The North Sea Offshore Wind Service Industry: Status, perspectives and a joint action plan

The Offshore Wind Service sector is about to established itself as an industrial sector with an own identity, own organisation, and with large future challenges. The article introduces this new sector, including assessment of present and future market sizes. The overall aim of the research reported in this article was to increase the innovation capacity of the European offshore wind servicing (OWS) sector by establishing cross-regional cooperation and intensifying the relationship between research and the offshore wind industry. The article uses the concept of innovation system foresight (ISF). The linking of the two concepts of foresight and innovation systems has been explored by several studies, but ISF takes a further integration of the two concepts. The article presents a set of concrete actions at multiple levels to support the development of the offshore wind service sector. The findings provides an input for a concerted effort for supporting both the offshore wind development and the emerging clusters of offshore wind services around the North Sea. In addition, the article addresses the value of the ISF approach to such policy development.