The European Technology and Innovation Platform for Ocean Energy (ETIP Ocean) has organized a webinar dedicated to exploring grant funding support mechanisms for energy technologies at early stages of development.
The webinar , arranged for February 27, 2018, will host ocean energy finance experts who will provide an analysis of different funding schemes and explain why some of them are more successful than others, according to ETIP Ocean.
It will feature Peter Coyle, the Chairman of the Marine Renewables Industry Association (MRIA) in Ireland, and Andrew Smith, the Founder of Deja Blue Consulting.
Supporting R&D through grant funding is a tried and tested way of bringing innovative technologies to market.
Technology maturity of a technology and its readiness for market is estimated through the technology readiness assessment which determines technology readiness level (TRL).
TRLs are based on a scale from 1 to 9, with 9 being the most mature technology. The various TRL assessments examine program concepts, technology requirements, and demonstrated technology capabilities.
Grant funding support model helps develop technologies to a point where they can generate revenue and attract investment. Public and private budgets for R&D are limited however, so it is vital that funding schemes are designed to have a maximum return on investment, ETIP Ocean said.
ETIP Ocean is regarded as an advisory body to the European Commission. It is managed by Ocean Energy Europe and the University of Edinburgh, bringing together around 250 experts from 150 organizations covering the entire European ocean energy sector.