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The Paris Agreement and Green Deal aim for carbon neutrality by 2050, with energy security becoming increasingly important due to the geopolitical situation. Achieving these goals requires a diversified renewable energy mix, as solar and wind alone cannot meet Europe’s energy demands, mostly due to their variability. As such, the EC has identified wave energy as a key resource in the pursuit of a climate-neutral future. Despite its potential, the economic viability of wave energy remains elusive. The harsh marine environment, variable nature of the resource, and early stage of wave energy converters (WECs), contribute to a high Levelised Cost of Energy (LCoE). Without economic competitiveness, wave energy highly risks falling behind other renewable sources. One essential step towards commercialising WECs is the development of advanced control systems. Control engineering enhances performance by using algorithms that improve energy capture with minimal capital costs. Recent control techniques, such as moment-based control (PI MSCA-IF “DESTINY”), have shown great potential in improving performance. However, while maximising energy absorption is virtually always the primary focus, this does not always lead to a reduction in LCoE, due to the complex interactions between costs and power production. A multidisciplinary approach is required to address these challenges, with control engineering playing a critical role in the broader WEC design. The control co-design (CCD) framework, which optimises both the controller and the physical WEC plant simultaneously, offers a promising pathway to reducing LCoE by balancing capital and operational costs, and energy production. Despite its potential, the application of CCD to WEC systems faces several challenges, including difficulties in hydrodynamic modelling, formulating efficient LCoE models, and creating control solutions that can handle the complexity of simultaneous design-control optimisation for WEC systems. This project, ECOWAVE, addresses these challenges by developing a systematic CCD framework tailored to WECs, to significantly reduce LCoE while overcoming the limitations of traditional energy maximisation approaches. By focusing on the interrelated aspects of cost and energy absorption, the project aims to optimise both the design and control of WECs simultaneously. ECOWAVE will experimentally validate the CCD approach to ensure its reliability in real-world scenarios. Overall, this project will provide a powerful tool for multi-disciplinary WEC optimisation, guiding early-stage decision-making to avoid design choices that could result in high LCoE. ECOWAVE will contribute to Italy’s clean energy targets by supporting innovation, sustainability, and economic development, particularly in coastal regions. Via collaborations between academic, research, and industrial institutions, the project aims to foster technological innovation, create new industries, and strengthen regional economies.