ProtoAtlantic: Innovation in the Marine Environment in the Atlantic Area Region
ProtoAtlantic, an Interreg Atlantic Area funded project, provided marine-specific support mechanisms to marine start-ups and SMEs in emerging sectors, including business support through the accelerator and mentorship programs, enabling companies to fast track their product development through access to prototyping and testing facilities in all partner regions.
The European Commission has through the Blue Growth objectives for the first time highlighted marine sectors as unique market opportunities with high growth potential which carry socio-economic importance to the development of coastal regions. Particularly marine sectors such as aquaculture, marine robotics, and marine renewable energy which fulfil global needs in food safety and security, enable monitoring and exploration in harsh and remote conditions, and globally growing energy needs were recognized as catalysts to achieve sustainable development.
Marine start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) were identified as potential drivers in emerging marine sectors. However, they require support mechanisms tailored to their needs as they are competing for the same business and financial support as land-based SMEs, yet the research and development infrastructure is more difficult to access.
The main objective of the project was to develop a model for the prototyping and exploitation of innovative ideas in the maritime sector.
We identified product innovation capacity in the maritime sector willing to address emerging markets in a cocreation paradigm with the local start-up communities, research centres and universities.
We based the project actions in existing co-working spaces and blue acceleration programs specialized in the marine sector and replicated success stories. For that purpose, we implemented an acceleration program, starting from ideation to market access where a normed and structured process was used to manage product innovation. The acceleration programs attracted innovative ideas, covering from business model to market validation, including test phases in the most important European infrastructures.
The PROTOATLANTIC network allowed us to find the best place to build and test the prototype, and to identify the best places for the company to establish and launch its business. We involved policymakers and business support agencies to provide the ecosystem of legal and long-term support.
The main objective of the project was to develop a model for the prototyping and exploitation of innovative ideas in the maritime sector.
We identified product innovation capacity in the maritime sector willing to address emerging markets in a cocreation paradigm with the local start-up communities, research centres and universities.
We based the project actions in existing co-working spaces and blue acceleration programs specialized in the marine sector and replicated success stories. For that purpose, we implemented an acceleration program, starting from ideation to market access where a normed and structured process was used to manage product innovation.
The acceleration programs attracted innovative ideas, covering from business model to market validation, including test phases in the most important European infrastructures.
The PROTOATLANTIC network allowed us to find the best place to build and test the prototype, and to identify the best places for the company to establish and launch its business. We involved policy makers and business support agencies to provide the ecosystem of a legal and long-term support.
The Interreg Atlantic Area encompasses partner regions in France, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, and Spain. The consortium partners consist of Technopôle Brest Iroise (Brest, France), University College Cork – UCC (Cork, Ireland), County Council Cork (Cork, Ireland), INESC TEC (Porto, Portugal), the European Marine Energy Centre – EMEC (Orkney, Scotland), EMERGE (Canary Islands, Spain), and the lead partner, Innovalia Association (Canary Islands, Spain). The strategic collaboration between the partners provided marine start-ups access to testing facilities in the Atlantic Ocean. The extreme living laboratories provided by EMEC, the LiR National Ocean Testing Facilities at UCC’s Centre of Marine and Renewable Energy (MaREI centre), and INESC TEC promise harsh real-life conditions which test the suitability of marine technologies to the limit thereby providing start-ups and SMEs with an extra layer of confidence in
developing their technologies. This cross-regional collaboration puts the ProtoAltantic program in a unique position, as it is the first of its kind to dedicate marine-specific support to marine startups and SMEs which have benefited from the opportunities that ProtoAtlantic has provided.
