MEMBER NEWS: National Subsea Centre and NOC Innovations Partner to Shape a Stronger Marine Future

August 5, 2024
MEMBER NEWS: National Subsea Centre and NOC Innovations Partner to Shape a Stronger Marine Future

The National Subsea Centre (NSC), a centre of excellence for subsea research and technology development, today announced its newly formed partnership with NOC Innovations, a Southampton-based facility making cutting-edge marine research and tailor-made autonomous technology available to organisations around the globe.

The two centres will bring together specialist researchers, engineers and scientists to form a community dedicated to addressing marine-related issues that no single entity could tackle alone. Uniquely positioned both geographically and technologically, the NSC and NOC Innovations will draw on shared resources, insights and skills to help organisations make better decisions in the environments in which they operate.

With expertise spanning the fields of marine science, robotics, sensors and instrumentation, data science, artificial intelligence, imaging, object detection and classification, digital twins, simulation and remote sensing, the teams will work in unison to share research findings and deliver joint solutions that will help achieve sustainability and energy transition targets.

The commonalities between the two centres will help generate stronger funding proposals, research agendas aligned with industry needs and societal challenges and structured programmes for knowledge exchange such as seminars, workshops and training sessions.

In addition, the organisations will be better equipped to support new and existing industry partners through each centre’s state-of-the-art offering, including the use of the NOC ‘Innovation Centre’, a world-class facility boasting specialist engineering and testing facilities and the NSC’s warehouse, home to a Flowloop, Hyperspectral Imaging Lab, robotics area, Materials Lab, large workshop, yard space and Innovation Hub which can accommodate up to 75 people for a range of events.

Processor John McCall, NSC Director, said: “With a mission and values strongly aligned to our own, this partnership could not be a better fit for what we strive to achieve here at the NSC. The collaboration exemplifies our commitment to driving innovation and excellence in marine technology by leveraging our combined expertise and capabilities across a range of projects in the marine domain.”

Mark Hamson, NOC Innovation Centre Manager, adds: “On behalf of NOC Innovations, I am thrilled to partner with the National Subsea Centre (NSC). This collaboration promises to unify our expertise and resources, fostering a powerful synergy in subsea research and technology. This agreement will also support our members by granting access to our respective centres.”

Get in touch

AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce

The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy

Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall

Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise