The Ocean Power Innovation Network (OPIN) is a European collaborative network that aims to accelerate the growth of the Offshore Renewable Energy sector and its supply chains.
The basic premise of OPIN is to encourage both cross-sectoral and cross-regional collaboration for Offshore Renewable Energy SMEs and associate partners (research organizations, large companies, public institutions).
OPIN is a 3-year initiative, running from 2019 to 2021. The project has a total project budget of €2.6M, with €1.5M in financial support contributed by Interreg North West Europe from the European Research and Development Fund (ERDF).
OPIN will encourage both cross-sectoral and cross-regional collaboration for Offshore Renewable Energy SMEs. Cross-sectoral collaboration will bring already proven expertise, capabilities and products from other sectors into the ocean energy sector. This will help to reduce costs and accelerate technology development.
OPIN will also create a forum for collaboration and technology exchange across the partner regions. Companies from regions with ocean energy expertise will interact with potential collaborators from regions that are world leaders in other technology fields (offshore wind energy, oil and gas, aerospace, automotive and manufacturing). OPIN will provide a mechanism to transfer expertise between these regions, addressing the disparities in innovation and economic development across North West Europe.
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The OPIN project will deliver supports to encourage both cross-sectoral and cross-regional collaboration. These supports will include:
- Annual Symposiums: providing networking opportunities for OPIN members
- Workshops: to facilitate knowledge transfer between the project partner regions and to simulate the growth of the network.
- Masterclasses: apply to get dedicated training and enhance your knowledge
- Technology Assessment Processes (TAPs): apply for assessments allowing companies to benchmark their technologies, map structured development paths and identify potential collaborators.
- Collaborative Innovation Groups (CIGs): clusters of SMEs, working with research entities or large companies to solve problems identified as barriers to the ocean energy sector. Under application.
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OPIN plans to support over 100 companies over the lifetime of the project. Additionally, the OPIN network will continue to grow and be a mechanism for the transfer of expertise beyond the life of the project.
