Description:
Marine Renewable Energies (MRE) is a fast moving new frontier in Europe's Green energy revolution. Europe's rapidly growing EO infrastructure can provide data solutions to support rapid and sustainable expansion, particularly if used in synergy with various other data sources. Currently MRE sector is dominated by offshore wind energy, however energy opportunities from waves, tides, salinity gradient and even algae are rapidly being realised.
For Europe, harnessing the potential of the EO and IT sectors to design and build well-framed services that support MRE is a significant opportunity, and a pressing need. However, identifying information synergies and service opportunities is difficult, requires time and resources, and is challenging for SMEs. Developers in the sector need to access the data and information they need easily, at lowest cost, and with due confidence – the source is not a priority provided they can be confident it conveys the realities of this challenging operational environment.
In this session we’ll seek to identify and clarify the main challenges that restrain our EO sector from fully engaging with the MRE opportunity. We will seek to discover how EO data needs could be more effectively identified and communicated, and large space operators and agencies that could energise technology and data application innovation.
The discussion will approach:
1.The opportunity for the EO sector, highlighting emerging gaps and sectoral synergies.
2.The challenges of the EO community in working with the maritime sector to capitalise on these opportunities.
3.Identification of barriers to commercial participation in realizing the needed actions.
4.Possible actions and activities needed by the space sector to streamline trans-sectoral innovating, service development and commercial activity.
5. A reflection on how large sectoral leaders such as ESA and the sector as a whole can strategically act to overcome the various gaps and roadblocks identified.

Panelists:
• Christine Sams (NOC)
• François-Regis Martin-Lauzer (ACRI-ST & Argans)
• Jessica Giannoumis (University College Cork (MaREI Centre, BEES))