Marine Power Systems (MPS), a Swansea-based company that is developing technology designed to capture the energy from ocean waves, has expanded its intellectual property (IP) to ensure its cutting edge innovations are protected around the world.
The IP applies to Sea State Tuning, a revolutionary system that ensures that the WaveSub wave energy converter – MPS’s primary technology – can continuously operate at its optimum performance, adapting to the conditions in the ocean and changing its configuration as necessary.
MPS was co-founded by Swansea University graduates Dr Gareth Stockman and Dr Graham Foster in 2009. It already has significant IP protection in place around its technology but it has now expanded this coverage to additional major territories around the world.
The IP was developed in Wales and the costs have continuously been supported by the Welsh Government. In addition to an injection of money from the Welsh Government in the form of £359,000 grant from SMART Cymru for research, development and innovation funding; MPS has recently been awarded an Innovation Voucher to support upcoming IP costs at a 50% match funding rate.
When fully developed, the WaveSub Wave Energy Converter will create a significant number of jobs in Wales and in the UK Supply Chain. The WaveSub system has truly global potential due to its ability to adapt to a broad wave energy climate.
Dr Gareth Stockman, Managing Director of MPS, said:
“Our Sea State Tuning technology is an important innovation in the renewable energy field and MPS is proud to be developing this unique product in Wales. We hope that WaveSub will really put Wales on the map in terms of wave energy.
“The jobs that this project will provide aren’t just a short term solution; MPS will, and have, taken on people that are becoming experts in the field.”
Hedley Austin, MPS’s patent attorney , said:
“In about five years, the company has been steadily protecting its wave power technology by building up what is now an impressive patent portfolio. This portfolio includes an early granted patent in USA, which is particularly encouraging because USA is renowned for its high threshold for granting patent protection.”
“For the company’s expanding innovations, following favourable search results from the European Patent Office, we are now pursuing patent applications in Europe and 14 other territories worldwide.”