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30Maritime Reporter & Engineering News Can you provide a brief personal and professional history? Tonon I joined Wärtsilä in 1995 as a student in Italy. After that I moved to Wärtsilä?s unit in Vaasa as an engineer in Research & Development, so I?ve been with this company for the last 15 years, in different positions with different engine types. For the last five years I?ve been in Wärtsilä Norway working for solutions for offshore. Since June 1, 2012, I took over leading the R&D for Wärtsilä. What attracted you to this position, and what are some of your objectives. Tonon First of all, I have a genuine passion for the prod- ucts. I like what Wärtsilä aims to achieve, and how Wärt- silä wants to perform in the market as the technology leader. Wärtsilä invests a lot in technology; in 2011 we in- vested 3.6% of net sales into R&D in the company, which is a pretty high number. The passion for the products, the passion for the technologies, and the fact that it is a very in- ternational job which makes the daily job very interesting. Wärtsilä is a life cycle solution provider, so it is not only the diesel engine, which is the core, but you need to see 360 degrees around you. What do you count as the core strength of Wärtsilä? Tonon A mix of different competences that we have de- veloped over decades of R&D in the reciprocating engine and propulsion, the system knowledge and integration and automation and electrification, lately going into ship de- sign. This mix of different competences with a strong pil- lar in knowledge in producing energy, that I think is the core of the company. From a research and development side, how has the inte- gration of the industry affected your job, your approach to R&D? BoletisFor a long period, my career was on engine de- velopment. I have a more generic background, with a PhD in fluid dynamics and have been in product development on reciprocating engines. I found, myself at the propulsionside, and I think there are a lot of synergies between the two. My career was on product development, especially on reciprocating engines. Moving later to propulsion systems, Marine PowerElias Boletis, Ph.D., Director of Propulsion Programs & Technologies ?Wärtsilä invests a lot in technology; in 2011 we invested 3.6%of net sales into R&D?Paolo Tonon, Wärtsilä?s VP, Research & Development Wärtsilä?s Continues to Martime Reporter & EngineeringNews recently had the opportunity to sit down with Paolo Tonon , Wärtsilä?s new vice president of R&D; and EliasBoletis, Ph.D., Wärtsilä?s Director of Propulsion Programs & Technologies, for insights on key drivers in modern marine propulsion systems design and delivery. By Greg Trauthwein, Editor Wärtsilä was awarded a contract to deliver integrated propulsion systems for LNG offshore support vessels (OSV) to Harvey Gulf International Marine. The inte- grated system includes dual-fuel machinery, electri- cal and automation package, complete propulsion, and also the LNG fuel storage and gas conditioningsystem.Drive for Gas MR#9 (26-33):MR Template 9/11/2012 1:55 PM Page 30