The consortium reserves €3,000,000 to fund 50 SMEs through two Open Calls for innovation initiatives
The European project I3FLOAT officially launched with its Kick-Off Meeting held in Brussels on October 8–9, 2025. Funded under the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) – Strand 1 programme and co-financed by the European Union through EISMEA, I3FLOAT brings together 24 partners from 8 countries to strengthen the European floating offshore wind (FOW) value chain through cross-regional innovation and investment.
Over the next 36 months, the project will support the scale-up of cutting-edge technologies and reinforce cooperation between regional innovation ecosystems. A special focus is placed on empowering SMEs in Less Developed Regions (LDRs), ensuring a more inclusive industrial transition in line with EU climate and energy objectives.
🔹 Four I3Pilots will be implemented and monitored across participating regions to validate innovative solutions. These I3 Pilots are formed by a floating foundation developer working with an interregional team of suppliers. They are located in the Basque Country (Spain), Andalusia (Spain), Occitanie & PACA (France), and Flanders (Belgium), form the backbone of I3FLOAT’s Innovation Hubs. Respectively, the floating foundation developers are Saitec Offshore Technologies, Enerocean, Eolink and Multi.Engineering.
🔹 To expand the reach of innovation, four Connecting Nodes, in the Canary Islands, Campania, Western Pomerania, and Varna, will act as platforms for replication and adoption of new technologies, reinforcing value chain development across the continent.
🔹 A key feature of I3FLOAT is its cascade funding mechanism. The project will launch two Open Calls to finance up to 50 SMEs, with a focus on addressing sectoral challenges and accelerating time-to-market. Each selected SME will receive up to €60,000 in support, along with tailored advisory services.
I3FLOAT will also develop a Floating Wind Innovation Roadmap, promote business support tools, and foster interregional knowledge transfer to maximise the impact of investments.
This project positions Europe, and especially its southern and peripheral regions, at the forefront of the floating wind revolution, promoting energy transition, technological leadership, and regional cohesion.
The consortium is coordinated by Basquenergy Cluster and is composed by other 7 associations and clusters, Blue Italian Growth, Canary Islands Maritime Cluster, Claner, De Blauwe Cluster, Marine Cluster Bulgaria, Pole Mer Mediterranee and Wind Energy Hub; 4 floating foundation developers, Enerocean, Eolink, Multi Engineering and Saitec; 11 suppliers, 24Sea, Aventa, Core Marine Solutions, Eonsea, France Energies Marines, Geodis, Ghenova Marine Renewables, Haedes Engineering, Ingenieria Zero, Oceanide and Tetrace; and Zabala supporting the project.
The I3FLOAT project is co-funded by the European Union.
The I3FLOAT project has received funding from the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Programme – Strand 1 (I3-2024-INV1) and co-funded by the European Union though European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) under Grant Agreement 101228306.