The Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) approved 27 requests for access to services and facilities in 2020, which include the Oceanic Platform, the Oceanic Observatory, the Test Site facilities (access managed through MARHIS distributed research infrastructure), operations with the VIMAS fleet (Underwater Vehicles, Instruments and Machines) and the onshore facilities.
The demand for access to services and facilities of the Unique Scientific Technical Infrastructure shows that it is the ideal space to develop new projects and initiatives and to validate new technologies within the marine science and technology sector; chosen by companies, universities and research centres.
The test of the new system for inspection and maintenance of wind turbines of the company ALERION TECHNOLOGIES on the ELICAN marine wind turbine at the Test Site of PLOCAN; the deployment of nine mesocosms in the facilities of the Oceanic Platform led by GEOMAR (Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel); or the installation of the Harshlab 0.5 laboratory for the tracking and evaluation of samples in the marine environment by the Tecnalia company in the port of Taliarte, stand out, among the 2020 applications.
Proportion of accesses to the different facilities and services of PLOCAN.
Among the 27 requests for access, 45% of the total were made by companies; while 33% correspond to requests from research centres and 22% to universities. The largest number of requests executed (41%) were directed to the VIMAS base, which has a multidisciplinary fleet of state-of-the-art autonomous ocean platforms and instruments. On the other hand, the onshore facilities registered 26% of total requests, the Test Site facilities received 18% and the Oceanic Platform and the Ocean Observatory executed 11% and 4% of the requests, respectively.
Proportion of accesses carried out by different types of entities.
The Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands is a multipurpose infrastructure for research, development and innovation in the field of marine science and technologies. Its mission is to provide a combination of facilities and services to respond to the upcoming scientific challenges of the oceans, to the socio-economic needs and to the generation of knowledge through research, to identify the challenges faced by Blue Economy.
PLOCAN is presented as a place to experiment, learn new ways and references for a new relationship with the ocean, which is focused on its protection, the use of its resources in a sustainable way and the recovery of its biodiversity. It is a place for awareness and action, where science and technology excellence are promoted to develop and validate new models in order to mitigate climate change, based on the energy transition and the conservation of the marine environmental quality.
