The Malta Independent on Sunday
Maritime entrepreneurs and researchers get seed funding
A total of €67,500 was awarded to four teams of researchers and entrepreneurs through MarSA, the Maritime Seed Award, set up jointly by Malta Marittima and the University of Malta.
The awards ceremony was held at the University Takeoff Business Incubator and was attended by rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella; pro-rector Prof. Saviour Zammit; Dr Daniel Aquilina, chairman of the Malta Marittima Agency; Prof. Russell Smith, director of the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation and Dr Ing. Anton Bartolo, director of the Knowledge Transfer Office.
The Proof of Concept category was open to university researchers seeking funds to commercialise innovative technologies. The successful applicants were A Spar-Type Floating Wind Turbine Platform with Integrated Deep Seawater Storage, a technology designed to reduce the carbon footprint involved in the process of liquifying natural gas; Glowrust, a “smart molecule” designed to detect corro- sion before it is visible to the human eye and Solaqua2, an innovative design for a floating offshore photovoltaic system. The Seed Fund category was open to entrepreneurs working on the development of innovative products and services. The winner in this category was SEA!-Water, a hand-held device that employs forward osmosis to extract clean potable water from sea water.
Malta Marittima chair, Daniel Aquilina, also announced a second round of MarSA funding for 2017, amounting to €32,500. Interested innovators and entrepreneurs are invited to attend a workshop being held by Takeoff on 11 September.
Prof. Vella, commented: “Malta is a maritime nation and the University enthusiastically supports the development of maritime related technologies and innovations. We are happy to see the high quality of proposals submitted during the initial call and are excited to see what the next MarSA call will attract.”
For further details on how to apply visit www.takeoff.org.mt