The Ocean Tech Expo 26, organised by Maritime UK South West and hosted by the University of Plymouth, is a two-day showcase of cutting-edge marine and offshore innovation, bringing together industry, research and government to explore technologies that enhance national security, drive decarbonisation and boost productivity across the ocean economy.
Find out more and book your tickets: https://maritimeuksw.org/ocean-tech-expo-26/
The conference programme will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, investors, innovators and emerging talent to explore the future of the maritime and defence sectors. Plenary sessions will cover key initiatives from Innovate UK CMDC and ZEVI, highlighting opportunities for innovation and growth, and discussing critical innovation needs within the offshore wind sector.
Delegates will gain insights through a dedicated Meet the Defence Buyers session and explore the expanding applications of marine autonomy and maritime decarbonisation technologies. Strategic regional development will be addressed through a session on civic leadership and the development of turnkey investment opportunities, while workforce challenges will be tackled through discussions on attracting, developing and retaining the right talent.
The programme will also feature an investment-focused session connecting businesses with funding opportunities, as well as a dedicated breakout session for early-career professionals to engage directly with potential employers and explore career pathways across the sector.
Alongside the plenary programme, a series of business support sessions will provide practical guidance to help organisations innovate, grow and secure funding.
Topics will include the latest developments in South West and wider UK maritime research, access to funding opportunities through UK SHORE, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and Horizon Europe, and the benefits of embedding funded PhD-level expertise within businesses through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
Delegates will also learn about innovation support available through Innovate UK EDGE and the Enterprise Europe Network, gain insight into investment readiness and what maritime investors are seeking, and explore opportunities through R&D tax credits. Additional sessions will cover support from Foot Anstey's High Growth Accelerator programme and provide expert advice on protecting, managing and commercialising intellectual property to maximise business value.
Explore the Ocean Tech Expo 2026 programme
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10:00 Welcome to the MUKSW Ocean Tech Expo – Sheldon Ryan, Chief Executive, and Graham Harrison, Chair, Maritime UK South West
10:15 Welcome – Richard Davies, Vice Chancellor, University of Plymouth
10:30 Phil Craig, Managing Director Programmes (Marine), Babcock International Group
10:50 Plymouth Defence Deal Progress – Prof Matthew Palmer, University of Plymouth
11:10 Panel Q&A
11:30 Break
Session 1: Meet the Defence Buyers
12:05 Welcome and Introduction
Chaired by Commodore Tristram Kirkwood, Naval Regional Commander for Wales, Western England and the Channel Islands12:15 Maritime Defence from an Industrial and Regional Perspective – Neil Skelland, Business Development Director, TKMS ATLAS UK
12:30 Defence Panel Session
Andy Liddell, DE&S
Didde Bjerglund-Martin, JOSCAR
Dr Stephanie Miller, TKMS ATLAS UK
Luke Gobell, Kraken
13:30 Networking Lunch
Session 2: Commercial Opportunity – Smart Tech in Offshore Wind
15:00 Introduction from Session Chairs: Matt Hodson, Vice Chair, Maritime UK SW and CEO, Celtic Sea Power; and Simon Cheeseman, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC)
15:10 Chelsea Bradbury, Senior Marine Data and Insights Manager, The Crown Estate
15:30 Offshore Wind Panel Session led by Julie Taylor, Senior Innovation Manager, ORE Catapult
