communications.
The activity of this Institute would be focused on technical and scientific research (technological development and innovation), training (doctoral and postgraduate programs), and consultancy (technical advice). Some lines of work identified with radiodetermination systems, environmental monitoring, autonomous underwater vehicles, image analysis to aid oceanography, electric power generation at sea, communications networks, development of new materials and manufacturing processes or the integrity of marine structures.
The specific measures of the EU integrated maritime policy have three principles:
- Marine knowledge to improve access to information about the sea.
- Maritime spatial planning to ensure effective and sustainable management of activities at sea.
- Integrated maritime surveillance to give authorities a better appreciation of what is happening at sea.
Malaga is a Spanish coastal city with important economic and cultural interests related to the sea. These interests are currently largely untapped. Ocean engineering, understood as those specialties of engineering that are related to the sea, can and should be an important component of the local and regional economy. In this sense, the Institute also aims to be a bridge between the University and the industrial, economic and social fabric.
Finally, the Institute also seeks to train young researchers in the fields of its activity.
Research lines
The Institute's lines of research all stem from the three principles mentioned above. Principles that would be impossible without the existence of the appropriate technologies. At present, these lines are:
- Submarine positioning and localization systems.
- Hydrodynamic modeling and simulation of marine currents.
- Underwater monitoring and communications systems.
- Image analysis to aid oceanography.
- New materials and manufacturing processes for artificial systems operating at sea.
- New tools to improve corrosion resistance.
