Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Ian
Borg together with University of Malta's Director for the
Corporate Research and Knowledge Transfer Office Anton Bartolo and
Transport Malta Chairman Joseph Bugeja recently announced the
launch of the 'Maritime Proof of Concept Fund'. This fund
allocates €100,000 for innovative initiatives related to the
maritime sector. Each project can receive up to a maximum of
€20,000. This initiative is not a first for Malta with
€300,000 awarded in similar initiatives since 2017 and further
€300,000 to be assigned in the next three-year period.
Minister Ian Borg said that, "innovation is at the
centre of this Government's work, not least in the maritime
sector. We are speaking about a pillar of our economy, which
generates more than 14% of our Gross Domestic Product and creates
thousands of jobs. The registry alone has almost doubled in tonnage
in the last 7 years, and in just 2019 we had a 7% increase
