Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Tuesday that it plans to set up a global research and development alliance to develop state-of-the-art shipbuilding technologies.

To sharpen its competitive edge in the construction of eco-friendly ships and smart ships amid their growing demand, DSME will establish the R&D alliance, along with four universities, five ship quality assurance and risk management companies, and five research institutes, the shipbuilder said.

The four universities are Seoul National University of South Korea, the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States, and the University of Strathclyde of Great Britain.

The five ship quality assurance and risk management companies are the American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register of Shipping of Britain, Bureau Veritas of France, South Korea's Korean Register of Shipping and Norway's Det Norske Veritas.

Included in the five research institutes are Norway's SINTEF Ocean, Sweden's SSPA, Italy's CNR, South Korea's KRISO and Germany's HSVA.

The R&D consultative group plans to jointly develop technologies related to environment regulations in the shipping industry and autonomous ships, and core technologies in fluid mechanics, the shipbuilder said. (Yonhap)