Ocean Technology Ventures are companies with business models utilizing ocean technology to address issues related to marine science and conservation. Such technologies include naval defense systems, monitoring tools for climate change and change tracking purposes, commercial fisheries techniques and aquaculture practices as well as marine renewable energy options, among others.
The foresight exercise produces a portfolio of research directions that could form sustainable blue economy trajectories. But these imagined futures must be translated into concrete proposals.
What is the Blue Economy?
The Blue Economy is a vision of economic development that seeks to balance economic growth with ocean health and environmental sustainability. It relies on the notion of an interdependent relationship between ocean ecosystems and human economies as well as innovative methods of utilising ocean resources while upholding social and ecological integrity.
Traditional ocean economies develop by exploiting marine resources – including maritime transport, commercial fishing and oil/gas/mineral extraction activities – for economic gain without taking into account their effects on ocean ecosystems or their health/productivity in terms of future health/productivity/prosperity. Blue Economy promotes economic development which supports both innovation and exploitation while simultaneously respecting environmental sustainability.
As the global economy transitions from fossil fuels to renewables, researchers are creating innovative new technologies to harness the sea’s power. These advances offer opportunities to develop an eco-friendly Blue Economy that supports sustainability.
PNNL researchers are involved in several blue economy projects to create high-value marine products and services, such as bio-fuels derived from algae or marine microbes, carbon capture and storage, ocean sensor networks, robotic oceanography platforms and marine autonomous vehicles.
These research efforts are supported by an impressive range of partners from across the world – private sector companies, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and governments alike. Together we seek to find innovative solutions that address some of the greatest ocean challenges such as plastic pollution and climate change.
Research and development activities of our Blue Economy Division focus on four broad areas that contribute to creating a more sustainable blue economy:
Our scientists are harnessing their expertise in ocean management, artificial intelligence, fish tracking and tracing and ocean data science to contribute to creating a more sustainable Blue Economy that reduces the risk of oceans becoming waste dumps while increasing their value as natural capital.
Why is the Blue Economy important?
The Blue Economy is an integral element of economic development and growth. It encompasses activities connected with ocean and coastlines such as maritime transport, tourism and fisheries as well as innovations related to deep-sea mineral mining, marine renewable energy production, offshore aquaculture farming and blue biotechnology development. While these sectors generate considerable economic wealth, their long-term success relies heavily on sustainable practices that protect and restore marine and coastal ecosystems – this requires cross-sector expertise as well as collaboration from communities, indigenous groups, nongovernmental organisations and philanthropic partners alike.
As well as its natural services, ocean biodiversity provides important services that help regulate climate change, filter water and maintain food security. While its benefits are clear, we must address its challenges – climate change, overfishing, ocean plastic pollution and rising sea levels among them – so this important sector continues to thrive for future generations.
NOAA stands as the world’s premier ocean observation and research organization, helping address challenges associated with ocean resources while conserving our ocean ecosystem services. In partnership with public, private, and philanthropic sectors to foster innovations that increase economic wealth generation while simultaneously protecting its natural resources and ecological services.
Ocean Technology Ventures maintains an active portfolio of investments in the Blue Economy, including companies working to address problems in marine renewable energy, marine transportation, biodegradable packaging, fish tracking technologies and ocean nutrient management. Furthermore, we have invested in companies exploring ocean carbon capture and storage.
Success of the Blue Economy depends on our ability to quickly align its benefits with ocean sustainability goals, as well as balance economic opportunities against environmental and social costs. By framing these as one challenge or opportunity, we can galvanize stakeholders from across industries in order to bring about necessary shifts for change that ensure an ocean that will prosper for many more years. According to Hudson, this is necessary if we want a prosperous and sustainable future for ocean.
What are the opportunities in the Blue Economy?
The oceans and coastal areas provide vital natural resources, yielding trillions of dollars annually in goods and services. Unfortunately, their health is under threat by climate change, over-fishing and pollution of oceans – which also provides vital services such as shipping, seafood production and tourism industries. A sustainable blue economy must address these challenges to create resilient futures for us all.
Propeller, a $100 million fund dedicated to investing in companies addressing climate change with ocean solutions, recently made its debut. Backed by leading venture capital and angel investors as well as philanthropic organizations like Marc Benioff’s Schmidt Ocean Institute, Propeller will invest in companies who are developing next-generation innovations for ocean exploration, aquaculture and traditional fisheries management, marine defense products, undersea communications systems, ocean observation and monitoring and more. Its first portfolio already includes such companies.
Investments like these provide crucial capital for entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize technologies to address ocean conservation and global economic concerns. Furthermore, such investments foster innovation that addresses such threats to both our oceans and global economy.
Numerous investors are exploring opportunities in the emerging blue economy, with some of the world’s largest funds making strategic investments in ocean technology firms. On this program, you’ll hear directly from these investors why they are making these investments, what types of companies and technologies attract their interest, and where they see emerging opportunities.
The session will also include a panel discussion featuring experts in the field on how the ocean is altering the global economy and what companies must do to thrive in its new environment. Panelists will explore the impacts of sustainable Blue Economy practices while sharing insights gained from their work accelerating innovative company creation. Furthermore, governments and international institutions will also discuss ways to foster its development through policies or regulations changes.
What are the challenges in the Blue Economy?
The Blue Economy can provide jobs and income to coastal communities while simultaneously improving ocean health, but only if it is sustainable development. Sustainable development involves finding an appropriate balance between economic growth, social equity (such as job creation and poverty reduction) and environmental preservation. Each element of the Blue Economy: ocean resource exploitation, ecotourism and food security, can bring valuable contributions to society but must be managed carefully in order to avoid unintended unsustainable impacts.
Sustainable blue economy initiatives can bring tangible advantages to local communities, including enhanced livelihoods and access to markets for marine products. But in order for it to remain successful and sustainable, climate change, human-rights abuses, and overfishing must also be tackled head on.
Develop the Blue Economy requires new approaches to ocean governance for coastal communities that ensure responsible stewardship of our seas and their ecosystem services. To this end, stakeholders must be engaged and there be an open exchange of ideas between all involved.
One way of approaching this problem is with foresight and futures approaches. These tools can help identify research and innovation priorities as well as different pathways toward creating a blue economy that is sustainable by 2030.
Particularly, scenarios provide an effective means of exploring alternative futures for ocean and coastal sectors, with this approach having been used successfully in several sectors such as marine biology, fisheries management, aquaculture production and bioenergy development.
Scenario building exercises provide invaluable information to inform strategic planning for an industry, while pinpointing areas ripe for research and development investment.
Recently, researchers utilized foresight to explore trends and developments that may influence future pathways of the blue economy. With this information in hand, they devised scenarios to examine marine science’s sustainable blue economy future, ultimately yielding promising research directions toward an ocean sustainability trajectory – all the while using their findings as part of policy making and marine management plans.
