The UDC - Navantia Business Research Centre "O estaleiro do futuro", (The Shipyard of the Future) launched in 2022 with the support of the Xunta de Galicia, and is a continuation of the work carried out between the University of A Coruña and Navantia in two previous stages: the first linked to the creation of the Joint Research Unit (2015-2018) and the second aimed at its consolidation (2018-2021).

The activities carried out during these two stages have enabled Navantia to launch a profound process of transformation and digitalisation aimed at the company's sustainability and competitiveness in the face of the challenges of the 21st century. Since then, more than 100 people have been working together at the university and the shipyard. Among the achievements that have been obtained from 6 years of work and 16 open lines of research are two patents and software registrations, a technology transfer award, five industrial procedures, three algorithms and ten pilot models.

Goals and lines of action

The experience accumulated since 2015 has made it easier to identify new requirements for technological developments and to strengthen the cooperation between Navantia and the University of A Coruña, which are embodied in the objectives of the current Business Research Centre, which is backed by funding of 3.75 million euros: to work on new techniques and technologies that will increase the competitiveness of the shipyard to develop the F-110 frigate programme and the new block factory.

Three main lines of action have been envisaged: digitalisation; improving existing production processes and implementing new ones; and the development of digital twins to improve productivity and reduce time and cost along the value chain.

The ultimate goal is to transform the Navantia-Ferrol shipyard into a 5.0 Shipyard. At the same time, the proposed actions will allow Navantia to optimise the public resources invested in the F-110 frigate programme and to compete with the most advanced shipyards in the world to build military surface ships and other types of platforms, increasing its added value and differentiating itself from its global competitors.

The Business Research Centre will focus on specific R&D&I aspects related to the production process, among them:

• Defining the shipyard as a cyber-physical system, where everything creating it has two elements: the physical or material and the cybernetic or virtual, leading to the birth and implementation of the concept of the digital twin, which is applied to the product, the plant, the processes and the people. 
• Applying new digital technologies. Promoting identified key technologies such as virtual reality, the Internet of things, the modelling and simulation of discrete processes etc. will all be further developed.
• Developing smart products as well as reaching into the area of services, creating smart sustainability.