The Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia (OERA) and Innovate UK (the new name for the Technology Strategy Board) are jointly investing approximately $1.4 million CAD (approximately £755,000) in collaborative R&D projects to develop enhanced sensing technologies for tidal in-stream energy applications. The objective of this competition is to develop the technologies to lead to the acquisition of better data, improved data analysis, and collection methods that facilitate in the reduction of risk, uncertainty and cost to the tidal in-stream energy industry.

Proposals must be collaborative and business-led, including at least one business from Canada and one from the United Kingdom. Research organizations are eligible to partner in a project consortium. We expect to fund industrial research projects, in which a SME business partner will generally attract up to 60%, and large enterprises 50%, of the total project costs through funding from OERA and Innovate UK. We expect total project costs to be in the region of $500,000 CAD (approximately £275,000), though not to the exclusion of projects of other sizes.

This is a two-stage competition. Stage one: Expression of Interest, now being accepted and due on or before Friday28 November 2014. Stage two, a shortlist of EOI applicants will be contacted and invited to submit a full proposal. The shortlist will be announced mid-January 2015.

To learn more about the scope of the competition and eligibility guidelines, please refer to the Scope and Eligibility Document.

Applicants interested in completing an Expression of Interest may access the form here.. The Scope & Eligibility document available at the above link will serve as a useful guide in completing the EOI form.

We encourage all prospective applicants to complete the on-line registration form. This will ensure that any information regarding the competition can be shared accordingly with all interested parties.

If you encounter any technical problems when uploading your EOI, please get in touch with Ms Nil Atmaca.

For more information please contact: