Maritime Campus Antwerp (MCA) opens its doors in 2024
The building permit for MCA (Maritime Campus Antwerp) has been approved for ± 40,000m². The do-campus will be the heart of innovation in the maritime sector. Demolition and clean up have already been completed. The works will start in the spring of 2022. The campus will open in 2024.
MCA wishes to bring maritime actors together. It will be a do-campus with room for the core activities of larger corporate companies, start-ups, education and research institutions to work together and innovate. The ambition is to strengthen the maritime sector and make it more sustainable.
"The maritime sector needs a location where all players can meet and work together to tackle the challenges of shipping. Decarbonising our industry is one of them, and Antwerp and MCA can play a crucial role in this. MCA is ideally situated in Blue Gate, the former Petroleum South cluster. In the same place where fossil fuels created prosperity in the 19th and 20th centuries, we now wish to use innovation, technology and sustainability to build tomorrow's prosperity."
It concerns the former BP site that in the meantime has been completely cleaned up. MCA transforms an old industrial area into a future-orientated, maritime and innovative site with respect for a balance between economic activity and nature. The building has room for co-working and co-creation, labs, workshops, extensive R&D facilities, educational facilities and the necessary support services. The R&D halls will already be used, for example, to test hydrogen engines and build hydrogen applications.
"After an intensive period of preparation, it is pleasing that MCA Campus is now becoming concrete. We realise that MCA is a new story and we are pleased that the various authorities have made an effort to fully understand the complexity of the application to enter into dialogue and to find solutions, all within the space framework of Blue Gate.
Meanwhile, we have not been lagging on the content front with the launch of the accelerator platform Plug And Play Maritime. In addition, we will soon launch the official start of the MCA Community. With the launch of the co-working and meeting centre MCA LABS at the beginning of December, we also have space for anyone looking for a workplace or meeting room and for the community members to work together on innovation in the maritime sector. A good step towards MCA Campus."
© KCAP
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