Pre-project Funding
GCE Ocean Technology provides financial and professional support to establish externally funded RDI projects. Our partners and members can apply for pre-project funding from GCE Ocean Technology for concrete project ideas.
Pre-project funding from GCE Ocean Technology should be used for preliminary work aimed at gaining external funding for a main project. This could be to mobilise a project and/or conceptualise your idea.
We especially encourage joint projects between several companies and R&D partners, as well as projects with international partners.
The 50-50 Challenge
We are looking for innovative ideas that can assist Norway in reducing the CO2 emission by 50% and increase the export, excluding oil and gas, with 50% by 2030. This joint challenge has been defined by the cluster as The 50-50 Challenge.
Focus Areas
We are looking for projects within the following main markets:
- Low emission subsea oil and gas solutions
- Offshore renewable energy
- CCUS and hydrogen
- Marine minerals
Furthermore, we encourage project within our generic technology areas:
- Autonomy; including sensing, communication, machine learning/AI
- Sharing and circular economy
Projects that are relevant for several markets and/or that is combining the points above will be prioritized.
Who Can Apply
To receive financial support from GCE Ocean Technology, your project must have minimum two partners where:
- at least one is an industrial company
- project owner being member/partner of GCE Ocean Technology
The project may well have partners outside the cluster, or seek to establish such collaboration.
Funding is only given at an early stage and until the project has progressed so far that it can be funded by Innovation Norway, the Research Council of Norway, EU or other similar funding possibilities.
Amount of Funding
The following amounts are achievable:
- 250 000 NOK for conceptualisation pre-projects, primary aimed at establishing larger RDI project with several industrial partners
- 150 000 NOK for mobilisation of pre-projects to establish RDI projects
- The project owner will need to contribute with minimum 50 per cent in-kind calculated based on his total cost.
- The hourly rate is 700 Norwegian kroner per hour
Learn more about the Application and Evaluation Process.
