Author: paddy.wadden@oceansupercluster.ca
Achieving Canada’s Ocean-Climate Solutions Ambition
By: Eric Siegel, Chief Innovation Officer, Ocean Frontier Institute &
Executive in Residence, Creative Destruction Lab – Oceans
Ocean innovators, investors, scientists, and the Canadian government are aligning to position Canada as the global leader in ocean-climate solutions.
Earlier this year, the department of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) committed $125 million for Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) to grow Canada’s ocean economy.
More recently, ISED announced $154 million in funding to the Transforming Climate Action (TCA) research initiative through the Canada First Research Excellent Fund. Led by Dalhousie University in collaboration with Université du Québec à Rimouski, Université Laval and Memorial University of Newfoundland, the research will be the most intensive investigation into the ocean’s role in climate change and ocean-based climate mitigation ever undertaken.
Additional investments from national and international industry, research, and government partners bring the full project value to $400 million. This represents a globally significant investment to position Canada as a leader in ocean-climate science, innovation, climate solutions, and equitable adaption.
TCA is much more than a university science project. In addition to driving global research and innovation leadership from Canada, the initiative has a mandate to facilitate commercialization of the research to support economic growth and social innovation.
Driven by a robust innovation and commercialization strategy, and in collaboration with our many industry partners, TCA will advance the ocean science, technology, and innovations to start new ocean ventures and grow the existing cadre of excellent Canadian companies. TCA will deliver value to the OSC members and the other industry partners by co-funding world-class industrial postdoctoral fellows to work in partner companies, spur innovation through co-funded Seed Fund projects, and appraise the OSC, and industry associations with updates from frontline research.
And this is just the beginning of partnerships and innovation – TCA welcomes new relevant, strategic partnerships.
The time is right to make these strategic investments in Canada because the economic and climate mitigation opportunities are epic. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) asserted that all pathways to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C require carbon dioxide removal (CDR).
The amount of CDR required, depending on how quickly emissions are reduced, ranges from 5-16 gigaton CO2 per year by mid-century. With a forecast future value of $100/ton of CO2 removal, this would create an annual market value of between $500 billion to $1.6 trillion USD. Because the ocean stores 20 times more carbon than all forests and soils combined, and 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere, the ocean holds great promise of providing safe, responsible and durable carbon sequestration.
Canada has the potential to become the global leader for ocean-climate solution industries in the same way we have seen other regions transform into international hotspots. Think of how Austin, Texas became a tech hub, how Ontario become global leader in automotive manufacturing, or Aberdeen, Scotland’s transition into a global leader in offshore oil and gas technology.
Canada is already advancing towards this goal with world-class ocean industries working across most of the relevant sectors. Substantial Canadian non-dilutive funding and tax incentives are available from the likes of the Industrial Research Assistance Program, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and Scientific Research and Experimental Development to support early and growing companies.
There is a well-aligned ocean innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Canada, including Novarium, The Launch, COAST, COVE, Creative Destruction Lab Oceans, and the OSC and Ocean Startup Project (OSP) is continuing to support strategic innovations and collaborations to grow Canadian ocean companies. The TCA project will further advance science, technologies, and regulatory innovation to enable scalable ocean-climate ventures.
An identified gap in Canada is the dearth of risk capital focused on investing in massively scalable Canadian ocean-climate technologies and services. The U.S. has Propeller, a $100M venture capital fund focused on ocean-climate solutions, and Norway has Katapult Ocean, a $50 million USD venture capital fund focused on ocean-climate and ocean-energy solutions. There is not an equivalent private venture fund in Canada with the right people in the right places to identify, support and scale early-stage ocean-climate ventures.
Based on Canada’s strengths and momentum in ocean-climate innovation, a private fund would attract additional private money into the ocean sector and substantial foreign direct investments into the country, thereby growing investment resources across Canada.
The time for climate mitigation is short and the economic and impact rewards are enormous. Advances through OSC, TCA, and the many other people, programs, and companies working in Canada are aligned to be successful. This is the decade to advance science, innovate technologies, take risks, and make calculated and informed investments. Now is our time to put Canada on the map as the global-leader in innovative ocean-climate solutions.
