“Accidental Inventions” at our Cluster Gathering

Both Google and the World Wide Web are prime examples of groundbreaking inventions that originated from casual discussions and brainstorming sessions among colleagues and peers.

Similarly, within the realm of GCE Ocean Technology, numerous cluster projects have been born out of spontaneous conversations and random exchanges of ideas taking place at our events and this year’s cluster gathering was no exception.

Many thanks for a great event with a lot of good discussions about energy transition and opportunities with wave power in Norway, Mikael Sidenmark, Managing Director at Ocean Harvesting Technologies AB

20 great ideas

The Ocean Innovation Lab yielded an array of exciting ideas, with the groups collectively outlining 20 proposals like:

• EnergyHub: All-in-one energy solution to generate and store energy
• Secondlifes: Digital portal for refurbishment and sharing of equipment
• AquaIntel: Autonomous Data Collection and Monitoring System
• Deep Ocean Observatory: Baseline data collection in the deep sea
• Black belt in ocean wind: Executive programme in ocean wind and energy
• Save the world: CO2 as a resource

While these ideas are still in the early stages, many of the discussions held during the lab serve as the foundation for future cluster projects.

Moreover, the networking opportunities provided at events like this are invaluable to the participants, fostering connections and collaborations that drive innovation and industry growth.

Save the date for Ocean Innovation Lab 7-8 May 2024.

Proof of concept

One notable success story that emerged from a previous idea lab facilitated by the Research Council of Norway is Deep Purple™.

GCE Ocean Technology, along with several of our partners, has been instrumental in turning this concept into a reality. Deep Purple™ leverages proven technologies to provide stable, renewable, and scalable energy in the ocean space.

The workshop that birthed Deep Purple™ in 2016 was aptly named OFFSH2ORE.

Fuelling the crowd

Over the course of two days, participants immersed themselves in the labs, working together to conceive innovative projects that our cluster could propel into the future.

Fuelling these workshops were also insights shared by industry leaders. Such as Simon Moxnes from Equnior who urged us to adopt a broad perspective, emphasizing the importance of avoiding excessive entanglement in singular events when addressing the energy trilemma.

Additionally, DNB reminded us that Norway possesses distinct advantages as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors increasingly gains importance in capital markets.

Herlaug Louise Fyhn, ESG advisor at DNB, highlighted how Norwegian businesses, with their extensive coastline, proximity to key markets, and abundant water and wind resources, are well-positioned to meet the expectations of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

We would like to thank all who came and contributed to this year's cluster gathering, and are looking forward to seeting you all again at Ocean Innovation Lab 7-8 May 2024.