In the fast-paced world of maritime and port operations, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly seen as a game-changer. Yet, as Mehran Farzadmehr from the University of Antwerp’s Faculty of Business and Economics points out, many organizations are struggling to make sense of AI initiatives and their potential deployment complexity. His recent research, published in the journal ‘Transportation Engineering’ (Vervoerskunde), offers a structured approach to help port and maritime stakeholders navigate this challenge.
Farzadmehr’s work addresses a critical gap in the industry: the lack of a concrete methodology to compare AI project portfolios based on their perceived deployment complexity. “The majority of organizations are struggling with the assessment of AI initiatives to make informed investment decisions,” Farzadmehr explains. His research aims to change that by providing a framework that can help stakeholders prioritize AI projects and make more informed decisions.
The study first identifies the characteristics of AI initiatives that contribute to their overall deployment complexity. It then uses these characteristics to develop a structured framework for calculating the relative complexity of AI project portfolios. This framework allows stakeholders to rank AI projects based on their deployment complexity, enabling them to start with less complex initiatives and build experience gradually.
The commercial implications of this research are significant. By providing a clear, structured approach to assessing AI projects, Farzadmehr’s framework can help maritime and port organizations make more informed investment decisions. This can lead to more successful AI implementations, which in turn can drive operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve competitiveness.
Moreover, the framework can help organizations minimize the potential impact of failures. By starting with less complex AI initiatives, organizations can build their AI capabilities and experience over time, reducing the risk of costly failures.
Farzadmehr’s research is a valuable contribution to the maritime and port industries, providing a practical tool for assessing AI project portfolios. As AI continues to transform the industry, this framework can help stakeholders make the most of this powerful technology.
In the words of Farzadmehr, “Using this novel assessment framework, port stakeholders can prioritize their AI project portfolios and start from AI initiatives under the least complex AI portfolio to build experience in AI deployments, minimizing the potential impact of failures.” This is a significant step forward for the industry, and one that could pave the way for more successful AI implementations in the future.