The FIBRE4YARDS project, led by Xavier Martínez Garcia, a professor at the Faculty of Nautical Studies of Barcelona (FNB) at the UPC and researcher at the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), has been awarded the prestigious JEC Innovation Award 2025 in the category of Maritime Transportation & Shipbuilding. These awards are a global benchmark in the field of advanced materials.
Funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program, the FIBRE4YARDS project aims to maintain Europe's leadership in shipbuilding and maintenance through the implementation of the Shipyard 4.0 concept. This initiative, involving thirteen partners from six European countries, focuses on transferring, adapting, and combining advanced production technologies from other competitive industrial sectors to a digitized and automated shipyard environment.
The project has developed new manufacturing technologies using composite materials that allow for a redefinition of the shipyard with automated processes and modular ship construction. It has also created a digital twin of the shipyard, improving both the production and maintenance of ships and integrating new production processes into the design phase. The research achieved through FIBRE4YARDS minimizes environmental impact, enhances ship quality, and reduces construction costs of composite material ships.
The project is coordinated by Xavier Martínez Garcia, with participation from researchers at UPC and CIMNE, including Dr. Daniel di Capua, Dr. Fermin Otero, Dr. Rafael Pacheco, Dr. Francesc Turon, Daniel Sa, and Montserrat Dolz.
The awards were announced on January 13 at JEC World, the largest international fair dedicated to composite materials and their applications, held annually in Paris. This event gathers professionals from various sectors, such as aeronautics, automotive, construction, and naval engineering, to present and discover the latest innovations in advanced materials, manufacturing technologies, and industrial applications.
The JEC Innovation Awards recognize the best innovations in the field of composite materials, valuing projects for their excellence in innovation, sustainability, and industrial application.
Watch the award ceremony:
