The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has been named ‘Blue Economy Business of the Year’ at the European Commission’s Blue Economy Business Awards 2016.

Accepting the award at a ceremony in Hamburg in September 2016, EMEC’s Commercial Director Oliver Wragg said that EMEC had been set up to kick start a new sustainable industry in Europe: to harness the power of Europe’s unrivalled wave and tidal resources; to stimulate economic development in coastal European communities; and to encourage inward investment and develop export opportunities for supply chains.

“Orkney now acts as a fantastic case study for the economic benefits that can be achieved through the activities taking place in and around a test facility – activities that if developed to a larger scale will form a new sustainable industry for the blue economy,” an EMEC statement quoted Wragg as saying.

Organised by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), the Blue Economy Business Awards aims to showcase excellent practices from industry, honouring those who have made a specific contribution to bringing and developing innovation in the blue economy.

Commenting on the awards, DG MARE Director-General Joao Aguiar Machado said that they highlighted stories of people and organisations that have created and shared exciting new knowledge and have championed new technologies, research and project results that have left the lab and are proving to be of real practical use in the blue economy.