Smartbay 3rd Annual User Workshop Press Release

SmartBay Ireland Users Workshop 2014

“Supporting research & innovation through test and validation”

The annual SmartBay Ireland Users Workshop took place in Dublin on Wednesday 26th November at the Royal Irish Academy. In excess of 120 national and international delegates which included representatives from both government agencies and the research and industry communities were present.

The workshop provided the opportunity for interactive and stimulating discussions on the theme of ‘Supporting research & innovation through test and validation’.

John Breslin, General Manager SmartBay Ireland said “We were delighted at the attendance at this year’s event which is a testament to the range of activities and projects we have developed for Ireland’s marine test and validation facility at Galway Bay. We look forward to working closely  with our research and industry partners to develop further research, test and validation projects for 2015, when all of the planned infrastructure for the test site will be installed and operational.”

A programme of funding for the “SmartBay National Infrastructure Access Programme 2015” was launched at the workshop.  This programme will fund projects which will utilise the subsea cabled observatory in Galway Bay.

Throughout the day delegates enjoyed presentations from researchers and organisations whose projects demonstrate how supports and facilities available at the National marine test and demonstration facility in Galway Bay can underpin the development of novel technologies and solutions.  A focus of this year’s workshop was to highlight the facilities, supports and funding opportunities which are being provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and SmartBay Ireland to ocean energy device developers for the deployment of prototype devices at the facility. Presentations on recent projects were provided by representatives from the Tyndall National Institute, NUI Galway, OBSEA, TFI Marine, RealSim, Monterrey Software Solutions, University College Cork, University of Limerick, Beaufort Research and Marine Technology Ltd.

A delegation of companies and public sector representatives from Canada were also in attendance and took part in a session highlighting the opportunity for transatlantic international collaborations between Ireland and Canada took place in the afternoon where attendees were invited to participate and join the debate.