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster Launches Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call For Proposals To Support The Sustainable Growth Of Canada’s Ocean Economy
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster Launches Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call for Proposals to Support the Sustainable Growth of Canada’s Ocean Economy
A Canada-wide Call for Proposals designed to increase development of Canada’s renewable energy industries
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) has launched a Canada-wide Call for Proposals under its new Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Program. This call aims to increase the development of technologies that leverage the power of the ocean to generate electricity, reduce carbon emissions, and provide renewable energy sources.
Canada’s ocean energy sector is expected to be an increasing key driver of growth and new jobs. Canada’s Ocean Supercluster’s Ambition 2035 sets a 5X growth ambition for Canada’s ocean economy by 2035, where ocean energy has the potential to grow from $9 billion in value in 2019 to $100 billion in 2035. While today Canada’s ocean economy is driven by traditional sources of energy, these ambitions will require significant investment and enabling ocean technology to reduce costs of new developments, support investment and innovation activity, and build out needed operational and monitoring capabilities, while maximizing the participation of Canadian firms.
“Our government is proud to support the Ocean Cluster as it leads the way in making our ocean economy more sustainable and provides a cleaner and greener future for everyone. The Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call for Proposals will create opportunities for Canadian companies to develop innovative ocean energy technologies while helping us achieve our climate objectives,” said The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.
Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said, “by leveraging the power of the ocean, we can reduce our reliance on traditional sources of energy and create a more sustainable future for all Canadians. With this Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call for Proposals, the OSC will help grow Canada’s offshore renewable energy sector through new technologies and partnerships while strengthening our supply chain. We are excited to call on the ingenuity of Canadian companies to help drive this important work and meet these 21st-century opportunities.”
Through the Call for Proposals, the OSC is seeking projects that will support Canada’s renewable ocean energy transformation with solutions that help reduce emissions and create advancements in carbon-neutral solutions that are part of a net zero future. The Call aims to support the greening of Canada’s economy by accelerating Canada’s renewable ocean energy industries, by:
- Investing in technologies required to enable or strengthen Canada’s offshore renewable energy sector;
- Leveraging offshore sector competencies and technologies for offshore renewable industries by encouraging strong partnership to increase sector development in Canada; and
- Building and strengthening the supply chain and cross-border partnerships involving Canadian companies needed to support new energy market entry points.
The Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call is designed to encourage OSC members to create solutions where ocean energy can be applied anywhere energy is consumed. Adopting ocean energy technologies will help Canada meet its net zero targets by reducing reliance on oil and gas, reducing carbon emissions, and creating more sustainable energy systems for the future. The Call invites applicants to apply their collective capability, diversity of insight, and resilience toward projects that make a direct positive impact for the OSC network and the broader Canadian ocean economy.
The application process is now open, beginning with the Expression of Interest (EOI) process. For consideration, organizations must submit a completed EOI by June 20, 2023, at 8 p.m. Atlantic time.
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster will host a virtual public information session on the Scaled Renewable Ocean Energy Call for Proposals on May 24, 2023, at 2 p.m. Atlantic time. To register, visit https://www.airmeet.com/e/2e252100-ef2f-11ed-b29a-87a35707e9e5
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announces $1.3M Virtual Ocean Project for a more digital ocean sector
Today, alongside project partners, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) announced the $1.3 million Virtual Ocean Project, led by DSA Ocean based in Victoria, BC. This project is creating a digital engineering platform called Virtual Ocean. A collection of custom software ‘apps’ will be built on the platform that will capitalize on specific needs in every ocean sector, including marine aquaculture, marine renewables, defence, and offshore energy.
Through this platform, marine businesses will be able to obtain answers to sector-specific questions in a simpler way compared to existing general-purpose desktop solutions. The Virtual Ocean platform will be based on accepted engineering-analysis technologies that allow users to understand how marine assets, technologies, and operations react in real ocean conditions.
In the Virtual Ocean Project, DSA Ocean will work with partner Cermaq Canada on creating, testing, and commercializing the platform. With a total project value of $1.3 million, under the cluster’s first round of funding, the OSC will provide $614 thousand to the project, with the balance of funding coming from project partners.
