Smart Shipping Café Series

This Café focuses on autonomy — from self-operating vessels and automated port systems to the digital infrastructure that makes them possible. We’ll look at how autonomous technologies are being tested, deployed, and scaled and what opportunities exist for cross-sector collaboration.

You’ll hear from:

• University of Plymouth, sharing how their Smart Sound testbed is being used to trial autonomous and sensor-driven technologies in a real-world marine environment.
• Port of Felixstowe, offering insights into their current autonomy projects, the challenges of implementation and what the future looks like for one of the UK’s busiest ports.

Together, we’ll explore:

• What autonomy really means for ports and vessels
• How data, sensing, and AI underpin autonomous operations
• The challenges and opportunities for collaboration across sectors
• How innovators, researchers, and SMEs can get involved

Whether you’re working in maritime, transport, robotics, AI, or emerging technology — or simply curious about where the future of autonomy is headed — this session will help you understand the opportunities and get inspired to take part.