The Wave Energy Centre was legally established in March 27, 2003, as a private non-profit centre devoted to the development and promotion of wave energy utilization through technical and strategic support to companies. The associates of the Centre may be Portuguese or foreign companies or research institutions, in particular those willing to collaborate with Portuguese institutions and/or to use the Portuguese coastline in the development or demonstration phases of their devices.

The aim of the centre is to promote collaboration between companies, research centres and developing teams in view of the development, promotion and marketing of wave energy devices.

The Centre will do a special effort to assists associate companies willing to initiate activities in wave energy in recognizing business opportunities, in defining their strategies and in identifying possible partners.

The Centre will try to attract companies all over the world with two objectives:
i) to ease the access to technology wherever it is available;
ii) to fasten the utilization of wave energy in geographic areas of interest with no previous activity in wave energy.

The Centre will enforce means to attract innovation worldwide and, whenever possible and appropriate, the Centre will provide means to assist in the development of new clever ideas and devices.

The main activities of the Wave Energy Centre are:
To promote, manage and develop R&D projects and undertake R&D work;
To train scientists and technicians and to promote the access of researchers to associated test infrastructures;
To assist the members in developing technology, identifying business opportunities, informing about ongoing or future R&D projects, relevant legislation, etc. And assist or manage an information centre in wave energy;
To support innovative ideas and developing teams.

Funding

The Wave Energy Centre is funded through fees from the associated entities, rendering of services and research grants. There are initial fees, annual fees and additional fees. Both the initial and annual fees are small, with the objective of having a large number of associates. The annual fee is used to support the basic costs of the Centre. Additional fees are paid only by the associates willing to develop special projects.

Management

The WEC is managed at a high level by the General Assembly with support from the Scientific Steering Committee. These will have annual meetings, where the annual report and the annual plan are discussed and approved. They will also elect the Executive Board and the Director of the Centre. The Executive Board has at least three monthly meetings and assures that the management of the Centre is in accordance to the annual plan. The Director is responsible for the day-to-day management.