A joint initiative between Japan and Scotland formed two years ago will see almost £21 million invested in underwater technology projects to promote economic growth opportunities in the ‘blue economy’ (economic activities related to oceans).
Industry body Subsea UK and its technology arm NSRI have announced that, through a close working relationship between Scottish Enterprise and the Nippon Foundation, £20.9 million will be invested in six R&D projects being developed by 20 companies in Scotland and Japan.
Scottish Enterprise is providing £6.2 million in R&D funding to 12 Scottish companies, while Japan will contribute £4.1 million to the joint projects.
A further £10.6 million is being contributed by the Scottish companies to six projects with eight Japanese partners. These were chosen for the potential of their near-to-market technology to solve technical challenges in offshore renewables, carbon capture and storage and oil and gas.
Under the six projects, these companies will collaborate with industry bodies and universities to develop innovations in mooring, installation systems, geoscience and artificial intelligence.
The additional funding has been secured as a result of the success of the first call promoted by this partnership, which saw £8.8 million invested in five R&D projects centred around digitalisation (involving 12 companies).
Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK (
www.subseauk.com), said:
“Globally, the blue economy is forecast to be worth £140 billion by 2035, and Scottish companies that can develop innovative technology can capitalise on this opportunity.
"The scale of the opportunity was reflected in the response to the second call, which has attracted projects that have applications across the entire underwater industry.”
The extensive collaboration with Japan will make a strong contribution to the delivery of the Subsea Engineering Action Plan, launched by Scottish Enterprise in 2017, with the aim of helping Scottish companies capture an even bigger slice of the £50 billion global sub-sea market.