Offshore Sensing in DeepTech Alliance Utility 2025 Program
Earlier this month, Offshore Sensing took part in the kickoff of the DeepTech Alliance Utility 2025 Business Creation Program in Lisbon. Joining an exclusive group of European deeptech companies matched with leading international utility corporations.
The program gave us direct channels to utility sector decision-makers across Europe who are actively seeking autonomous ocean monitoring solutions for offshore infrastructure, renewable energy projects, and coastal asset management.
Curated Access to Europe's Utility Decision-Makers
The DeepTech Alliance is not a conventional accelerator. It operates as a curated matchmaking platform between mature technology companies and corporate partners with specific innovation needs. The Alliance assesses over 10,000 European ventures annually and selects approximately 25 companies per program based on explicit requests from participating utilities.
For Offshore Sensing, this means conversations with companies that are already looking for what Sailbuoy delivers: long-endurance autonomous ocean data collection in challenging marine environments, with reduced vessel-days and lower operational risk.
Utilities Need Better Ocean Monitoring
Water and energy utilities are deploying IoT sensors, real-time monitoring systems, and predictive analytics across their operations. Most of this monitoring infrastructure is still land-based or depends on expensive crewed vessels for offshore data collection.
The demand for better ocean data is clear. Offshore wind farms need persistent monitoring around turbine installations. Water utilities require continuous coastal water quality data. District cooling systems depend on accurate, up-to-date ocean temperature monitoring. Each of these applications needs the same thing: reliable, cost-effective autonomous platforms that can operate for months without intervention.
Sailbuoy is designed to close this gap. A decade of proven operations, including the first unmanned Atlantic crossing and years deployed in North Sea conditions, demonstrates the platform's reliability for utility-scale needs. Wind and solar power enable months of autonomous operation with minimal maintenance required.
Program Update and Next Steps
The eight-week program kicked off in Lisbon on November 6–7 with direct meetings between selected companies and corporate partners. We participated in sessions on enterprise sales and pilot design tailored to utility sector requirements, and began shaping concrete opportunities for Sailbuoy deployments with utility stakeholders.
Utilities in Lisbon consistently highlighted the need for cost-efficient, low-emission ocean monitoring that can operate reliably without vessels. It was clear that long-duration sensing paired with real-time data delivery is becoming a priority across energy and environmental applications. This strongly reinforces our direction with Sailbuoy, especially for continuous met-ocean monitoring, environmental compliance, and early-warning systems.
Beyond the formal sessions in Lisbon, we are now working within the broader DeepTech Alliance ecosystem spanning 17 European countries. This connects Offshore Sensing with utility corporations, infrastructure investors, and government agencies managing sustainable public services, all with a growing need for robust offshore and coastal data.
– We've spent ten years proving the technology works, says CEO Max Hartvigsen. – Now it's about deploying these solutions where utilities need them most: monitoring offshore wind installations, coastal infrastructure, and marine assets across Europe.
One clear takeaway for me was how many offshore wind operators are actively searching for continuous met-ocean and environmental data between service windows. A pilot focused on long-duration station-keeping around turbine arrays came up repeatedly as a high-value use case.
The Utility 2025 program runs through December 2025, concluding with the DeepTech Alliance Explore summit in London. By then, the goal is to have advanced discussions on pilots and long-term collaborations where Sailbuoy can provide persistent, low-carbon ocean data for utility operations.
