Japan and Scotland invest in Blue Economy

Photo: Subsea UK

A joint initiative between Japan and Scotland will see almost GBP 21m invested into underwater technology projects to promote economic growth opportunities in the Blue Economy.

Industry body Subsea UK and its technology arm, NSRI (National Subsea Research Initiative), announced that, through cooperation between Scottish Enterprise and the Nippon Foundation, GBP 20.9m will be invested into six R&D projects being developed by 20 companies from Scotland and Japan.

Scottish Enterprise is providing GBP 6.2m in R&D funding to 12 Scottish companies, while Japan will contribute GBP 4.1m to the joint projects. A further GBP 10.6m is being contributed by the Scottish companies into six projects with eight Japanese partners. Under the six projects, these companies will collaborate with industry bodies and universities to develop innovations in mooring, installation systems, geoscience and artificial intelligence.

The additional funding has been secured as a result of the success of the first call, which saw GBP 8.8m invested into five R&D projects centered around digitalisation involving 12 companies.

Neil Gordon, CEO, Subsea UK, said, "Globally the Blue Economy is forecast to be worth GBP 140B by 2035 and Scottish companies who can develop disruptive technology can capitalize on this opportunity (…). The increase in funding is in direct response to the success of the first call and the quality of submissions for the second call."

Tony Laing, director for market research and acceleration, NSRI, added, "This approach, which is fully aligned to the country's [Scotland] industrial strategy and low carbon targets, will accelerate economic growth but also present a wider opportunity for early adoption of the technology, advancing the sectors and the companies involved."

David Rennie, Head of Oil and Gas, Scottish Enterprise, said, "It is particularly welcome to see the focus on the blue economy agenda.  While our experience and focus in subsea has been based around oil and gas, these project awards clearly demonstrate that our subsea sector, one of our key global strengths, has the potential to help deliver technology solutions in a range of sectors beyond oil and gas."

The project forms part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was signed between Scottish Enterprise and The Nippon Foundation in 2017.

The collaboration between the countries will contribute to the delivery of Scottish Enterprise's Subsea Engineering Action Plan, aimed at helping Scottish companies benefit from the GBP 50B global subsea market.