White Paper on Innovative Joining Technologies for Naval Applications

This document wants to provide an in-depth framework on the use of innovative joining technologies in the shipbuilding industry that must innovate both its own ship product and production process to maintain high levels of competitiveness, however, it wants also to attract the attention of the shipbuilders, because they often are reluctant to change, to stimulate them to innovation. After an introduction focused on both the impact and the evolution of the industry of European shipbuilding into the contest of the Blue Economy, a state-of-art is developed highlighting the progress in terms not only scientific but also in terms of design and application. Then, the document aims to identify the technological needs and the possible solutions also with the aid of the information provided by some companies such as Intermarine, Fincantieri and Caronte and Tourist.