Innovate UK has announced £1.3 million of funding has been allocated across seven projects in the second stage of £2.1 million government marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme.

These projects are for the development of complete end-to-end marine monitoring systems and their verification and validation. The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Programme is a science innovation and transformation programme. It has been set up to collect evidence on the extent, condition and change over time of England’s ecosystems and natural capital, and the benefits to society.

Andrew Tyrer, Robotics Challenge Director, Innovate UK, said:

“Being able to award more funding in a second round of this competition builds on the work of round one and represents a deepening of the partnership between Innovate UK and Defra.

It also represents the importance placed on the UK’s marine environment.

This funding will support game-changing technological innovations that will help in the end-to-end monitoring of one of the UK’s most vital natural assets.” 

Phase two winners

1. Maximising seagrass regeneration through advanced artificial intelligence (AI) mapping and ultra low carbon solutions. Award winner: Unmanned Survey Solutions, Geoacoustics Ltd, Acua Ocean Ltd
2. End-to-end marine monitoring solution for capturing and sharing environmental data to support marine net gain. Award winner: Plant Ecology Beyond Land CIC, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Oceanos Earth Ltd
3. An automated end-to-end eDNA-based marine biodiversity and species monitoring system. Award winners: Platform Kinetics, Intuitiq Ltd
4. Renewably powered micro-vessels for an end-to-end biodiversity monitoring system. Award winner: Oshen Ltd
5. Seagrass observation using novel acoustic remote sensing (SONARS). Award winner: HydroSurv Unmanned Survey (UK) Ltd
6. AlgaRover: macroalgal aquaculture marine biodiversity observation AI rover (MAMBOAR). Award winners: Seaweed Generation Ltd, South West Mull and Iona Development, Algapelago Marine Ltd
7. High speed drone constellation for real time monitoring of marine ecosystems. Award winner: Marble Aerospace Ltd

Read more about each project here

Credit: Ibrahim Boran

Phase one winners

In May 2023, Innovate UK and Defra announced the winners of the competition’s first round, developing key technologies and capabilities that can be used for more efficient observation of our marine natural capital assets. These were:

1. Adapting a casting winch for a non-stop wave propelled USV. Award winner: Autonaut Limited
2. Automated Robotic Ocean Biodiversity Observation Glider (AROBOG). Award winners: Seaweed Generation Ltd, South West Mull and Iona Development
3. Autonomous Seagrass Habitat Monitoring System (ASHMoS). Award winners: Hydrosurv Unmanned Survey (UK) Ltd and University of Plymouth
4. Autonomous wind-driven devices for acoustic and visual sensing. Award winner: Oshen Ltd
5. GO-eFISH: Generating best practise for the use of eDNA for marine fish biodiversity analyses. Award winners: Applied Genomics Ltd and Plymouth Marine Laboratory
6. Improving natural capital asset monitoring through 5G enabled multisensor integration. Award winner: JET Engineering System Solutions Ltd
7. Marine Observation & Biodiversity Intelligence (MOBI). Award winners: Emu Analytics Limited and Acua Ocean Limited
8. Real-time molecular biodiversity monitoring of the marine water column. Award winner: Platform Kinetics Limited
9. Self recharging sensor carrying platform. Award winner: Wave Venture Ltd
10. Smart Buoy. Award winners: Iknaia Limited, University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation and Ocean Scientific International Limited
11. SurfCam: sensor triggered remote imaging system for marine monitoring. Award winner: Plant Ecology Beyond Land (PEBL) CIC