Subsea UK and Japan’s Nippon Foundation have issued a call for North Sea firms to enter into a multi-million pound investment opportunity.
It is the second phase of a three-year initiative which will invest a total of £15m in new technologies for the sector.
The first phase invested a total of £8.8m in five collaborative R&D projects.
Organisations are being asked to show how their offerings meet the need of the evolving subsea sector.
As well as oil and gas, it covers the wider underwater industries including renewables, acquaculture and carbon capture and storage.
The opportunity exists for Scottish and Japanese firms to lead or partner within a project team.
An expression of interest can be submitted to the Subsea UK website, closing on February 15th.
Successful projects will be announced in September at Offshore Europe.
Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK, said: “This initiative with Japan is led and supported by Scottish Enterprise and brings the world-renowned subsea expertise which exists in Scotland to new markets.
“We are hoping this will open up opportunities to a wide range of companies and allow them access to the support and knowledge required to further develop their innovative ideas, tools and systems.”
The initiative forms part of a pact signed between Scottish Enterprise and the Nippon Foundation in 2017.
The current market value of the sector – lavelled the “Blue Economy” is £50billion with Scotland currently achieving £7billion, mainly from oil and gas. The global market is projected to reach £140billion by 2035.
Tony Laing, NSRI director for market research and acceleration added: “Following the success of the first round, we are keen to further develop this relationship and introduce the opportunity to companies working in the wider ’Blue Economy’ including carbon capture, renewables and aquaculture.
“We hope this initiative will assist in finding new and novel approaches to solve some of the challenges facing the underwater industries.”
David Rennie, head of energy, oil and gas at Scottish Enterprise, commented: “We are delighted to announce the second call as part of our continuing relationship with the Nippon Foundation and partners in Scotland. The focus on the ‘Blue Economy’ reflects the growing opportunities in related renewable sectors as well as the subsea sector and we expect healthy interest in this theme.”
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