Offshore renewable energy will get a big boost in the coming years. Fifteen partners from Flanders and the Netherlands are combining their expertise in the Offshore for Sure (O4S) project to test 5 promising energy solutions and increase their applicability in the energy system. The Security and Privacy research group of Howest’s Bachelor of Applied Computer Science is also participating in this project. The project’s goal is to accelerate the energy transition at sea and to drive the sustainable blue economy in cooperation with knowledge institutions and regional and societal organisations. The Interreg Flanders-Netherlands programme for 2021-2027 is supporting this collaboration. Over the course of this three-year project, the project partners will invest more than 10 million euros in the Flemish-Dutch border region. This investment is partly made possible by the European Interreg Flanders-Netherlands program and co-funders. The consortium believes that these offshore energy solutions will contribute to a smarter, greener, and more co-operative Europe. BLUESPRING is the initiator behind the Offshore for Sure project idea and is acting as the project coordinator. Five innovations and partners The five demonstration projects represent innovative solutions from technology developers with a proven track record and a clear plan for deployment in the fields of tidal energy, wave energy, offshore floating solar energy and energy storage: Wave energy from Dutch Wave Power Tidal energy from Water2Energy Offshore solar from Oceans of Energy Energy storage simulation from FLASC Smart management and predictive maintenance of tidal turbines from Tocardo For their developments, the technology developers can rely on the knowledge and expertise of partners Howest, Bluespring, World Class Maintenance, International Marine & Dredging Consultants, Ecopower, Rijkswaterstaat, Parkwind, Ghent University, Deftiq and the Zeeland Environmental Federation. Cooperation on three levels Policy & Public Engagement As most of the developments take place offshore, we focus on engaging people, exchanging knowledge, and thus increasing support and awareness. We closely work with nature and environmental organisations, cooperatives and similar projects. Education We are developing learning courses based on the knowledge we gain during the project’s implementation. We promote student exchange and set up cooperation between educational partners in Flanders and the Netherlands. Certification We are working on certification services for laboratory and open sea testing. A sustainable perspective The yield of our offshore energy transition is assessed by three types of end-users: governments, project developers and citizen cooperatives. Through their approval of our business cases, we attract further investments for both technology and projects. This should lead to fundable projects for the future, contributing to economic growth in the region and creating new jobs in the sustainable blue economy. Howest's role Thanks to our expertise in cyber security, we are contributing to the design of smart and secure maintenance systems. Furthermore, Howest will act as an education partner to elaborate educational content on new regulations from Europe NIS2 , EU Cyber Resilience ACT and Standards ISO27001 and IEC62443. • Want to know more? Get in touch with kurt.callewaert [at] howest.be (Kurt Callewaert). • Are you a company and interested in partnering with Howest? Contact us via %20research [at] howest.be (Research Howest).