The Swedish Energy Agency has granted I-Tech a conditional loan of SEK7.965m ($1.2m) to develop a product that prevents barnacles growing on the hulls of boats.
I-Tech’s product, Selektope, reduces shipowners’ energy use by preventing barnacles and other shell-building marine organisms growing on ship hulls. Marine biofouling can double a ship’s fuel consumption compared with a clean hull.
I-Tech, founded in 2000 based on a research project at Gothenburg University and Chalmers University of Technology, will use the cash to try to validate its technology in order to facilitate its commercialisation.
The company has received investment from Volvo’s venture capital arm, Volvo Technology Transfer, among other investors, and attained grants from Vinnova, the Swedish innovation agency, and CIP Eco-Innovation, part of the EU’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP).