Turning Science into Business
SFI Smart Ocean and the MarTERA project UNDINA, received valuable input from partners and members from GCE Ocean Technology in a workshop this week.
Three initiatives were presented for the 73 participants that gathered from both the science and industry sector: SFI Smart Ocean, the MarTERA project UNDINA, and the standardisation initiative the Subsea Wireless Group (SWIG).
There are great opportunities for synergies between these initiatives, and the participants engaged in fruitful discussions about possibilities, requirements and limitations for the technologies being developed.
Efficient and Open Communication
In addition to the detailed discussions about the ongoing research programmes, a higher-level discussion was initiated about how research projects and industry can work together more efficiently.
Research programmes can often benefit from additional input and experience coming from companies outside of the industrial partners in the programme. At the same time, industry companies do not have the possibility to participate in all programmes relevant to them, but they still may wish to contribute, thus workshops like this are of high value to push such projects further.
– SFI Smart Ocean highly values the input that was given and will implement the input in the further work, says SFI centre director Geir Anton Johansen from UiB. The centre especially wants to get in touch with more end users in industries such as fish farming, offshore wind and petroleum.
– In MarTERA UNDINA, broad industry input is very valuable in our work towards detailed definition of use cases and optimised technology specifications. The developed technology will be demonstrated in realistic environments at the end of the project, and this input helps us optimise the technology and test programs, says project manager Marie Bueie Holstad from NORCE.
Cluster Involvement
GCE Ocean Technology initiated the development of SFI Smart Ocean and worked closely with the University of Bergen and NORCE in the process leading up to the establishment of the centre. The cluster will play a key role with ensuring a close cooperation between the centre and our cluster partner and members.
– For several of our cluster members, the Smart Ocean Centre will over time contribute to establishing new products and services and open up new markets, enabled by the subsea wireless network, says Bjarte Fagerås, Senior R&D Advisor in GCE Ocean Technology.
Contact Information
About SFI Smart Ocean
SFI Smart Ocean will build a wireless sensor network under water that will be used to monitor what is happening below the surface.
The mission is to develop a novel sensor- and communication network to secure sustainable ocean industry operations and fact-based ocean management.
The system is aimed at a wide variety of users and applications, with a main focus on petroleum, offshore wind and aquaculture, in addition to sustainable resource management.
About Martera UNDINA
The underwater robotics with multi-modal communication and network-aided positioning system (UNDINA) aims at providing a reliable, compact, plug-and-play communication, networking, and positioning system specifically designed for resource constrained AUVs, having easy maneuverability, low weight, small dimensions, and low associated operational costs.
About SWIG
The Subsea Wireless Group (SWiG) is an international oil and gas industry network promoting interoperability for subsea wireless communications (radio frequency, acoustic, free-space optic, inductive power, hybrid).
