The headline recommendation is the need for a 250 million euro investment package and a 70 million euro insurance fund to attract investors and offset risk.

The report sets out a viable strategy which would see 10% of Europe's electricity delivered by wave and tidal energy by the year 2050.

Commissioner Vella said "Ocean energy is not just good news for our climate. It's also great news for job creation. We are speaking about a potential global market of up to 53 billion euros a year. Thanks to today's roadmap, we have a convincing path for investors to follow".

Ocean energy is abundant, geographically diverse, renewable and reliable. It could contribute to the EU's objective of reaching at least 27% of renewable energy by 2030 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050.

Today's roadmap is a comprehensive blueprint for building up ocean energy in Europe – from the initial R&D all the way to the industrial roll-out.

The roadmap also identifies several priority areas for technological progress, concentrating on improving the technology's performance and reducing the costs related to installation and logistics services. Based on current and planned deployments of wave energy converters and tidal stream devices, the sector is expected to move to the pre-industrial phase by the mid-2020s.

The European Commission is actively supporting the ocean energy sector in line with its 2014 Blue Energy Communication. It does that by bringing together all stakeholders, supporting research, improving ocean governance, developing maritime spatial planning, and providing financial support.

The Commission will now closely study the roadmap's recommendations, and will promote the roadmap in its talks with Member States, financial institutions, and the research and business community.

The Forum was created by the European Commission in April 2015, to bring together business and the public sector in support of this emerging technology.

More information

Strategic roadmap

Speech by Commissioner Vella