Major social issues such as sustainable energy generation, clean, safe and efficient mobility and ensuring sufficient, healthy and sustainably produced food plays a major role in the Dutch part of the North Sea. Digital transformation plays a key role in finding answers. The IDON 9Interdepartmental Directors North Sea Consultative Body) has therefore instructed Rijkswaterstaat to start preparations for a Implementation Programme for the Digital Transformation of the North Sea.
The future starts today
The physical, digital and knowledge infrastructure needed to provide stakeholders with information about the North Sea is still in its infancy. It will take years to organize and realize this together with all parties involved. Meanwhile, the dismantling of oil and gas platforms happens increasingly, which ensures that existing and future infrastructure with installation points disappear from the North Sea. Action and policy attention are therefore needed in the short term.
Taking steps in the digital transformation of the North Sea
An interdepartmental working group coordinated by Rijkswaterstaat will investigate on behalf of IDON what the various interested parties in the North Sea area need now and in the future in terms of information, information provision and digital connectivity. The focus is on the functional needs of the ministries with policy and implementation responsibility in the North Sea, international partnerships, knowledge and research institutions, port companies and private parties. The research provides insight into what has and has not yet been organized in this area and what opportunities there are to strengthen and help each other further.
Existing initiatives, consultations and collaborations are used to retrieve our information. Together, the discussion partners look at what synergy is possible by bundling current and future activities (for example), scaling up or smartly timing them. Later steps will examine what needs to be done in the short (until 2030), medium (2030-2040) and long term (from 2040) to meet the critical digital transformation needs. This is outside the scope of the current IDON assignment. In parallel with investigating the digitalization needs and developing the implementation program, practical pilot projects may be started to further explore substantive issues and test assumptions.