KONGSBERG DIGITAL AS

Their core work

Kongsberg Digital is the digital arm of Norway's Kongsberg Group, specializing in software, simulation and autonomy technologies for the maritime sector. Their H2020 work centres on two complementary strands: training simulators that measure and improve human performance on ships, and the control systems that make autonomous vessels viable in European coastal and inland waters. In practice, they supply the bridge-simulation platforms, digital twins and navigation software that ship operators and training academies use to prepare crews and validate new operational concepts. Their value to partners is a direct bridge between cutting maritime research and shipyard-ready industrial products.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 engagements started in 2019, so there is no true early/late split — instead, the two projects represent parallel bets placed at the same moment. ENHANCE invests in the human side of shipping (training, operator performance, simulator-based assessment) while AUTOSHIP invests in removing the human from the bridge altogether through autonomy and e-navigation. The trajectory across both projects points clearly toward digitalising and eventually automating vessel operations, with training tools positioned to re-skill crews for those new autonomous and remotely-supervised roles.

They are heading firmly into autonomous and remotely-operated maritime systems, with simulation and human-factors expertise repositioned as the training and validation layer for that autonomy.

How they like to work

Kongsberg Digital participates as an industrial partner rather than as coordinator, bringing simulator platforms and autonomy software into consortia led by others. Across just two projects they have already worked with 23 distinct partners across 12 countries, which signals a hub-like role where they plug their products into many different research and operational environments rather than returning to the same small group. For a partner, this means fast integration with existing Kongsberg tooling but less appetite for coordination or administrative leadership.

23 partners across 12 countries in only two projects, indicating a broad and internationally distributed collaboration footprint. The centre of gravity is Northern and Western European maritime clusters, anchored in their Norwegian base.

What sets them apart

Unlike academic maritime groups or pure research institutes, Kongsberg Digital brings products that are already deployed on thousands of real ships and simulator bridges — so project results have a direct commercialisation path. They are also one of the few H2020 maritime partners that sits on both sides of the autonomy debate: they build the autonomous control systems AND the human-in-the-loop training tools, which makes them uniquely positioned to bridge the transition period when crewed, remotely-supervised and fully autonomous vessels will coexist.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AUTOSHIP
  EUR 3.2M Innovation Action demonstrating full autonomous vessel operation in European short sea and inland waterway corridors — the flagship of their H2020 portfolio.
• ENHANCE
  MSCA-RISE staff-exchange project pairing industry simulator expertise with academic human-factors research on seafarer performance and system safety.