A commitment to marine renewable energies is crucial for Portugal to achieve energy and industrial sovereignty. But the main challenge facing the country is to take advantage of this opportunity to both reduce energy dependence, and generate wealth and qualified jobs, improving the well-being of its citizens. This was the main theme of the Conference “The potential of renewable energy technologies for industrial transformation: the case of marine energies” organized by the OceanTrans project on the 19th of September, at ISCTE-IUL, in Lisbon.
The initiative was opened by the Secretary of State for Marine Affairs, José Maria Costa, and brought together decision-makers and experts in economics, energy, and sustainable transitions.
In the first panel of the conference – "Evidence of industrial transformation" – a Directory of Companies in Marine Energies, developed by the project and including most Portuguese companies that have been active in this area over the last decades, was presented. This was followed by a presentation about the development of marine energies in the Northwest region, by Artur Jorge Silva from the Municipality of Viana do Castelo.
In the second panel – under the theme “Industrial Transformation and Emerging Technologies” – Margarida Fontes presented the main results of the project, followed by a debate in a Round Table composed by: with Allan Andersen, from the University of Oslo, Björn Sandén, from the Chalmers University of Technology, Vera Kissler, from the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission, André Couto from the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services and Nuno Bento from do Dinamia'Cet-ISCTE, co-coordinator of the project.
The conference, which had a hybrid format (in person and online), had around 120 participants, and enabled a very lively debate involving representatives from industry, academia and government organizations.