The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult reports that it has selected nine UK companies for its 2025 Launch Academy technology acceleration programme, created to provide “wraparound support” to innovative companies working in the offshore wind segment. The nine-month programme is also being supported by EDF Renewables UK and Ireland, bp and ScottishPower Renewables.
The annual Launch Academy was initially rolled out in 2020, and has since supported 57 companies in raising a combined £26.7 million in private investment and £8.4 million in grant funding. Assistance is provided through various modules, focusing on areas such as legal, marketing, export, accountancy, intellectual property (IP), investor readiness, technology assessment and business case reviews – support “worth up to £60,000 per company”, ORE Catapult says. When the programme draws to a close, each company will have the opportunity to pitch to ORE Catapult’s network of private investors and industry members.
Following the company selection announcement, which was hosted in Blyth, Northumberland on 30 April, Teresa Enriquez, offshore innovation manager at ScottishPower Renewables, commented: “Continuing to grow and develop our domestic supply chain to support the offshore wind industry is a must for our sector. Innovative SMEs – like the latest Launch Academy cohort – are right at the heart of that.
“The Launch Academy is a win-win programme, providing companies with tailored support to help them thrive in this sector – especially those transitioning from other industries – while developing innovative solutions that address the real-life challenges being faced by developers like us on a daily basis. It’s great to be part of such a positive programme.”
The nine companies include: Cornwall-based engineering firm Reflex Marine, developer of the JAVELIN anchoring system for floating offshore wind installations; Heavy Lift Projects, Edinburgh, which provides marine and quayside heavy-lift equipment; Zero USV, Plymouth, developer of the Oceanus12 autonomous surface vessel class; and London-based engineering consultancy Bora Engineering, which has developed an optimised storage solution for shipboard mooring line reels.
The other five companies include: METOL Ltd, Loughborough, which offers a thermoplastic polymeric oligomer compound for the manufacture of recyclable composite structures (such as wind turbine blades); Glaswegian project solutions provider Interocean; Edinburgh-based data platform and software developer Vekta Group; project scenario planning and analysis specialist Unasys; and Murcott Energy, Worcester, developer of the Murb – a portable vertical-axis floating turbine, designed to serve as a quick-to-deploy, temporary offshore power source.
