We are happy to announce that Daria Cabai, the co-founder and CEO of Navalmartin has been awarded with the ‘Women in Innovation’ Award from the Innovate UK for our project mir – Marine Inspections by Remote.
Read the interview:
When the pandemic struck, Dr Daria Cabai came up with an innovative way to conduct remote marine inspection through her consultancy Navalmartin. Daria hopes to disrupt the insurer-owner-surveyor relationship in the marine sector through her innovation. As a yacht designer and naval architect, Daria says there is nothing more exciting that innovation borne out of a challenge. When, like many others, travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19 called a halt to their surveying work, she had an idea to bolster their services through developing an AI-supported remote inspection tool. Having launched her business in 2012, Daria says, ”In Navalmartin, we are all keen sailors – time spent offshore makes us humble: we strive to deliver cutting edge design and technical expertise because we know that the ultimate test is the sea.” Now, the Women in Innovation Award will enable her to develop the Marine Inspection by Remote mobile app and infrastructure. This will offer a cloud-based, harmonised condition assessment, underpinned by an AI-supported database of risk and failure modes. Daria hopes this technology will accelerate the market intake of autonomous vessels. She says, ‘Our overarching vision is for the marine sector to become more accessible, and yachting: more ethical, inclusive and sustainable. This award will help us to work towards this ambitious goal.’
Daria adds, ‘Marine surveying is facing significant equality, diversity and inclusion challenges. The marine industry is one of the most male- dominated professions in the world with women accounting for less than 2%. I really believe this project can re-shape the landscape and bring more equality.’ After studying at Scotland’s Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, Daria’s business is now located in London and works with government organisations, shipyards, owners and underwriters. She hopes her innovation will both reduce travel needs for the sector and lengthen the life of vessels, both of which will result in significant positive environmental impacts.