Virtual Ocean will benefit the ocean community by improving safety, supporting economic growth through the development of sustainable marine engineering projects, and providing accessible and affordable technology for businesses of all sizes, with a particular emphasis on smaller enterprises that otherwise may not be able to access marine engineering software at a reasonable cost.
At its essence, the Virtual Ocean Project embodies a cooperative initiative that actively involves Canadian ocean enterprises in resolving genuine issues encountered during the deployment and upkeep of marine hardware. Upon completion, Virtual Ocean will facilitate widespread utilization of simplified engineering software tools tailored to specific product niches within the marine industry, making the information more accessible to persons employed in the ocean sector who lack specific engineering expertise, and create and maintain 12 full time jobs and the potential for 60 indirect jobs.
Quotes:
“This new sustainable marine project, supported by Canada’s Ocean Cluster, is strengthening Canada’s ocean economy by making marine engineering software more accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes. This provides smaller businesses with a greater chance of success, increasing Canada’s competitive advantage in the ocean sector.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“With support from the Ocean Cluster, one of Canada’s five Global Innovation Clusters, this Virtual Ocean Project will bring valuable technologies to smaller sized companies, enabling them to compete in the larger ocean economy. It’s great to see innovations like this one benefitting Canadian companies of all sizes” – Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Member of Parliament for Halifax
“DSA Ocean and team are creating technology to adapt to ocean sectors, improving processes, increasing safety, and supporting economic growth. We are excited to announce the Virtual Ocean Project that will help make technology accessible to small and medium ocean companies.” – Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“The challenge we are taking on is how to make it easier for marine organizations to understand how wind, waves, currents will impact their structures. We’re excited to work with Cermaq to create new products that will be used to support the development of sustainable finfish aquaculture and marine renewable energy in Canada. This project is an important first-step for DSA Ocean in creating a suite of easy-to-use marine analysis software tools.” – Dean Steinke, Co-founder and CEO, DSA Ocean
“Cermaq Canada works in cooperation with nature and under the Governance of Indigenous rights holders to grow sustainable Atlantic salmon on the east coast and west coasts of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The technology and information developed from this project is critical to helping us ensure our innovation pathway has sustainability as a central objective by developing improved site-evaluation and engineering technologies for semi-closed containment systems.” – Brock Thomson, Cermaq Canada
About Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. The OSC has approved 86 projects with a total value of more than $400 million which will deliver more than 130 new made-in-Canada ocean products, processes, and services to sell to the world. For more information visit oceansupercluster.ca
Media Contact:
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announces $3M Fishing Smarter Not Harder Project improving conventional trawl operations
Today, alongside project partners, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) announced the $3 million Fishing Smarter Not Harder Project, led by the Northern Shrimp Research Foundation. In the project, the team is developing technology to bring near-real time images from the sea floor to the bridge to support decision making during trawling operations.
This project, part under the cluster’s first round of funding, answers the call to improve operations and meet regulatory requirements. The technology developed in the Fishing Smarter Not Harder Project reduces by-catch, avoids endangered species, and limit seabed impact. Included in the work is the development of an integrated Fishing Smarter Platform that includes data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to aid in situational awareness, species identification and quantity characterization.
The Northern Shrimp Research Foundation is working with partner Nunavut Fisheries Association on the project. With a total value of $3 million, the OSC is providing $1.5 million to the project, with the balance coming from project partners.
This technology can apply to all trawl fisheries, including Greenland Halibut. This species generates about $100 million annually in revenue with a high profit margin to the Inuit in Nunavut and Nunavik communities. Beyond the individual benefits to license and quota holders, this technology holds the potential to transform stock assessment methodologies which can provide a more complete analysis of the stock status, reducing the high level of uncertainty as to the true status of these stocks.
Quotes
“Through projects like this one, Canada’s Ocean Cluster is helping position our country as a leader in the fishing industry, benefiting us by creating great jobs, generating additional income, and becoming more competitive in the fishing sector.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“The Ocean Cluster, one of Canada’s five Global Innovation Clusters, continues to collaborate on key projects that are keeping Canada’s fishing sector competitive on the world stage while also directly benefiting our northern Canadian communities.” – Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Member of Parliament for Halifax
“We are excited to announce the Fishing Smarter Not Harder Project that is developing technology to improve conventional trawl operations, contributing to a more sustainable fishing industry and creating benefits for northern communities.” – Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“We believe that the technological innovations encompassed in this initiative will support our pursuit of key sustainability objectives including reduced fuel consumption, bycatch avoidance, and reduced seabed contact. This level of technological and financial risk could not have been contemplated without the support provided by the Ocean Supercluster.” – Bruce Chapman, Executive Director, Northern Shrimp Research Foundation
About Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. The OSC has approved 86 projects with a total value of more than $400 million which will deliver more than 130 new made-in-Canada ocean products, processes, and services to sell to the world.
