THIS MONTH…
- Marine Tech Webinar Series
- Supply chain database for SW Floating Offshore Wind launched
- Floating offshore wind and tidal energy supply chain seminars x 2
- Funding for: sustainable innovation, apprentices, job retention bonus, offshore wind.
- MarLab autonomous surface ships data project.
- Covid knowledge hub from Cornwall Marine Network.
- Matchmaking event calendar 20-21.
- Cyber Ship Lab
Marine Tech Webinar Series
In partnership with Maritime UK South West and other local partners, the team at the Oceansgate Marine Technology Enterprise Zone in Plymouth are working to overcoming Covid-19 barriers to face to face networking and collaboration by hosting a regular programme of marine technology webinars. The events will provide a platform for the world class marine technology offer in the area with topics including access to innovation funding and support, marine technology, case studies covering leading edge tech developments and showcasing world class strengths in the SW.
Forthcoming events:
Wednesday 12 August – University of Plymouth: USV Cetus: Open Platform for Marine Sensing & Remote Operations
Wednesday 26 August – Autonomy in Plymouth
Wednesday 16 September – The Mayflower Autonomous Ship
Wednesday 23rd September – Three Case Studies of Advanced Technologies in the field of Marine Biology from the Marine Biological Association
Wednesday 7th October – Driving innovation in the marine sector:
Wednesday 14th October – Invest in and Collaborate with Maritime UK South West
Job Retention Bonus
The government is introducing a new Job Retention Bonus to provide additional support to employers who keep on their furloughed employees in meaningful employment, after the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends on 31 October 2020. The Job Retention Bonus is a one-off payment to employers of £1,000 for every employee who they previously claimed for under the scheme, and who remains continuously employed through to 31 January 2021. Eligible employees must earn at least £520 a month on average between the 1st November 2020 and 31st January 2021. Employers will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus after they have filed PAYE for January and payments will be made to employers from February 2021.
Find out more information about the Job Retention Bonus here. Full guidance will be published by the end of September.
Government announces bonus for employers that hire apprentices
From August to January, any firm that hires a new young apprentice aged 16 to 24 will receive £2,000, while those that hire new apprentices aged 25 and over will be paid £1,500.
The Treasury has published a plan for jobs document, which states these payments will be in addition to the existing £1,000 incentive the government already provides for new 16 to 18 year-old apprentices, and those aged under 25 with an education, health and care plan where that applies. It means that employers could receive up to £3,000 for hiring 16 to 18 year old apprentices from August to January.
The Sustainable Innovation Fund aims to help businesses recover from COVID-19
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £55 million to fund single and collaborative research and development projects as part of the Sustainable Innovation Fund. The aim of this competition is to help all sectors of the UK rebuild after the effects of COVID-19.
All projects must be led by a business and include at least one SME. Proposals can either be from a single business or a collaboration. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £100,000 and £500,000. Each organisation working alone or in a collaboration can claim a maximum of £175,000.
This competition is round 1 of a potential 3. Applications for this first round close on 29th July.
2020 Blue Economy Report is issued
The European Commission has published The EU Blue Economy Report 2020, providing an overview of the performance of the EU economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment.
With a turnover of 750 billion in 2018, the EU blue economy is in good health. There were also 5 million people working in the blue economy sector in 2018, representing a significant increase of 11.6% compared to the year before. Although sectors such as coastal and marine tourism, as well as fisheries and aquaculture are severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the blue economy as a whole presents a huge potential in terms of its contribution to a green recovery.
Successful Marine-i supply chain event for Floating Offshore Wind
On 6th July over 140 delegates gathered for the Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind – An Industrial Response to Supply Chain Opportunity.
Delegates heard about the support from the Welsh Government from Helen Donovan, while Mark Duddridge explained the support of the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly LEP. The project pipeline was covered by Miraim Noonan and Neil Farrington from OREC. The Celtic Sea Cluster Regional Business Plan was presented by Steve Jermy.
120 delegates then participated in a series of workshops intended to help define the challenges of large scale FLOW in the Celtic. These will be collated and used to inform the Celtic Sea Cluster Regional Business Plan and also to develop RD&I projects designed to overcome identified barriers. In the next few weeks, the outputs will be summarised and circulated, and expressions of interest will be sought from those businesses keen to participate in the RD&I projects which will play a significant role in developing the supply chain in the South West. Marine-i support including research facilities and grant funding may be available to eligible enterprises.
The Marine-i project would like to thank the industry representatives who did a fantastic job in leading the workshops:
• Engineering/ FEED/ Design – Fran Pitkin, Offshore Wind Consultants (OWC)
• Fabrication and Primary Steel – Iain Sinclair, Liberty Steel
• Ports and Assembly – Drystan Jones, A&P Falmouth
• Installation and O&M – Tim Baker, Black & Veatch
• Contracting and Business Models – Campbell Hutcheon, Burgess Salmon
Please email info@marine-i.co.uk if you would like to receive the outputs and recorded sessions when they are made available.
