Abstract
On political level there are typically three objectives when supporting the development of wave or tidal energy; national value creation, security of power supply and decreased pollution and safety concerns. The typical main objective of new technology based firms in early phases is rapid development towards commercialization (and survival), and later on growth. This paper reveals some preliminary data from a world wide survey which shows that firms in the ocean energy industry intend to use foreign markets as a remedy to obtain their objectives. Further, we explain this tendency towards early internationalization by using entrepreneurship theories. Based on examples of public support systems in England and Portugal, we present potential opportunity and threats this early internationalization might lead to. Some implications and further research are given.