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Saltire Prize set for launch
22/11/2008
Scientists and experts from around the world will arrive in Edinburgh in 10 days to launch a global challenge on marine renewable energy.
The Saltire Prize Challenge Committee will meet to define the biggest ever contest for innovation in green marine energy - the Scottish Government's £10 million Saltire Prize.
The Committee is made up of 11 leading figures in science and innovation with expertise in world leading and potentially planet-saving technology.
The Challenge will then be unveiled by the First Minister at a ceremony in Edinburgh Castle on December 2.
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
"The Saltire Prize will push the frontiers of innovation in clean, green marine renewable energy and put Scotland at the epicentre of the battle against climate change.
"I am delighted that so many world renowned and influential figures agreed to play a part in our drive to take marine renewables to the next level.
"The Committee will agree and set the challenge in Edinburgh. Their decisions will kick off a worldwide competition to advance marine renewables technology for the benefit of the world.
"Scottish and international scientists, researchers and energy companies will collaborate - and compete - to demonstrate new and advanced marine energy technologies around Scotland. The challenge will be launched in just ten days and I know many around the world will rise to it."
Members of the Saltire Prize Challenge Committee are:
- Professor Anne Glover is Chair of the Committee and Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland
- Dr Bernard J Bulkin is a world leader in energy technology and education, and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Energy Institute
- Nicholas Moore Eisenberger is an environmental entrepreneur and business strategist who serves on the X-Prize Foundation Energy and Environment Advisory Board
- Terry D. Garcia is Executive Vice President for mission programs for the National Geographic Society
- Richard Hemsley is Chief Operating Officer, Group Manufacturing Division at the Royal Bank of Scotland
- Professor Paul Jowitt is Vice President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Jaison Morgan is senior director of Prize Development with the X Prize Foundation
- Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri is an economist and environmental scientist who has served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2002
- Jonathan Porritt CBE is Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and co-founder of Forum for the Future
- Professor Lu Yongxiang is Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- David Wilson is Director of Enterprise, Energy and Tourism within the Scottish Government.
A Technical Advisory Board has also been established. Membership includes Professor Jim McDonald (Chair), Professor Johannes Falnes, Professor Stephen Salter, Professor Anne Glover, Professor António Sarmento, Dr Stephen Wyatt, Richard Knight and Dr Alison Wall.
The Scottish Government has created the opportunity to award one of the biggest international innovation prizes in history through its plans for the Saltire Prize - a £10 million challenge prize for advances in marine renewable energy.
The Saltire Prize draws inspiration from great innovation prizes of the 20th century such as the Ansari X Prize that led to the first private spacecraft launch and, more recently the Virgin Earth Challenge which saw Richard Branson challenge scientists around the world to come up with a way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
The international prize committee will define full details of the challenge and announce it during the St Andrew's Day celebrations.
Scotland's renewable energy potential could see it provide 25 per cent of Europe's offshore wind power, 25 per cent of its tidal power and 10 per cent of the continent's wave power.
The Saltire Prize will be designed to advance marine renewables technology lead; to leap-frog technology for Scottish, European and world benefit; be open to application from both Scottish and international teams; and must be demonstrated in Scotland.
Scotland is host to not only the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, which offers marine device developers grid connected tidal and wave test berths and will soon deploy the world's largest capacity wave farm, but is also host to an offshore wind farm located in the greatest water depth in the world in the Beatrice oil field, 25km of its East Coast.