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    Review of 'Examining the Effectiveness of Support for UK Wave Energy Innovation since 2000. Lost at Sea or a New Wave of Innovation?'

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    Examining the Effectiveness of Support for UK Wave Energy Innovation since 2000. Lost at Sea or a New Wave of Innovation?Crossref
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        Rated 5 of 5.
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        Rated 5 of 5.
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        Rated 5 of 5.
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    Examining the Effectiveness of Support for UK Wave Energy Innovation since 2000. Lost at Sea or a New Wave of Innovation?

    This report, funded by UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the International Public Policy Institute, has the great merit of being a study of innovation failure, rather than success, and the number of useful lessons it contains is consequently all the greater. From a massive database, it estimates that, between 2000 and 2017, the UK provided close to half a billion pounds of public sector funding to encourage the private sector to try to capture offshore wave energy. Investment by firms must have been even more. There was nothing tangible to show for all this in the end, primarily because of inadequacies ‘in government and industrial strategy to support wave energy innovation in the UK, most notably a premature emphasis on commercialisation and a lack of knowledge exchange.’ Public funding only partially covered R&D costs, so that developers tried to reach the stage where their equipment could actually produce saleable energy, without enough testing for faults. This attempt to ‘go too far too quickly’ was compounded by government’s investing heavily in test facilities without providing support for developers to use them. Also, reliance on patent protection caused developers to avoid sharing their information. The public sector did learn some lessons. Wave Energy Scotland was established to carry on the work in a much more modest way, but able to offer 100% funding and to insist that research results were shared among developers. In addition, the European Community introduced the Marinet initiative to fund access by developers to test facilities.
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      The article presents an interesting approach from the point of view of the context that has been lived not only in the United Kingdom, but also in the European States since the year 2000. Perhaps, this essay, in fact, develops a scientifically correct and organized structure. As for the methodologies, the author developed from the introduction clear evidence that the article has an essentially practical and multidisciplinary object of study, as it involves talking about public policies in energy, involving minimal knowledge of physics and management. In addition, the authors approach a state that is fundamental to the dynamics of the world, interconnecting with the motivations of innovation. This is a debate, therefore, well demonstrated by the human needs to "create with quality" and not grow solely for purely numerical reasons. In short, the only aspect to improve is the lack of quantitative data. It would be interesting, even if the research is already well developed and credible, to complement the data and perspectives with graphs and other types of mapping and analysis.

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