Media Contact
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
709.725.7070
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announces $52M in new project activity to build on success in the ocean economy
Calls for proposals under the OSC’s 2021 Capacity and Supply Chain Expansion (CASCE) Program were launched under the cluster’s first round of funding. The 16 projects announced today build on the success of active OSC projects with expanded scope and will help industry access and acquire the capability Canadian companies need now to become and stay globally competitive. The CASCE Program is helping to strengthen and grow supply chains and increase the capacity of Canadian ocean-focused companies, de-risking the acquisition of critical assets that are needed to accelerate commercialization and enable existing projects to meet the growing demand for their products and services.
The 16 projects announced today include a total of $52 million in project funding. Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is providing $23 million, with the remainder of funding coming from project teams.
The expanded projects include:
| Tech Companion – Operational and In-Service Support $1.4M | This project will support the development and deployment of digital technologies for ocean manufacturers and service providers through an integrated service-hub called “Tech Companion” that centralizes data in a remotely accessible, intelligent, and automated digital ecosystem for use in ocean industries. | Modest Tree Media Inc Cartenav Solutions Inc Mitacs Inc |
|---|---|---|
| Production Resilience in Subsea Sensor Manufacturing Project (PRISSM) $1.5M | The PRISSM project’s aim is to enhance and expand Canadian production capability and supply chain resilience in subsea optical-sensor manufacturing to meet the increasing market demand. | Voyis Imaging Inc. Advantage Machine & Tool Inc. |
| COMPASS Scale-Up Project - $3.3M | This project will assist the business to scale up production and develop enhanced versions for additional applications of the Thin Line Array developed in the original project – a portable technology capable of collecting and analyzing passive acoustic data in real time, onboard untethered autonomous underwater vehicles. | Sensor Technology Ltd Kraken Robotics JASCO Applied Sciences Smart Sea Tech |
| Enhanced SPC Manufacturing Application Data Collection and Logistics Project $3.3 M | GIT is expanding into a Net Zero facility in Atlantic Canada and increasing production capacity 12 times while improving efficiency through automation and Artificial Intelligence. In this project, GIT is collaborating with shipyards to improve access to sustainable biocide free, low friction coatings across Canada and the globe. | Graphite Innovation and Technologies Inc. Canadian Maritime Engineering Ltd |
| Enhancing the OceanDNA System via Automation and Market Positioning Project $1.1M | This project will enable eDNAtec to expand its analytical capacity to meet growing customer demands, as well as performing real-world demonstration projects of the benefits of eDNA technologies in fisheries and biodiversity management with the Nunavut Fisheries Association. | eDNAtec Inc Nunavut Fisheries Association |
| Expansion of Canadian Rope-on-Command Fishing Capacity Project $1.4M | This project is supporting Ashored to increase manufacturing capabilities and strengthen supply chains to ensure that their rope-on-command technology can be delivered to fishermen on time and on budget. | Ashored Inc. Sensor Technology Ltd eSonar Inc. |
| TallyVision $1.1M | This project will embed both machine learning and computer vision artificial intelligence (AI) into seafood production and traceability software and advance ThisFish’s work on integrating computer vision technology - branded TallyVision. | ThisFish Inc. Orca Specialty Foods Ltd. Eurofish S.A. |
| Commercialization of Sustainable Protein for Aquaculture: Market Introductory $7M | This project will expand DeNova’s capacity to produce large volumes of its protein ingredient that will accelerate market adoption and support the design of its first-level commercial plant. This will ultimately enable market entry by the end of 2023, growing to full scale production of 100,000 metric tons of protein per year by 2026. | DeNova Inc. CFFI Ventures Center for Aquaculture Technologies The Verschuren Centre Innovasea Marine Systems Canada Ltd Smallfood MCA Consulting Cooke |
| Multiport International Data Enhancement (MIDE) $11.1M | This project focuses on the expansion of the BNSuite of applications developed in the original PIED project. MIDE focuses on the development of BNNet, an application that provides the translation and correction functions needed to make the organization work more efficient and reliable. | BlueNode Saab Technologies |
