The UK Marine Energy Conference's first event took place on Tuesday 5th July in Glasgow. The UK Marine Team would like to thank everyone involved.

The first UK Marine Energy Conference, 5th July, Glasgow attracted the leaders of the UK marine energy industry. This one day conference and networking event not only celebrated the industry but emphasised why and how we could accelerate its progress.

The conference agenda discussed recent tidal and wave projects, current and future policy, current challenges and possible solutions, the latest technology and test sites. Julie Steel from The Scottish Government opened the day focusing on marine energy policy with Scotland as the case study. This was followed by Lara Moore from Ashfords, one of UK Marine's sponsors, who provided a review of and necessary advice for marine licensing in the UK.

Jason Hayman of Sustainable Marine Energy Ltd, gave an energetic presentation on SMEs floating tidal energy platform technology PLAT-O. Then FloWave's Stuart Brown and SmartBay Ireland's Eoin Nicholson both discussed their test sites in the technology session, drawing upon their experience with the industry's biggest players.

The projects' session saw presentations from some of the top developers from all over the UK. Dr Graham Foster from Marine Power Systems Ltd discussed their WaveSub technology and how it has the potential to address marine energy's most significant issues, such as operating costs. Minesto's Dr Martin Edlund focused on site development and how to build short & long term customer relationships. Finally for this session Robert East provided an update on OpenHydro's latest projects, touching on their technological innovations.

In the final session of the day, the speakers considered what challenges the industry needs to consider and how they could be overcome. Professor Peter Fraenkel from Fraenkel Wright Ltd discussed the relationship between rated power and profitability for tidal turbines - ultimately 'big makes money - small makes losses'. This was definitely a key topic of discussion for the day. Adam Schink presented the National Oceanography Centre's Marine Robotics Innovation Centre, and how their marine autonomous systems can remove the danger from subsea applications, among many other benefits. The University of Edinburgh's Dr Claire Haggett concluded the conference by giving the marine energy industry a personal touch. Her presentation on community responses sparked an interesting discussion and reminded us who this industry can have the biggest effect on.

UK Marine is proud to have had such a varied and exciting line-up of speakers, and are thankful not only to them but to Professor Stephen Salter & Dr Gordon Dalton who both moderated the conference, kicking off lively the debates and discussions, for their involvement.

The exhibition area hosted most of the networking throughout the day. Our exhibitors dazzled and informed the attendees demonstrating their wide range of services and expertise.

TBAT Innovation Ltd - A niche business consultancy providing support to enable organisations access grant funding, claim R&D tax credits and evaluate new market opportunities.

UltraMAP - Their 24/7 web-based AssetMonitor protects Marine Energy sites and subsea cables from vessel encroachment and damage.

360 Vision Technology - Innovative and robust cameras built for a range of applications including energy production & ports.

DHI Water Environments UK Ltd - A global specialist in water environments.

Klüber Lubrication GB Ltd - Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants for marine applications such as tidal turbines, offering high-level protection with low environmental impact, designed to withstand the harshest conditions.

Ridgeway Marine - Providing innovative Japanese manufactured scour and cable protection system to the offshore renewables market.

IDCORE - A partnership of leading UK offshore energy research universities and institutes offering a world-class Engineering Doctorate (EngD) programme in Offshore Renewable Energy.

Woollard & Henry Ltd - Providing high quality engineering services, specialising in fabrication and precision CNC machining.

Centa Transmissions Ltd - Offering a comprehensive range of flexible couplings for all types of marine engines for boats and small ships.

As well as hosting the event with conference sponsors Ashfords LLP, SmartBay Ireland & Natural Resources Wales, the UK Marine Energy Conference is proud to have organised the event with the support of a number of leading industry marine and energy organisations, such as: Energy at KTN, Energy Technologies Institute, IMarEST, Scottish Energy Association, Marine Energy Pembrokeshire, Community Energy Wales, Marine South East Limited, CASE, Maribe & WavEC.

UK Marine would like to give a final thank you to everyone who attended the event, we hope you found the event enjoyable and useful to your current or future business and research - stay tuned for future events!