The first contract has been awarded by Wave Energy Scotland to Pelamis Wave Power to gather the Pelamis technology development path knowledge.
Under the contract, Pelamis and Wave Energy Scotland will jointly work with an aim to widen the wave energy sector benefits.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "It is one that will foster collaborative research and development and will encourage technology developers to work with large engineering companies, academics and each other to address shared challenges.
"Only last month, Highland and Islands Enterprise, on behalf of Wave Energy Scotland, successfully acquired the intellectual property and a range of physical assets previously owned by Pelamis.
"And yesterday, Wave Energy Scotland agreed to work with 12 former Pelamis employees to capture the impressive learning they have acquired on their technology development journey."
The funding will be rolled out over the next 13 months.
Scottish Renewables Offshore Wind & Marine senior policy manager Lindsay Leask said: "This money will enable WES to continue the development of wave energy in Scotland and build upon the global lead we enjoy by funding work on some of the key challenges commonly encountered by technology developers.
"The industry has recognised for some time that a collaborative approach to solving these problems is vital to ensure wave energy devices can develop to commercial scale, and WES provides a space for that to happen.
