The Sea Refinery Project June 2017

Marine Ireland needs to be ambitious – Unambiguously! Ireland at the centre of Ocean Business Innovation and THE ACCESS POINT to Europe

Marine in the Broadest sense….

Unprecedented Opportunities in Irish Marine Industry

Only 0.8% of Ireland’s GDP comes from marine activities compared to 2.4% internationally and up to 9% in high-performing maritime economies

Underperformance

Recognised in the Government’s Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth Strategy

Marine Policy for Ireland Joined-up Thinking – Cross Departmental Co-operation

Action => Marine Development Team

Dept Taoiseach Led Cross- Govt Support Action Oriented

Political Support

Economic Analysis

Policy Framework

Competitive Advantages

Tax Treatment

Research and Education

Collaboration

Opportunity

Joined-up thinking Building blocks of success

Industry Engagement

Demonstrating Intent and Capability: Ireland is Open for Marine Business

Development Task Force

Underway: Branding, Portal, Communications

Innovation Prize(s), National Incubation Hub, Move R&D

from HEI to companies, Smart Bay, MAREI etc

Marinising Education, Incubation Hub Etc

Business Mentoring & Coaching (Scale,

internationalise etc.) Significant Issue – a topic for

the relevant Departments and MCG

Examine R&D tax Advantages and niche

opportunities in Marine

Marketing and Engagement

Establishing and Maintaining Communities of Interest

Project Identification and Preparation

Promoting and Brokering Investment

MDT Mandate:

Agencies….

• Met with all the agencies

• Excellent engagement

• Very Positive support across the Board

• Clear understanding of the links to marine and HOOW

• Focus on gaps and in supporting cross sectoral activities

Companies • Tech companies living on proto-typing – taking “opportunist” opportunities rather than

productising, scaling and growing. Reflects lack of knowledge/experience and business skill.

• Many marine companies are nervous/hesitant of internationalisation because of the

understandable risks, and financial constraints, and as result often lack:

• Focus

• Productisation

• Scale

• Structure to Internationalise

• Weak flow of new projects – need to improve the flow of innovation from HEI research

• Poorly networked – limited sharing of ideas / searching for mutual opportunities – hence

importance of IMIN

• Clear and real need for National Marine Incubation Hub focus

HEI’s, etc. • Structural challenge in getting 3rd Level researchers to really

engage with the private sector • SFI centres are driving change with funding arrangements • IT’s in general more focused on applied research => more private

sector focused • Private sector increasing engagement with 3rd level as focus on

delivery improves • There are more opportunities to improve academic KPI’s around

knowledge transfer from HEI’s to private sector, especially in marine • EI Tech Gateways are very encouraging and more engagement with

Marine companies will be encouraged

SWOT analysis Strengths Talent – well educated OUR Resource –Physical and Biological HOOW – Government Support Policy to implement joined-up thinking Some great exemplars to hold up: CathX, Lifes2Good, Errigal Bay, 8 West, Nowcasting/MeteoGroup Infrastructure: MI, Vessels, Navy, MAREI/Lir, Smart Bay etc Resource based development = Rural Development

Weaknesses Poor awareness of “Marine” in Ireland More work required on “joined-up thinking” Poor volume / flow of entrepreneurial marine projects Companies nervous of commitment /focus Poor productization and scalability Poor flow of innovative ideas from research Progressive and responsive regulatory regime

Opportunities Open market in EU and globally Resource based opportunities (Biological and Energy) across the board – from sea-weed to shipping MDT can assist SME’s to achieve EI scaling requirements Brexit uncertainty is an opportunity for marine FDI ISSC

Threats Regulation / permitting preventing access to resource Tiny domestic market – hard to get market references Brexit – creating business uncertainty Low awareness of the Marine and the marine business opportunity

Subjective Sector Evaluation

Bio Tec Bio Prods

Maritime Commerce

Aquaculture

Tourism

Oil & Gas

Hi -tec Marine Prods

Manufact. construct

Shipping and Transport

Marine Fisheries

Cruise Tourism

Marine Retail

Renewable Energy

Growth Potential

External Obstacles to Growth

Seafood Processing

Bubble Sizes Relative to SEMRU Turnover numbers

Low

High

Low High

Projects 1. Recruit Team

o Appoint Industry Advisory Group

2. Marketing – Branding + Portal / Web + Communications programme

NorShipping

3. Marine Directory

4. National Incubation Hub

5. Low Hanging Fruit from Bio-Diversity Research

+ Resource assessments

6. Company Supports

a. SME supports – Ad Hoc – consultancy

b. Marine Start-up fund

c. FDI Promotion

7. Marine Renewables

a. Wave Energy - supporting SEAI

b. Floating Wind

8. Innovation Prize(s)

9. ISSC and IPORES

Marketing and Engagement

Establishing and Maintaining Communities of Interest

Project Identification and Preparation

Promoting and Brokering Investment

MDT Mandate:

Bio-refinery and Bio-Discovery

1. Clear that there is a “de Facto” opportunity

2. In the area of seaweeds and other marine organisms there has been a lot of research work funded but little or no transfer to business

3. Three Interventions we are considering:

• National Innovation Hub – supporting good commercial projects – including this area

• “Low Hanging Fruit” study – looking for commercial opportunities in the already funded projects which can be made available for commercial opportunity

• Sustainable resource mapping – what can we do, where?

Thank You!