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Email News April 2015


Welcome to the April 2015 Email Newsletter from Marine South East

If you would like to submit an article for consideration please email the text and a suitable image or logo to sj@mseuk.org


Posted 2015-03-19 15:44:56


Additional £1.85m grant funding for Solent Bridging the Gap Fund

The Solent LEP has announced that an additional £1.85m grant funding is available to small and medium sized businesses and new start-ups in the Solent area in the form of the Bridging the Gap competition fund.

Under the first rounds of Bridging the Gap, close to £4m has been allocated to support SMEs across the Solent area and, in March 2015, an additional £1.85m funding was announced for the programme.

Bridging the Gap now operates two funding streams:

* The Bridging the Gap Impact Fund - offering start-up funding and safeguarding funding for individuals and SMEs effected by economic shocks;
* The Bridging the Gap Growth Fund - offering grants to growing SMEs to create jobs.

Full information guidance in relation to the funds, and the application form to apply, can be found at the following link:

http://solentlep.org.uk/growing_places/bridging_the_gap_fund

To align with the national Regional Growth Fund programme, the Solent LEP are offering one-to-one meetings to discuss project proposals with individuals interested in applying to either Bridging the Gap fund. Briefing events will take place across the Solent between funding round deadlines.

The next briefing event will be held at Cowes on the Isle of Wight on Tuesday 28th April 2015.


Posted 2015-03-23 15:44:09


MSE successful in winning new EU Horizon 2020 project

Marine South East has been successful in a Horizon2020 proposal ‘COLUMBUS,’ the consortium is formally led by the Irish Sea Fisheries Board with technical coordination being conducted by Aqua TT in Dublin.

The overarching objective of the 3-year COLUMBUS project is to ensure that applicable knowledge generated through EC-funded science and technology research can be transferred effectively to advance the governance of the marine and maritime sectors, while improving competitiveness of European companies and unlocking the potential of the oceans to create future jobs and economic growth in Europe.

COLUMBUS will generate added value from the EC’s research investments contributing to sustainable ‘Blue Growth’. Adopting proven methodologies and building on past work, it will initially identify end-user needs and priorities before identifying and collecting “Knowledge Outputs” from past and current EC projects. Rigorous analysis will take place to identify specific applications and end-users. Knowledge collected will be made accessible through an existing ‘Marine Knowledge Gate’.

COLUMBUS is a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary partnership comprising strategic marine and maritime organisations with deep experience, relevant expertise and extended networks. The COLUMBUS Consortium has 27 Partners from 15 countries including Marine South East, the National Oceanography Centre and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, (CEFAS) in the UK.


Posted 2015-03-26 10:38:57


‘SAMED’ Low Cost Screw Anchors for Marine Energy and Aquaculture Applications

Marine South East (MSE) and Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) have concluded the ‘SAMED’ project to develop a novel low cost screw-in subsea anchor technology.

SAMED (Screw Anchors for Marine Energy Devices) offers significant cost/performance advantages over conventional anchoring solutions. This technology has been used to secure the PLAT-O tidal energy platform in the Western Solent.

SAMED was conceived by Marine South East as a means of reducing significantly the high cost of installing offshore and marine renewable energy devices. Screw piles have for many years been deployed into dry and wet soils, and small piles have also been deployed in coastal waters. In principle, the technology should be useable for seabed anchoring to replace gravity anchors and impact piling of foundations.

MSE identified the sub-sea installation rig as a critical part of the system, as this would determine speed of installation, pile size restrictions (and load capacity), and size of the support vessel required. The SAMED project was developed to prototype an installation rig in order to create proof of concept for the technology.

SME undertook the engineering and marine operations aspects of the project whilst MSE conducted market assessment and commercialisation planning. This work has shown a substantial and growing market for SAMED, particularly in the offshore wind, marine energy and offshore aquaculture sectors.

Cost analysis has shown that the SAMED anchor technology could be highly competitive with traditional gravity anchor approaches. At realistic pricing and market penetration levels, a payback of less than 1 year should be achievable.

The SAMED consortium are exploring options to provide the additional engineering resources for moving from proof of concept to full commercial demonstration.

For more information contact Simon Powell: sp@mseuk.org

Sustainable Marine Energy invite user enquiries for the SAMED remotely operated vehicle: http://sustainablemarine.com/anchoring


Posted 2015-03-26 17:23:34


MSE deliver sucessful forum at the Digital Ship Conference in Bergen

As part of the ‘Digital Ship’ Conference in Bergen in February 2015, Marine South East delivered a special forum on the Arctic Integrated Situational Awareness Service (ISAS) - using space derived data with integrated information sources to support expanding economic activities in the Arctic including shipping and oil and gas.

The session was facilitated by MSE associate, Nick Lambert.

The Integrated Situational Awareness Service ISAS is being developed by Telespazio VEGA(UK)'s 'Arctic IAP' project with funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) Integrated Applications Programme (IAP).

The system uses satellite imagery and derived data, ice mapping data, vessel monitoring, oil spill monitoring, hydrographic data and bathymetry data. It utilises specialised techniques to deliver graphical information over very low bandwidth satcoms links.

The current feasibility study phase of the project is nearing completion, it has been delivered by a consortium of partners bringing a variety of expertise together: Telespazio VEGA UK; e-GEOS; Marine South East; AnsuR; Stevenson Astrosat and HR Wallingford.

Unofficial project partners supporting the project includes: Iridium; Inmarsat; exactEarth; TeamSurv

A proof of concept Web Map storyboard for an oil spill scenario in Baffin Bay can be seen here:

http://bit.ly/1xJ9gdz

The project is now defining its RoadMap for the future and planning a full demonstration project to deliver situational awareness information to operators in Arctic regions.


Posted 2015-03-26 11:12:26


'ANTS' Autonomous Network of Teleological sampling

In partnership with H Scientific and Vectis Environmental, Marine South East has completed phase 1 of the ‘ANTS’ autonomous underwater vehicle tasking optimisation project.

ANTS has coupled an environmental forecast model, autonomous vehicle models, and near real-time simulated field measurements, with objective, adaptive algorithms and cost functions, to demonstrate how to automatically programme and maintain diverse fleets of unmanned marine vehicles.

H Scientific and Vectis have developed and tested standards-based protocols, a realistic simulator for an undersea glider and, as an example, a system to determine optimum paths for two surface vehicles and two gliders. This path determination and tasking module has been developed, tested successfully and is in operation.

The ANTS technology is being designed to help fleets of autonomous vehicles to carry out surveillance and intervention tasks cost-effectively; for example, identifying pollution sources, and investigating un-mapped features or other objects on the seabed. During phase 1 Marine South East has conducted market research and compiled a comprehensive exploitation plan that shows how complete solutions for users can be developed to suit their information and decision support needs

Phase 1 of ANTS has been funded through the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) 'Small Business Research Initiative' (SBRI) competition. The SBRI is delivered in partnership with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Innovate UK. Marine South East will be seeking 'phase 2' SBRI funding to develop a full demonstration ANTS system.

For more information about SBRI go to: http://noc.ac.uk/SBRI


Posted 2015-03-26 10:49:09


Ocean Business, 14th-15th April 2015, Southampton

Ocean Business taking place at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton 14th -16th April 2015 will be attracting over 300 exhibiting companies as well as offering 180 hours of training and demonstration sessions, vessels moored directly alongside, offshore survey conference, associated meetings, ocean careers, plus networking social events.

At the very heart of Ocean Business is an exhibition of over 300 companies, bringing together the world's leading manufacturers and service providers in the industry. The purpose built exhibition centre is located directly on the waterfront of the National Oceanography Centre, an internationally renowned centre of excellence for oceanographic technology and sciences based in Southampton in the UK.

The exhibition is FREE to attend.

Ocean Business is unique! Not only can visitors meet face to face with exhibitors from around the world, but they also have the rare opportunity to attend over 180 hours of training and demonstration sessions and see the latest products and services in action. See these products and services demonstrated in their real environment. Eleven parallel sessions will be held across the three days, with sessions on board vessels, in dockside waters, in a test tank and in classrooms.

Offshore Survey, held along Ocean Business is a two day technical conference providing a valuable insight into technology, operations and business issues in the global field of offshore surveying.

Also held alongside Ocean Business are various associated meetings held by industry professionals and Ocean Careers, a careers event offering advice on career opportunities within the ocean technology and marine science industry.

The exhibition and demos are free to attend. There is a fee to attend the Offshore Survey and Blue Economy conferences.

For full details of exhibitors, events and registration please follow the link:

http://www.oceanbusiness.com/


Posted 2015-03-26 12:52:55


Rampion Meet the Buyer event for Offshore Balance of Plant, 29th April 2015, Shoreham

E.ON will be hosting the second of their 'Meet the Buyer' events on Wednesday 29th April 2015 from 10am - 3pm for local suppliers who are interested in supplying products and services specifically to support elements of the OFFSHORE CONSTRUCTION, known as balance of plant.

This includes products and services to support the turbines, their foundations, the substation structure, cabling, installation vessels, crew transfers and logistics.

Delegates attending this event will hear presentations specific to the offshore balance of plant, from E.ON's contract package managers and their lead suppliers and installers. These will be confirmed over the coming weeks so keep an eye on the Sussex Wind Energy website http://www.sussexwindenergy.org.uk/ for updates.

Lunch will be provided and there will be opportunities to network during the event.

To register your free place at this event please go to:
http://www.marinesoutheast.co.uk/event_bookings or email admin@mseuk.org or call 023 8011 1590.

There will be a third and final event focused on Operations & Maintenance (O&M) later in 2015. Make sure you are registered on the Sussex Wind Energy website http://www.sussexwindenergy.org.uk/company_database/register/ in order to receive details of future events.

This series of events is limited to companies based in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire.


Posted 2015-03-26 16:11:40