I3FLOAT
i3FLOAT responds to rising international competition, especially from China, and aims to safeguard Europe’s technological lead in floating wind. The project mobilises innovative initiatives and speeds up the adoption of floating wind technologies in Southern Europe.
Concept
The partners pursue five strategic goals:
- Drive investments within the consortium and through cascade funding;
- Establish collaboration ecosystems between more and less developed regions;
- Strengthen industrial value chains, including in ultra-peripheral areas;
- Stimulate SMEs as a key factor in the sector; and
- Promote public-private cooperation to accelerate floating wind rollout.
The project is organised into five work packages (WPs) combining innovation investment, cascade funding, and public-private collaboration?
Four pilots
i3FLOAT tests new technologies and processes in four floating wind pilots, including one with input from Belgian companies. These pilots focus on design & materials, manufacturing efficiency, post-prototyping, logistics & installation, and maintenance & connectivity.
Belgian expertise
The Belgian pilot uses the Moray Base, a semi-submersible floating platform for offshore wind turbines. Blue Cluster members MULTI.ENGINEERING (technical work & investment), 24SEA (maintenance planning & monitoring) and HAEDES (digital monitoring, IoT, and AI models) are involved. Alongside French partner Océanide, they reinforce the supply chain, anchoring systems, and digital monitoring of floating wind turbines..
Other pilots
- DemoSATH (Spain): fiber-reinforced concrete, forecasting models, and inter-array cable systems;
- EOLINK (France): optimisation of logistics and automated steel component manufacturing;
- W2Power Floater (Spain): monitoring at component level and multi-layer underwater structures.
Blue Cluster's role
Blue Cluster is an important partner in i3FLOAT and leads Work Package 4 – Open Advisory Support. We also contribute to several other work packages. In WP4, Blue Cluster focuses on three main domains:
- Networking & scaling support: determining network strategies, conducting three market studies on emerging floating wind markets in Europe, and organising three networking missions to bridge knowledge gaps and support scaling of innovations;
- Financial advice: helping SMEs access European, national, and regional funding through webinars and tailored reports;
- Valorisation advice: accelerating the market readiness of technologies through mentorship, improving go-to-market strategies, and managing intellectual property.
Partners: Toulon Var Technologies, Aventa, Eolink, France Energies Marines and Oceanide (France); 24SEA, De Blauwe Cluster and MULTI.engineering Maritime & Offshore Belgium (Belgium); Asociacion Cluster Maritimo de Canarias, Cluster Andaluz de Energias Renovables y Eficiencia Energetica, Coremarine Solutions Sociedad Limitada, Enerocean SL, Eonsea Sociedad Limitada, Geodis FF Spain, Ghenova Marine Renewables SL; Ingenieria Zero SL, Saltec SA, Tetrace 824 SL and Zabala Innovation Consulting SA (Spain); Aventa Italia and Cluster Tecnologico Nazionale Blue Italian Growth (Italy); Marine Cluster Bulgaria Sdruzhenie (Bulgaria); Wind Industry Hub Foundation (Poland); MULTI.Engineering Services s.r.o. (Slovakia); Haedes Portugal LDA (Portugal); and Aventa Adritica (Croatia)
With the support of: the European Union via the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) programme
Contact: Michael Murphy
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
