Taking subsea research and tech to new level with UK duo’s marine domain partnership 

The National Subsea Centre (NSC), an Aberdeen-based center for subsea research and technology development, has partnered with NOC Innovations, a Southampton-based facility doing innovative marine research, to bring together specialist researchers, engineers, and scientists, forming a community dedicated to addressing marine-related issues.

The NSC and NOC Innovations are to combine geographical and technological strengths to help organizations make better decisions. 

The teams intend to collaborate on research and solutions to achieve sustainability and energy transition goals, combining expertise in marine science, robotics, sensors, instrumentation, data science, artificial intelligence (AI), imaging, object detection, digital twins, simulation, and remote sensing.

This partnership is said to improve funding proposals, align research with industry and societal needs, and provide knowledge exchange through seminars, workshops, and training. 

“On behalf of NOC Innovations, I am thrilled to partner with the National Subsea Centre (NSC). This collaboration promises to unify our expertise and resources, fostering a powerful synergy in subsea research and technology. This agreement will also support our members by granting access to our respective centres,” said Mark Hamson, NOC Innovation Centre Manager.

Both centers will support industry partners with state-of-the-art facilities, the NOC Innovation Centre with specialist engineering and testing, and the NSC’s warehouse with a Flowloop, Hyperspectral Imaging Lab, robotics area, Materials Lab, large workshop, yard space, and an Innovation Hub for up to 75 people.

“With a mission and values strongly aligned to our own, this partnership could not be a better fit for what we strive to achieve here at the NSC. The collaboration exemplifies our commitment to driving innovation and excellence in marine technology by leveraging our combined expertise and capabilities across a range of projects in the marine domain,” said John McCall, NSC Director.

In January 2023, the National Subsea Centre (NSC) opened in Dyce, Aberdeen. The NSC, a multi-million-pound facility, was established through a partnership between Robert Gordon University (RGU) and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal (ACRD).

In July 2023, NSC and RGU started collaborating on a data project to add AI technology to subsea inspection operations. The Subsea AI Body of Knowledge (SAIBOK) project uses AI and machine learning technologies to accurately train algorithms to detect and interpret anomalies within a group of subsea inspection images.