The sixth edition of the Maritime Seed Awards will support five teams of entrepreneurs and researchers working in the maritime field in the development of their proposals, taking them from concept to commercialisation.
The funds were awarded through a collaboration between Transport Malta and the University of Malta, and provide up to €20,000 in funding per team, over the period of a year. Researchers and entrepreneurs were supported by the Knowledge Transfer Office and TAKEOFF Business Incubator throughout the application process, and were given workshops and assistance. Four Proof of Concept technologies and one Seed Fund proposal have been selected for funding.
MedFOWT proposes a versatile Floating Offshore Wind Turbine platform concept which includes a single point mooring system and is specifically designed to withstand central Mediterranean conditions; IP Cosy defines a system to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in cooling photovoltaic panels; WinMar focuses on the design of a custom-built, multi-bladed small scale wind turbine specifically designed for marine environments and DeSloSH will look at the development of a low cost, internal tank sloshing suppressive infrastructure for storage tanks within fuel-transporting vessels. Seed Fund beneficiary, Borg & Kaupps, aims to develop a gas-sensing technology which can be miniaturised and requires low energy, therefore allowing it to be installed on off-grid smart buoys. This facilitates Port Authorities and Government Agencies to continuously monitor and report the use of sulphur-based fuel emissions in maritime operations.
Mr Joseph Bugeja, Chairman & CEO of Transport Malta, maintained that “It is the policy of the Authority to assist and support innovative and creative individuals to succeed. In this case, we are exploring and focusing our efforts on this dynamic sector, which is undoubtedly a priority area for Malta. Evidently, providing financial assistance at an early stage is of fundamental importance to help individuals transform their creative ideas into concepts leading to commercialization”.
Prof. Alfred J. Vella, University of Malta Rector, noted that “In an age being largely defined by climate change and the increase in efforts relating to environmental protection, it is encouraging to see such a drive towards the development and improvement of renewable energy resources and efforts to monitor and curb hydrocarbon fuel emissions. To know that the University of Malta is playing a part in making this industry more sustainable feels like the fulfilment of a duty to improve society through the knowledge we cultivate.”
Further information on the Maritime Seed Award can be found on https://takeoff.org.mt/seed-funds/.