Resources > The IMO-GloBallast R&D Forum
The IMO-GloBallast R&D Forum is organised every two years and is one of the most important international conferences on BWM. It aims at bringing together leading scientific experts, the maritime industry, academia and technology development leaders in the field of ships’ ballast water management for a comprehensive overview of this rapidly expanding area of research and development and technology commercialization.
R&D Forum 2016, Montreal, Canada
GloBallast Partnerships held the 6th R&D Forum and Exhibition on Ballast Water Management from 16 to 8 March, 2016, in Montreal, Canada. On this occasion, the theme was ‘BWM Convention: Moving Towards Implementation ‘. The Forum presented the perspectives of Administrations; ship owners and operators; ship builders and repair yards; test facilities; BWMS developers; R&D community; and the financing community. In addition, a Shipping Industry Forum was held during the same dates.
The Proceedings of the Forum can be downloaded through this link.
R&D Forum 2013, Busan, Republic of Korea
GloBallast Partnerships joined hands with the Republic of Korea to organise the 5th Global R&D Forum and Exhibition on Ballast Water Management from 23 to 25 October in Busan, Republic of Korea. The theme was ‘Meeting the demands of the BWM Convention: R&D in the context of catalysing innovative technologies ‘. The IMO-IMarEST Shipbuilders’ Forum took place on 22 October 2013.
The Proceedings of the Forum can be downloaded through this link.
R&D Forum 2011, Istanbul, Turkey
The fourth GEF-UNDP-IMO GloBallast Partnerships Project Research and Development Forum on Ballast Water Management (BWM) took place in Istanbul from 26 to 28 October 2011. The Forum was hosted by the Republic of Turkey at the Point Hotel Barbaros, Istanbul, and brought together academia, the shipping industry and the regulators for three days of cutting edge presentations and dialogue. The theme was “Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement: The next R&D challenge and opportunity”.
The events were coordinated in cooperation with the Turkish Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs (UMA) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). This Forum was preceded by the second IMO/GloBallast/IMarEST Shipbuilders Forum on 25 October 2011 (the first Shipbuilders Forum was held in Singapore November 2010). Around 150 participants attended the Shipbuilders and the R&D Forum. The Test Facilities for ballast water treatment technologies also met on 24 and 25 October. Most of the world’s test facilities (Europe, Asia and North America) were represented, and significant progress was made. The group agreed to start formalizing their commitments to harmonize their approaches to testing under the G8/G9 Guidelines through an MoU between the facilities.
Proceedings are available here.
R&D Forum 2010, Malmo, Sweden
The Global R&D Forum on Emerging BWM Systems was held from 27 to 29 January 2010, and was intended to provide a possibility to showcase the new and emerging systems, which could complement the systems reviewed, tested and approved under the G8/G9 Guidelines of the BWM Convention. The Forum brought together the international community engaged in developing innovative ballast water management systems, including alternative management systems, providing an open debate and review of the existing and emerging systems and the way forward to push the technology envelope to meet the challenges of ballast water management. In addition, it allowed for a stock-taking on what we have learned so far, and a discussion on the possibilities and challenges ahead.
Approximately 240 participants attended the Forum. GloBallast PCU would like to thank the co-organizers and sponsors, namely the World Maritime University (WMU) the Global Industry Alliance (GIA), APL, BP Shipping, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Vela Marine International, Malmaty, the Interreg Ballast Water Opportunity project, Wilhelmsen Ships Equipment AS and Respartner AB.