Katherine York, Head of Sustainable O&M, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
Anahita Laverack, CEO, Oshen
Lilian Lieber, Senior Research Fellow, University of Plymouth
Becky Fowell, Project Manager, Regen
16:30 IUK Business Growth and Enterprise Europe Network – Deborah Watson, Innovation Manager, Great South West, Innovate UK Business Growth
16:45 Close
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11:30 MarRI-UK Maritime Research and Technology Roadmap – Jake Rigby, Head of Innovation and Research, BMT; Chair, MarRI-UK Technical Group
11:40 South West Aquaculture Network – Sue John, Chair
11:50 Department for Business and Trade – Mick Essex, Deputy Head, Maritime Strategy and Exports, Rail and Maritime Team
Support for Innovators
12:00 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (Scheme to Place a PhD Student in Your Business) – University of Bath and Seiche Case Study, Sophie O’Callaghan, Knowledge Transfer Adviser, Innovate UK Business Connect
12:15 MCA Innovation Hub, Jonty Slater, Assistant Director, UK Maritime Innovation Hub
AI, Digital and Immersive Tech
12:30 AI for Safety in Ports – Hao Zang, Co-Founder and CEO, ROBOX
12:40 Deployable Simulators for the Modern Seafarer – Andy Parkin, Managing Director, Kilo
12:50 The Connected World: From Sputnik to Starlink, Felix Steward, Clarus Network Group
13:00 Networking Lunch
Investing in Place
14:30 Advancing the Dorset Clean Energy Super Cluster – Channel Gateway – Peter Crone, Director, Morwind
14:45 Appledore Maritime Innovation Centre – Fiona Henderson, Clean Maritime and Energy Officer, North Devon Plus
15:00 Break
Session 2: Attracting and Training the Right Talent
15:30 Introduction to the MUKSW Careers & Skills Programme – Paul Singer, South Devon College
15:40 DTEC Defence/Careers Defence Deal – Mike Jones, City College Plymouth
15:50 System-Wide Issues Recruiting into the Fishing Industry – Chloe North, CEO, Western Fish Producers
16:00 Skills for Prototyping – MAS Systems, Mike Austin, Program Manager, M-Subs
16:10 Skills to Scale Advanced Manufacturing – Thomas Rooney, Helsing
16:20 Workforce Mobility and Skills in UK Shipbuilding – Dan McKenzie, Head of Maritime Resilience and Skills, Maritime People and Safety Division, Department for Transport
16:30 Workforce Demand for Offshore Wind – Olivia Whittle, Project Officer, Celtic Sea Power
16:40 Q&A
17:00 Close
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09:30 Welcome Back to the MUKSW Ocean Tech Expo – Sheldon Ryan, CEX, Maritime UK South West
Session 2: Commercial Opportunity – Decarbonisation
Chair: Prof Chris Smith09:35 Clean maritime research driving innovation and growth, Professor Tony Roskilly, Director, UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub
09:50 Energy transition pathways and how energy transition interacts with commercial and financial risks within the shipowner community – Marie Fricaudet, Senior Research Fellow, UCL Shipping and Oceans Research Group
10:05 Progress on Marine Decarbonisation – Ross Wombwell, British Marine
10:20 UK SHORE – James Lovett, Innovation Lead, Future Maritime Technologies, Innovate UK
Ian Salisbury, Programme Manager UK SHORE, Department for Transport
10:40 Panel Session
11:20 Break12:00 Chair: Prof Chris Smith, Clean Propulsion Technologies; Director & MUKSW Director
12:10 Why Systems Thinking Is Required to Effectively Decarbonise the Maritime Sector – Max Rouse, Transport Strategy Consultant; Chair, Future of Maritime Working Group, KPMG12:20 Progress and Plans to Decarbonise and Prepare for Offshore Wind in Falmouth – Drystan Jones, A&P
12:30 Decarbonising Workboats – Jake Rigby, Head of Innovation and Research, BMT
12:40 Transitioning to Clean Marine in the South Hams – Lessons Learned – Susan Watts, South Hams District Council12:50 Maritime Decarbonisation: how to both decarbonize vessel fleets and reduce costs – Prof CW Smith,. Mr Iman Ramzanpoor, Dr Martin Nuerberg, Sea Change Power Ltd.
