MARINA is a European project dedicated to bringing offshore renewable energy applications closer to the market by creating new infrastructures for both offshore wind and ocean energy converters. It addresses the need for creating a cost-efficient technology development basis to kick-start growth of the nascent European marine renewable energy (MRE) industry in the deep offshore – a major future global market. The project combines deep-water engineering experience from European oil & gas developments during the last 40 years, state-of-the-art concepts for offshore wind energy, and the most promising concepts in today’s R&D pipeline on wave energy and other marine renewables. The MARINA project is designed to capitalise on the vast body of proven marine technological knowledge gained in one of the world’s most hostile off-shore operating environments: the Northern European seas. MARINA will bolt this practical technology skill set onto the research base of the emerging – but still marginal – EU MRE industry and ensure its continued world-leading role. The MARINA project is therefore of major strategic significance for Europe.