Past competitions

Continuing the Legacy: From VISIONS to WEGEMT-VISIONS

The VISIONS competition series began in 2005 with the launch of the VISIONS Network of Excellence, a groundbreaking European initiative bringing together maritime universities, top research institutes, and shipbuilding stakeholders. Set against the backdrop of growing global competition and declining market share for European shipbuilding, VISIONS (2005-2009) aimed to restore innovation leadership by inspiring students to develop advanced, socially relevant maritime concepts for future vessels and floating structures.

Building on this success, the initiative evolved into VISIONS OLYMPICS (2009–2012) and then into the TRA VISIONS (2012–2024) competition series, which expanded to include all transportation modes and became an integral part of the Transport Research Arena (TRA) conferences, the largest European research and technology event in the field of surface transport.

For the WATERBORNE sector from 2005 to 2024, hundreds of students from all the major Marine European Universities submitted future-facing designs for ships and floating structures, from deep-sea shipping and maritime tourism to inland waterways and floating infrastructure. These academic contests laid the foundation for a structured, interdisciplinary innovation process and nurtured a generation of forward-thinking maritime professionals. This page offers a historical archive paying tribute to all the WATERBORNE VISIONS student project ideas received from 2005 to 2024 allowing search filters and full download capabilities for all the submitted projects.

Now, building upon this rich heritage, WEGEMT-VISIONS enters a new chapter, reaffirming its mission to empower emerging talent, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and explore future maritime and transport solutions. This new edition reflects the legacy of excellence while embracing the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow’s smart, sustainable, and connected mobility landscape.