Or for further information on opportunities in floating offshore wind visit The Marine-i website https://www.marine-i.co.uk/news/article/110/global-developments-in-floating-offshore-wind and https://www.marine-i.co.uk/news/article/109/seizing-the-opportunity-for-floating-offshore-wind-in-the-celtic-sea
Enterprise Europe Network Matchmaking Events 20-21
Virtual MariMatch 2020 : 2 – 4 September
Virtual MariMatch 2020 will keep you in touch with maritime innovation. Combining pre-arranged 1-1 virtual meetings with interactive content sessions about hot topics of maritime innovation, open innovation panels and open networking opportunities.
Seaology and Business to Blue (B2Blue) : 20 – 22 November
The first European Blue Economy Exhibition offers the opportunity to debate the importance of a sustainable blue economy to deliver climate resilient, healthy and productive ocean and seas in Europe. Listen to experts and meet potential collaboration partners face to face.
REGISTER NOW!
Oceanology : 1 – 3 December
The world’s largest ocean technology exhibition and conference bringing together key players in the ocean tech industry. An opportunity to meet potential collaborators and business partners during pre-arranged 30 minute meetings and create real business development opportunities with those active in the maritime sector.
REGISTER NOW!
Wind Energy Match : 3 – 4 December
Wind Energy Match 2020 offers companies and research institutions along the entire value chain of wind industry an additional uncomplicated platform to make valuable contacts and find out new aspects of international cooperation possibilities.
REGISTER NOW!
Ocean Business : 13 – 15 April 2021
Ocean Business 2021 is the world’s biggest ocean technology event and a global stage for the latest sea technology innovations. Hear from industry experts, watch demonstrations plus a great opportunity to meet potential collaborators and business partners.
MarLab Marine Autonomous Surface Ships Data Project
The MarLab Marine Autonomous Surface Ships Data project, created by Falmouth based Solis Marine Engineering working with delivery partner MariTrace is the UK’s first data trial on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to unlock the potential for the future development of Marine Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS).
MASS stakeholders have been testing a prototype data hub designed to accelerate the safe development and use of autonomous vessels in UK waters.
Funding from The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership
The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) has issued two calls, offering up to £600,000 funding for projects that aim to encourage more businesses into the offshore wind supply chain by helping to overcome barriers to diversification, and for UK companies already working in the offshore wind sector to grow their market share through increased competitiveness and development of new products or services.
The OWGP is seeking submissions to its latest funding opportunities:
- Cross-Sector Support Call: Enabling diversification of UK manufacturing capability and technology innovation
- Open Call: Improving competitiveness and driving innovation across UK supply chain
COVID Knowledge Hub for marine businesses
Cornwall Marine Network who partner with Maritime UK SW to represent the SW Maritime Sector has launched a special hub to provide useful information to marine businesses on how to operate in these difficult times. The team at Cornwall Marine Network can now support businesses with new resources as they consider a phased move into Return, Re-Start and Recovery. The hub also contains links to the latest government guidance for businesses.
Tidal Energy TIGER supply chain events get underway
TIGER is an Anglo-French collaboration to drive the development of Tidal Stream Energy in UK and French waters. It is led by Maritime UK South West Strategic partner, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, (OREC). 9th July saw the first in a series of six supply chain engagement events to be delivered between now and October. This first event was themed specifically around “subsea cables and connectors†within the tidal sector and was co-hosted with OPIN. 140 delegates attended the online event.
For those who missed the webinar or would like a chance to watch it again, it is now available on the TIGER website. The speaker presentations can also be downloaded and each contains speaker contact details. We will also be uploading the Q&A covered in the webinar, but if you had any questions we didn’t manage to cover, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Future webinars
This webinar was the first in a series of six supply chain seminar events, to ensure you receive updates to future events and themes sign up to the TIGER mailing list and follow us on Twitter @InterregTiger
Business feedback required to help influence policy on higher technical education in Advanced Engineering / Manufacturing
The Heart of the South West LEP, covering Devon and Somerset is working with the Learning and Work Institute (L&W) to explore approaches to boost demand for higher technical education at Level 4 and 5, and create provision to meet this demand. L&W has been commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Heart of the South West is one of just two areas taking part.
This project comes at an exciting time of change in higher technical education, with the Education Secretary recently announcing measures to increase the take-up and improve the quality of this provision. The government is also planning to publish a White Paper in the autumn, which will set out plans to reforms to build a world-class further education system in Britain. The Department for Education is engaged with this project, and its findings will help to inform their policy thinking. The insights will be particularly important as we consider how areas can recover from the impacts of Covid-19, and could also form the basis of a demonstration pilot.
In the Heart of the South West area, the project will focus on Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering. As a key employer/provider/stakeholder in the local area, we would like to invite you to take part in the project. This will involve:
- A telephone or online interview to share your perspective on higher technical education provision/skills needs in Advanced Manufacturing and/or Engineering
- An online workshop on – Likely to be mid-August
- An online workshop towards the end of September
Please contact sheldon.ryan@maritimeuksw.org if you are interested in taking part, and if you’re happy for L&W to contact you directly.
Cyber-Ship Lab – University of Plymouth
Since confirmation of £3-million combined Research England and industry funding in January, the University of Plymouth Maritime Cyber Threat Research Group’s Cyber-SHIP Lab project has made significant progress.
The growing team (which is recruiting) is creating a world-first, unique platform on which they can reproduce any ship’s bridgein-service or under development; effectively real ships bridge setups not simulated.
