The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) is a long-term business transformation programme established as part of the UK Offshore Wind Sector Deal. It is delivered by ORE Catapult to accelerate growth in the UK’s offshore wind supply chain. It supports projects and activities that improve competitiveness, build capacity, and encourage new entrants.
The programme is funded by the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC). The OWGP has grown rapidly since it launched in 2019, with over £12m awarded to UK companies through grant funding and business transformation programmes.
Challenge
Economic analysis shows a global offshore wind market of £33bn a year by 2030 with UK exports worth £2.6bn per year and 27,000 jobs by 2030 – a three-fold increase on today’s level.
Solution
To help the UK offshore wind industry meet these targets, we must:
OWGP does all the above by supporting the growth of the UK offshore wind supply chain through the delivery of two key programmes:
Business transformation
OWGP runs a suite of structured programmes to support companies at different stages of their journey in offshore wind, helping them to increase impact, productivity, and growth. These programmes are for companies operating in the offshore wind industry already, as well as those seeking to transition into the sector.
Programmes include: the Wind Expert Support Toolkit (WEST), Fit 4 Offshore Renewables (F4OR) and Sharing in Growth (SIG) Offshore Wind. Find out more about the programmes here.
Grant funding
OWGP offers grant funding for supply chain projects within high-growth UK companies to build new capacity and capability. Projects may also focus on commercialising new technologies, products and services. Most funded projects are technology focused.
Development Grants from £100k to £1m are on offer for projects delivering a step-change in company growth. There are also Innovation Grants which range from £25k to £200k. These smaller-scale grants are for game-changing projects that deliver new technologies, products, and services to the sector.
Results
So far, over £12m has been awarded to UK companies through grant funding and business transformation programmes. Over 190 projects and activities have been delivered and more than 140 jobs in offshore wind have been created following OWGP support.
Claire Canning, Programme Manager at ORE Catapult said:
“We’re here to help businesses who are uncertain about what the opportunity in offshore wind is and it’s our job to help provide access to support programmes, resources and funding that can help grow within the industry.
“We are fortunate to gain valuable insight from supply chain companies on their barriers to growth within the sector that we can feed back to senior industry stakeholders and target our support accordingly.
“We want to hear from any company that has the ambition to increase impact, productivity, and growth in offshore wind.”
Case study
A real-life example of a company that has been through both OWGP’s grant funding and business transformation programme (WEST) is Cognitive. The business, which was founded in 2018, drives safety and efficiency in operations and maintenance through applied AI technologies.
They found OWGP through the ORE Catapult network and successfully applied for three rounds of grant funding support. The Cognitive founders were also looking for sector-specific business development support and successfully applied to join the three-month OWGP WEST programme. Due to the support provided, Cognitive developed its core technology product, WAVES, secured contracts, and developed a product roadmap to expand the business.
Ty Burridge-Oakland, Founder and Managing Director at Cognitive, said:
“It’s hugely helpful to have a dedicated source of funding to bring innovative ideas to life for the Offshore Wind industry. Without OWGP’s support, it would have taken much longer to develop the WAVES product.”
WAVES makes the maintenance of offshore wind assets safer and more efficient using AI. One example of its use is in the planning of crew transfers. The machine learning assists with ensuring transfers happen at the optimum time to ensure the safety of the maintenance crew.
Discover more about the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership by clicking here.
If you are a company interested in improving your competitiveness and productivity, register to be the first to hear about opportunities with the OWGP at www.owgp.org.uk/register-interest/.
Download