Dr Ralf Fiedler received a nautical certificate of the Maritime Academy Warnemuende in 1989 and got his doctoral degree in radio navigation from the University of Rostock in 1992. Before joining PtJ he worked as a project engineer at the University of Rostock, at Wismar University and SAM Electronics. He received a fellowship for conducting GPS/LORAN-C research at the US Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), USA, in the mid 90’s. He was involved in several national and EU funded multidisciplinary projects. In 2001 he joined PtJ-MGS and started with responsibilities for the management the national research programme on Shipping and Maritime Technology. Since 2005 he is the coordinator of the ERA-Net MARTEC and the FP7 NCP for shipping and maritime technology. He also supports the FP7 Transport Programme Committee as a maritime expert.