The half-day event was held at South Devon College in February 2013 and was well attended by stakeholders from around the region. Delegates heard presentations from the public and private sectors offering a range of perspectives on Marine Renewables, followed up by the opportunity to exchange feedback in discussion groups.
The report consists of three sections. The first gives background context to the regions involvement in Marine Renewables from 2009 onwards, which culminated in the South West Marine Energy Park initiative at the centre of new developments. The next section covers the workshops programme, including summaries of stakeholders presentations. The final section provides feedback from discussion groups, recommendations from the final plenary session, and delegates thoughts on the workshop itself.
The South Wests particular interest in the Marine sector was established in 2009, when the region was designated as the UKs first Low Carbon Economic Area with a remit for the Marine sector by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. In 2010, Semta (the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) produced a report for the South West Regional Employment and Skills Partnership reviewing low carbon manufacturing skills for the region. The report highlighted offshore wind as one of the industry sectors active in low carbon manufacturing which had the strongest potential for job creation. Beyond Semtas sector footprint, a fuller range of jobs in the wind, wave and tidal sectors had been identified in a 2008 report to the British Wind Energy Association.