The OCEANERA-NET initiative has launched a second joint call 2016 for collaborative research in ocean energy sector.
The aim of the OCEANERA-NET joint call 2016 is to promote the development and competitiveness of the ocean energy sector by supporting projects involving research, technology, development and innovation (RTDI) activities, and developing, demonstrating or validating new and innovative technologies of ocean energies, including tidal energy, wave energy, tidal and ocean currents, salinity gradient and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).
The scope is needs-driven research addressing a technology area, as indicated above, and in addition, projects may address environmental and financial/legal issues.
The call topics for the OCEANERA-NET second joint call 2016 are as follows:
OCEANERA-NET will support transnational consortia with a minimum of two independent eligible organizations from at least 2 countries participating in the call.
Balanced consortia with high added value of transnational collaboration and SMEs or large industry involvement are encouraged.
Public funding in the amount of €6.4 million will be provided by 12 national/regional funding organizations from 5 EU countries – Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden – and 6 EU regions.
Each funding organization finances the respective companies or research organizations of their country/region participating in the research consortium.
Eligible applicants, budget limits, financial rates and eligible activities vary between countries/funding organizations, so potential applicants must check national rules and contact their respective funding organization prior to submitting an application.
Funding will be granted for a maximum of three years.
The application process follows a two-stage submission process, consisting of a first pre-proposal stage for eligibility check with a submission deadline set for March 30, 2016, and second full proposal stage entailing both eligibility check and international evaluation by independent experts with the deadline set for July 5, 2016.
After the idependent external evaluation, the Joint Call committee will announce final funding decision by the end of 2016.
OCEANERA-NET is a four-year coordinated action financed under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme, running from 2013 to 2017. It is a network of 16 national and regional funders and managers of research and innovation programmes, from 9 European countries.
The objective of OCEANERA-NET is to coordinate funding programmes between European countries and regions to support research and innovation in the ocean energy sector.