Ocean Energy Forum Support

Objective

The OEFS project strengthens and professionalizes the sectoral SET Plan stakeholder forum for ocean energy. It establishes a clear governance model, standard methods for collecting and validating evidence, and an open digital backbone for data, roadmaps, and peer review. Through an end-to-end “stakeholder-to-policy” workflow—policy labs, structured consultations, and transparent quality assurance—the action turns inputs from industry, research, authorities, and civil society into comparable, reusable outputs. Activities span the whole value chain and countries in scope, with social sciences and humanities embedded to address skills, inclusion, and just-transition needs. Impact focuses on making policy measurable, investable, and socially grounded. The action will deliver research and innovation roadmaps, barrier analyses, market and funding-needs assessments, and plain-language briefs, formatted for ingestion by SETIS and CETO. Evidence will inform NECPs and national strategies, help streamline permitting, and surface bankable opportunities for regions and SMEs. The project supports the European Green Deal and the Net-Zero Industry Act by improving coordination across Member States and widening participation, with progress tracked through KPIs, quarterly dashboards, and open repositories. The consortium consists of ACER (Spain), APREN (Portugal), and ENA (Greece). ACER and APREN bring sector networks and convening power with developers, ports, and supply-chain SMEs. ENA leads EU-level communication, digital tools, and policy engagement, ensuring visible and usable results across countries. The partners run the forum, co-produce evidence with experts and public authorities, and deliver targeted outreach at EU and national levels, supported by an independent advisory setup for quality and alignment.