Yachting Art Magazine

The Royal College of Art (RCA) has announced the launch of an international research project dedicated to developing sustainable, low-cost aids to navigation for small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries. Conducted in partnership with Hawkshill Consulting and IALA, this initiative has received total funding of £1.1 million from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and the International Foundation for Aids to Navigation. Scheduled to run for three years, the programme aims to improve maritime safety in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Founded in 1837 in London, the Royal College of Art is recognised as one of the world’s leading institutions in the fields of design, innovation and applied research. For several years, the institution has been developing projects related to environmental issues, mobility and sustainable maritime systems. As an implementing partner of the United Nations Decade of the Ocean led by UNESCO, the RCA is particularly involved in programmes combining technological innovation, participatory design and sustainable development.

The new project focuses specifically on aids to navigation (AtoN), essential equipment for securing maritime routes and reducing the risk of collision or grounding. Beacons, lighted buoys, channel markers and signalling devices are now part of the infrastructure essential to modern navigation. These systems must comply with the international standards defined by the IALA to ensure global consistency in maritime safety measures.

However, in many developing countries, the installation and maintenance of this equipment pose a major challenge. Manufacturing costs, logistical constraints, the need for specialised technical resources and limited access to infrastructure sometimes make it difficult to deploy systems that comply with international standards. As a result, some waterways remain inadequately equipped, despite their economic and social importance to local communities.

The programme led by the RCA aims to address this issue through a co-design approach involving researchers, engineers and local communities. The objective is to develop aids to navigation that can be manufactured, installed and maintained locally using materials and expertise available on site. This participatory approach should enable the design of solutions tailored to the technical and economic realities of the regions concerned.

The prototypes developed as part of the project will undergo extensive testing and validation phases to ensure their reliability in maritime environments that can be particularly challenging. The partners aim to demonstrate that it is possible to design more accessible devices whilst maintaining a high level of maritime safety.

According to Ashley Hall, Professor of Design Innovation and Head of Postgraduate Research at the RCA School of Design, the issues at stake extend far beyond the technical sphere: “In many countries, the majority of consumer goods arrive by sea. As the oceans change, it is becoming essential to collectively develop safer and more sustainable shipping solutions. ”

The project also aims to generate data and feedback useful to regulatory authorities and international maritime organisations. A joint publication is intended to formalise the lessons learnt from the programme and propose a roadmap for the future deployment of such solutions in other regions.

For Jan Przydatek, Director of Technology at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the initiative directly addresses human safety issues: “Developing local solutions capable of meeting international standards is essential to making safety accessible to all.”

Catherine Mulvihill, Executive Director of IFAN, shares this view, noting that aids to navigation play a crucial role far beyond maritime transport: trade, food security, territorial connectivity and economic development often depend directly on the safety of sea lanes in island states.

Through this programme, the partners are seeking to demonstrate that a collaborative approach tailored to local realities can contribute to the sustainable improvement of global maritime safety. This is all the more important in a context where maritime trade remains essential to the economic functioning of many island and coastal regions.