Wärtsilä uses start-up mindset for Intelligent Vessel outcomes

Wärtsilä has opened the first of its four Digital Acceleration Centers (DAC) to speed up the innovation and co-creation with customers on a range of new business models and solutions, including the industry’s most advanced intelligent vessel and other groundbreaking projects, the company announced in a press release mid-October.
“The technology group Wärtsilä is changing the clock speed of the company by using Digital Acceleration Centers to accelerate new business ideas,” the press release read.
The first Digital Acceleration Center was launched on Oct. 11 in Helsinki, Finland. The second one is set to open in December in Singapore and two further acceleration centers, one in Central Europe and one in North America, are anticipated during 2018. In addition, “pop-up” DACs will be tested with customers around the globe, the company said.
“Opening DACs is an integral part of Wärtsilä’s digital transformation, which will shift Wärtsilä towards a data-driven, insights led, smart technology company that enables sustainable societies,” they added.
“The Digital Acceleration Center is all about getting business outcomes at pace. By adopting a start-up mind-set, we can rapidly prototype ideas with customers, including the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chain and virtual reality,” Wärtsilä’s Chief Digital Officer Marco Ryan was quoted as saying in the press release.
Wärtsilä’s first Digital Acceleration Center in Helsinki has already been running as a beta version for a couple of months and several projects have been accelerated there with different partners. Current projects include co-creation with a major cruise company. One of the greatest successes incubated so far in the Helsinki DAC is Wärtsilä’s Intelligent Vessel Strategy.
Wärtsilä’s start-up acquisition, Eniram, has worked together with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCL) for years in optimizing fleet and ship operations as well as reducing emissions and cutting fuel costs. Building on this experience, Wärtsilä and RCL are now working together in a partnership to develop all aspects of the intelligent vessel further, using the DAC to accelerate some of the prototyping.