13:00 Alternatively Fuelled Vessels for Floating Offshore Wind – Richard Pemberton, Solis
13:10 CMDC6 Bridge to Zero Project – Decarbonisation of the World’s Largest and Busiest Chain Ferry (Torpoint Ferry) – Dr Lauren Ansell, University of Plymouth
13:20 Summing Up and Q&A
13:40 Networking Lunch
15:00 Session 3: Commercial Applications of Marine Autonomy
Chair: Prof James Fishwick, Smart Sound Plymouth; Western Channel Observatory, PML
15:10 Smart Sound Test and Development Area – Sam Fawcett, Head of Commercial, Smart Sound, PML Applications.15:20 Scaling for Future Floating Wind Farm In-Service Inspection – Eshan Rajabally, Maritime Autonomy Technology Lead, BMT
15:30 Acua Ocean – Mike Tinmouth, COO and Co-Founder
15:40 Helsing – Software Defined Defence Capability – Tom Rooney, Director of Programs
15:50 Automating the Largest Commercial USV in the World – James Williams, Ocean Infinity
16:00 Marine AI and Excalibur, Paddy Dowsett, Project Manager
16:10 Remote and Real-Time Data Collection – Matthew Hill, Seiche
16:20 Integrating Autonomous Systems: The Next Step in Maritime Capability, Matthew Ratsey and Teledyne, Rob Ayrton
16:20 Q&A
16:40 SMI MAS Challenge, Emma Johnson, Director of Marine Science & Technology Group (MSTG), Maritime Autonomous Systems Group (MASG) and SMIFutures, Society of Maritime Industries16.50 Marine Autonomy Accelerator – Dan Pritchard, Co-Founder, Tech South West
16:50 Close
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10:00 IUK Launchpad Business/Tech Case Studies. The Great South West Maritime Launchpad invested £7M into the sector and is a demonstration of the depth of maritime technology within the area.
Chair: Ahmed Goga, Director, Great South West
10:10 Low-Cost Industrial Data Collection at Sea – Tope Ocean, Ian Godfrey
10:20 Drone Technology – Khurram Waris, MD, Crowncomm
10:30 Subsea Infrastructure Monitoring Intelligence Layer – Stephen Jordan, CEX, Eagle Ray Robotics
10:40 AI-Driven Energy and Emissions Tools for Ports – Arsha Branson, CEX, Net Zero Hero
10:50 Measuring Ocean Environmental Impact – Joyeeta Das, Samudra Oceans11:00 EMMA (Environmental Maritime Modelling & Analytics) – A Global First in Maritime Emissions Intelligence – Josh McCarty, Ocean OS Earth
11:10 Smart Marine Maintenance Systems (SMS) – Darren Mitchell, Smart Marine Electrical
11:20 Building Value Through IP Strategy – Ben Travers, Partner, Foot Anstey
11:30 Break
Session 1: Civic Leadership
12:00 Chair: Mark Wray, Connected Places CatapultPanel members (confirmed, in no particular order):
Plymouth City Council’s Director of Team Plymouth and former Head of Economy, Enterprise and Employment – Amanda Ratsey. Spatial planning approach, enterprise initiatives including Freeport status and role in Team Plymouth. What maritime tech is expected to be developed and supported through the enterprise initiatives.
Torridge District Council Economic Development Manager – Chris Fuller. The Clean Maritime Innovation Hub and its enterprise and testing offer. What tech are you targeting for development and why.
NERC’s FMRI Director – Leigh Storey. The FMRI programme and what are the tech needs for the programme and timelines for procurement. How will this drive innovation?
Office for Investment’s Deputy Director – Natasha Burroughs. What financial assistance is the OfI orchestrating through the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank? What is attractive about maritime tech and how might the offer develop over time.
13:00 Networking Lunch
Chair: Layla Burrows, Innovate UK
14:30 R&D Tax Credits, Michael Hesketh, Simpkins Edwards
14:40 ESA Funding – Grant Day, UK AmbassadorIUK Launchpad Business/Tech Case Studies
14:50 Motion-Compensated Systems for Maritime Applications – Phil Vosper, STL Research
15:00 Front‑loaded certainty: de-risking offshore wind foundation installation – Laurie Thornton, Director, MintMech15:10 Community-Led Seagrass Restoration – Alex Croasdell, Seavive
15:20 Break
15:35 Investor Perspectives on Raising Capital in Maritime.Chair: Bassit Mohamed, Innovate UK
A reverse‑pitch session where investors share their perspective on raising capital in the maritime sector, what they look for, and how they assess opportunities. Chaired by Abdul‑Basit Mohammed, Innovate UK Business Connect with Anna Staevska, Investment Manager, The FSE Group and Rafael Manyari, Investment Manager, Equinor Ventures (Equinor UK).
16:20 Close
