The EU must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%-95% by 2050. Almost all electricity production must be emission-free. Ocean energy is an abundant, geographically diverse and renewable source of energy & can play an important role. By 2050 ocean energy could meet up to 10% of the EU’s power demand. The European Technology & Innovation Platform for Ocean Energy (ETIP Ocean) aims to create a common understanding among ocean energy stakeholders of the sector's priority needs. ETIP Ocean creates a platform for the development of such understanding, and promotes collective development of stakeholder networks. Through transfer of experience and lessons learnt, duplication of effort is avoided, helping the sector overcome barriers and challenges efficiently.
ETIP Ocean assists the European Commission and Member States in designing research programmes and financial instruments, and addressing barriers to the development of the sector. It provides the Strategic Energy Technology (SET)-Plan with input from stakeholders, facilitates development and roll-out of SET Plan activities, and helps to achieve overall SET-Plan goals.
ETIP Ocean executed an extensive series of knowledge-sharing and dissemination activities. Many webinars, workshops and brokerage events were organised. With these activities, regular updates and the development of educational materials, ETIP Ocean supported a greater interaction and knowledge-exchange, and more dissemination beyond the sector, than would otherwise have occurred. This will foster greater collaboration and innovation. Below is a summary of key actions:
WEBINARS: Webinars allowed sharing of knowledge among ocean energy stakeholders. Webinar content was based on the biggest challenges facing the sector, as determined at the start of the project. This ensured relevance and impact.
682 people registered for the 14 webinars. This is a large group for what currently is a small sector. Dissemination activities were improved, through mailings, social media and media outlets. As a result average webinar attendees in the 2nd period of the project were +48% higher.
WORKSHOPS: Workshops allowed ocean energy actors to exchange face-to-face. To maximise attendance, workshops were free, held alongside other events, and set in locations where the sector is most present. ETIP Ocean organised two annual workshops, in Nantes and Edinburgh. 61 people registered to attend.
MAILINGS: Email was used for regular dissemination, awareness raising and information gathering. Anyone can subscribe to receive these updates. The number of participants increased significantly during the project - from 238 to over 455. This shows that ETIP Ocean reached a wider and growing audience. 34 mailings were sent during the project - almost 3 times the target.
SOCIAL MEDIA: By the end of the project, it’s LinkedIn a/c had 224 connections.The Twitter a/c had 181 followers. A ETIP Ocean tweets were reposted by Ocean Energy Europe. This increases dissemination to the 4,100 followers of the OEE Twitter account. (Figure accurate as of 30/01/19)
OTHER ACTIVITIES: To increase the project’s outreach and webinars attendance, ETIP Ocean worked with leading ocean energy media outlet Marineenergy.biz. From Sept. 2017, all info on ETIP Ocean webinars and workshops were announced on the site. The final Workshop was promoted on ‘Renews.biz’.
BROKERAGE: The ocean energy sector must harness workers with the right skills. Efforts are needed to ensure that the skill base is in place and strong. New university graduates must have an awareness of the sector. ETIP Ocean organised five career brokerage events, in Glasgow (Scotland), Cork (Ireland), Cherbourg (France), Edinburgh (Scotland) and Aviemore (Scotland). Students from relevant university programmes were introduced to sector professionals. The events raised awareness of ocean energy activities and connected the students to ocean energy professionals. Over 70 industry representatives and 160 students participated.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS: ETIP Ocean developed educational materials to increase awareness and understanding of ocean energy. This comprises of a website with info on ocean energy, a downloadable handout with a lesson plan and discussion points and an interactive online game. This material teaches students and the public about the benefits and challenges of ocean energy, and supports classroom projects. The materials will also help raise wider social acceptance of ocean energy, which will be important in the sector’s development. As well as being featured on the ETIP Ocean website, the education materials were disseminated to six organisations which promote science, technology, engineering and maths.
