The Fast Tracked Product Development phase of the ProtoAtlantic project commenced last week (15th July 2019) at the LiR National Ocean Test Facility in Cork, Ireland, where Impact9 Energy and Marine Ltd., the first of 10 international companies selected under the programme, began testing their technology. Impact9 Energy and Marine Ltd. are an Irish-based company founded by John Fitzgerald, and will be supported by ProtoAtlantic to test and validate their technology at two test facilities, LiR National Ocean Testing Facility, Cork, and INESC TEC, Porto. 

The ProtoAtlantic project has selected 10 international start-ups to test their maritime technologies free of charge at a number of world-renowned test facilities as part of the Fast Tracked Product Development phase of the project, which is being led by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland. 

The successful projects have been selected due to the standard of their innovative concepts from a variety of blue growth sectors including renewable energy, biotechnology, marine robotics, marine transport, aquaculture and conditioning monitoring. Testing will start this year and run through until October 2020.

ProtoAtlantic sponsored the MRIA (Marine Renewables Industry Association) 10^th annual Marine Renewables Emerging Technologies Industry Forum, which took place on the 1^st February 2019 in The Alex Hotel, Dublin. The event was attended by over 200 key industry professionals in the marine sector, the largest attendance at the event to date, and the largest annual gathering of marine companies nationally in Ireland.