ABS and CSSC Hosts the First Youth and Future Innovation Forum

On December 10^th, ABS and the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) jointly hosted the First CSSC-ABS Youth and Future Innovation Forum in Shanghai. This forum gathered representatives from ABS and CSSC and served as a platform to exchange insights on topics such as new fuels and energy applications, smart functionality and advanced construction technologies.

Derek Novak, ABS Senior Vice President of Engineering and Technology, and Wei Sun, CSSC Deputy General Manager, and Party Members attended the forum and made opening remarks. Miao Xu, CSSC Assistant President and Director hosted the meeting.

“As I look to the future of our industry, I see many challenges and opportunities for the next generation. It will be the engineers in this room who will solve the green house gas problem. They will continue to find innovative ways to leverage technology and new energy sources, charting a new course for a sustainable future.” Said Novak.

The objective of the forum was to encourage engineers from both CSSC and ABS to focus on the direction of technological innovation, cultivate talent and identify practical approaches to solve challenges in the marine industry.

“ABS is a very important partner for CSSC. Forums like this serve to solidify that partnership and offer new ways of collaborating, helping to enable the next generation to solve tomorrow’s challenges,” said Wei Sun. “This forum provided a platform to showcase some of our brightest minds and an opportunity to communicate and exchange new ideas. I look forward to seeing how this generation will continue to expand and innovate beyond what we can even see possible today.” 

Throughout the presentations on new fuel and energy sources, the engineers from both CSSC and ABS raised a number of key points. Manoraaju Krishnasamy, ABS Engineer, highlighted pollution control and constraints for renewable technology. Jinjin Huang, Deputy Section Chief Senior Engineer of Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), introduced new energy applications and characteristics of new energy propulsion. 

On the topic of smart ships, Judy Hsiang, ABS Engineer, focused on the benefits and challenges brought by the application of smart functionality onboard ships. Jiantao Huang, Deputy Executive Manager of Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI), introduced digital and autonomous merchant ship design.

Both ABS and CSSC engineers exchanged ideas on advanced construction technologies. Mimosa Miller, ABS Engineer, introduced the effect of digitalization on traditional vessels and shipyards. Yunze Chu, Deputy Executive Manager of Shipbuilding Technology Research Institute (STRI), emphasized intelligent manufacturing technology and the technical requirements.

The technical presentations sparked an enthusiastic discussion among the participants. Novak closed the forum by saying, “After these presentations, I am really excited about the future of our industry and the future of the ABS and CSSC relationship. This was a great opportunity for our young engineers to explore the challenges that we face today and that lie ahead.”