FLOW SHIP DESIGN DOO ZA PROJEKTIRANJE, KONZALTING I INZENJERING U BRODOGRADNJI

Their core work

Flow Ship Design is a Croatian naval architecture and marine engineering consultancy based in Pula, a city with deep roots in Adriatic shipbuilding. Their core work is ship design, engineering consulting, and technical analysis for the maritime industry — covering both structural and material aspects of vessel development. In EU research projects, they contribute hands-on shipbuilding knowledge to consortia tackling advanced materials integration and fire safety regulation on commercial vessels. As a small firm embedded in a traditional shipbuilding region, they bridge the gap between engineering practice and research-driven ship innovation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (RAMSSES, 2017) focused squarely on engineering practice: advanced materials, modularisation, standardisation, and condition monitoring — the vocabulary of a firm that designs and builds things. Their second project (LASH FIRE, 2019) shifted toward safety legislation and hazard assessment on Ro-ro vessels, a different and more regulatory dimension of maritime engineering. With only two projects and no keywords recorded for the later one, the evolution is suggestive rather than conclusive — but the direction points from pure engineering toward safety compliance and risk assessment in ship operations.

They appear to be broadening from structural/materials engineering into maritime safety regulation — a combination that would make them useful in projects where design capability and compliance knowledge both matter.

How they like to work

Flow Ship Design has participated as a consortium partner in both projects and has never led an H2020 project, which is typical for a small specialist SME contributing domain expertise rather than managing research programs. Both projects were large Innovation Actions with extensive consortia, placing them alongside major shipbuilders, research institutes, and classification societies. This suggests they are comfortable operating as a specialist node in complex, multi-country partnerships rather than driving the agenda themselves.

Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 65 unique consortium partners across 18 countries — a sign that both RAMSSES and LASH FIRE were large, well-networked Innovation Actions with broad European participation. Their geographic exposure is fully European, with no apparent concentration in any single sub-region.

What sets them apart

Flow Ship Design occupies a rare position as a small Croatian engineering SME with direct H2020 participation in two high-profile maritime innovation projects — at a time when Croatia's shipbuilding industry was under significant industrial stress. Their value to a consortium is practical: they bring real-world ship design and engineering judgment that pure research institutes lack, and their location in Pula gives them proximity to an active Adriatic maritime cluster. For a project that needs a credible industry voice from the Eastern Adriatic, they are a specific and useful fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• LASH FIRE
  The largest single funding award (EUR 198,538) and the most operationally relevant topic — fire safety legislation for Ro-ro ships directly impacts ferry operators, port authorities, and classification bodies across Europe.
• RAMSSES
  A four-year Innovation Action demonstrating advanced materials in real ship environments, covering modularisation and long-term condition monitoring — technically the more engineering-intensive of their two projects.