Message from the Chair

Dr. ir. Matthijs Soede
European Commission
IEA-OES Chairman (2023 — present)

Happy Birthday!
The IEA’s Ocean Energy Systems Technology Collaboration Programme is celebrating its 25th Anniversary! The day that I am writing this foreword is also my own personal birthday. Family, friends and colleagues have been sending me kind messages and best wishes the whole day, and they wish all a nice celebration. Why do I write this? It shows that you shouldn’t neglect celebrating an anniversary, who is around you, and pay attention to the past years but also to look
forward to the years to come.

And that is also what we want to do with this publication. Looking back to what has happened, to the results achieved, and especially to who has been behind all the great work. Family, friends and colleagues, that is also what we have in the IEA-OES.

I would like to thank all the governments from our member countries for supporting the IEA-OES. Their support is crucial!
A thank you also to all delegates, alternate delegates and task leaders in all these years. They have been bringing technical expertise and strategic thinking to the Executive Committee meetings. This has contributed to very valuable insights and concrete actions supporting the ocean energy sector.

Thank you to all the developers, researchers, scientists, and students. They are the backbone of ocean energy technology development. All the individual work has contributed to the development of the sector. Thank you for sharing valuable expertise and knowledge.

Lastly, a very special thanks to Ana Brito e Melo who has been supporting the IEA-OES for all these years by providing very professional support to the Executive Committee and helping everybody in preparing reports and their communications.

For 25 years the IEA-OES have been stimulating ocean energy
innovation and deployment, supporting policy development and implementation, educating and building capacity, and this all by connecting people and stimulating collaboration. The IEA-OES is a collective achievement of its member countries and all different ocean energy family members. Let’s stay connected in the years to come and continue to work and build together the future of ocean energy!