The Technology Strategy Board, in partnership with the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency), is toinvest up to £9m in innovative collaborative research, development and demonstration in the area of wave and tidal stream energy technologies. Wave and tidal stream technologies are a priority for the Technology Strategy Board, and we aim to help identify those technologies that will enable the costeffective exploitation of wave and tidal resources in the UK and globally. Together with the Carbon Trust's Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF) we will help projects meet the criteria necessary to access the Government's Marine Renewables Deployment Fund, fiscal incentives such as the Renewables Obligation, and private investment. This competition is the first in a series of activities led by the Technology Strategy Board on the research and development of wave and tidal stream energy devices. This competition will address the high-level challenges of:

• driving down the cost of energy
• improving the reliability and
  performance of devices.
  This competition for collaborative proposals
  consists of two strands:
• to enhance the performance of
  existing devices
• to progress novel concept devices.

Collaborations must be business-led and involve science-to-business or business-to-business interactions. The competition is open to wave and tidal stream device manufacturers, and also to collaborations that will develop the UK supply chain and the skills needed to deploy these technologies. It complements the September 2010 'Wave and tidal stream energy technologies: underpinning deployment' competition, which targets full-scale devices installed and operating in the sea.
Both competitions complement the MRPF, and together they aim to advance wave and tidal technologies along the innovation chain to grow business opportunities and achieve the Government's renewable energy targets. South West RDA investment is on the basis of its leadership on the low carbon economic agenda, helping South West England's economy build on its designation as the UK's first Low Carbon Economic Area (specialising in marine energy).