The Innovation Excellence, presented to Neptune by WA minister for development and energy Alan Carpenter, is one of 14 categories in the annual WA Industry and Export Awards.

The federal government Commercial Ready Scheme grant

provides funding for salaries, contract expenditure, plant and prototype development and other expenditure related to the research and development and the commercialisation of the technology.

“Neptune has been awarded one of the largest grants in the history of the Commercial Ready Scheme,” said Neptune director and inventor of the technology Clive Langley.

Neptune claims its technology enables high-integrity permanent underwater welding repairs at lower costs than more conventional wet welding.

The Neptune technology achieves its dry weld equivalent underwater by purging the welding chamber attached over the repair site, of water, and then introducing a high temperature argon gas mixture into the chamber at slightly higher pressure than the surrounding water. A weld repair is then effected as a dry weld in a dry environment.

Neptune's underwater welding methods do not suffer the limitations of conventional underwater welds but deliver the same structural integrity as achieved with dry-land welding techniques, according to the company. Neptune said the technology reduced the need to dry dock ships for some hull repairs and alleviated the long lead time and cost of conventional methods such as hyperbaric welding.

Petroleum drilling and production platforms, and the shipping service infrastructure supporting offshore oil and gas operations, are a natural avenue for future Neptune contracts, the company said.

The Commercial Ready Scheme is a competitive, merit-based national program which supports innovation and the subsequent commercialisation of technology. The program aims to encourage growth and successful innovation through the funding of research and development, proof of concept and commercialisation of technology of Australian businesses.

The desired outcomes of the Scheme are to increase international competitiveness of Australian business, foster collaboration between industry and research institutions and to generate a national benefit for the Australian economy.