| Data Enhancement Framework (DEF) $1M | This project builds on MIDE, the predecessor project, focusing on a critical component of the value/supply chain in data management software application, the connectivity to the various operational functions of an organization. | BlueNode Port of Saint John |
| Data Enhancement Framework 2 (DEF2) $2.7M | This project builds on DEF, the predecessor project. The software will analyze operational functions of an organization for the purposes of operational analysis and coordination amongst stakeholders; as well as the appropriate cyber-security to allow data collaboration. | BlueNode Port of Saint John PSAGlobal Port of Halifax |
| Commercialization & Capacity Expansion of OSC Projects $1.4M | This project is focusing on four significant opportunities that expand on the original RBR project: acquisition of a deep pressure vessel tank; building an optical test; acquisition of a Fast-Cooling Temperature Calibration (TCal) Bath; and acquisition of an incoming inspection optical scanner. | RBR Ltd. Plymouth Marine Laboratory Department of Fisheries and Oceans |
| Project Foundry $6.6M | This project will deliver environmental benefits to the ocean economy through the deployment of Katal’s first fuel supply depot in the world located on Canada’s East Coast and serving the marine sector. | Katal Energy Inc Valent Low Carbon Technologies Ltd. Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services |
| Remote Ocean Data Surveillance and Analysis (RODSA) $4M | This project brings together Canadian ocean technology innovators to integrate existing and emerging systems onto a common platform. Specifically, the project will enable advanced, remote surveillance and inspections of ocean infrastructure. | Shift Environmental Technologies Ltd. BlueNode Inc. Avestec VideoRay Nanaimo Port Authority Snuneymuxw First Nation |
| CoLab Enterprise Phase II - Commercialization, Expansion and Technological Scaling $3M | This project will focus on two main areas: accelerating commercialization of CoLab Enterprise and advancing the software solution for Enterprise Design Review. | CoLab Software Inc. Genoa Design Kraken Robotics ERINL Aker Solutions Canada Inc. |
| Offshore Connected Worker Mixed Reality Application Project $1.9M | This project will implement the technology of a Connected Worker (CW) offshore in a digital twin environment, reducing the risks and adding value for offshore marine operations. | Horizon Maritime Services Ltd. Allswater Marine Consultants Ltd. VMG Strategic Consulting Kognitiv Spark Inc Movella Technologies N.A. Inc. |
Quotes:
“Our government continues to collaborate with Canada’s Ocean Cluster to strengthen and grow supply chains so that we can support Canadian ocean-focused companies. As ocean-focused projects gain momentum and scale up, our support to expand 16 projects with a total of $52 million in new funding will help those companies as they directly increase commercialization benefits and have positive impacts on Canadian competitiveness in the ocean economy.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“Through its Capacity and Supply Chain Expansion Program, Canada’s Ocean Cluster has leveraged its ability to foster collaboration and connect key members of the ocean sector to increase their commercialization capacities. The renewed support announced today will help take these successful projects to the next level, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.” – Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Member of Parliament for Halifax
“OSC projects are lowering emissions, improving processes, and creating a more digital, sustainable, and inclusive ocean economy. We are excited to announce these 16 expanded projects that will build on this momentum, helping existing solutions extend their reach and address the world’s largest ocean challenges.” – Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“We are proud to be able to extend the capabilities of Tech Companion to provide further digitalization of maintenance procedures on complex equipment. By partnering with CarteNav to connect to their network of IoT devices and sensors, operators using Tech Companion are able to visualize surveillance assets in an augmented-reality view, while leveraging real-time data visualization and object recognition.” – Emily Smits, CEO, Modest Tree
“Our Systems Business Unit continues to gain traction by creating and delivering adaptable, flexible solutions to address the constantly growing and evolving ocean acoustic market’s needs and demands. We’ve been listening, educating, and delivering with promising results. Our nimble footprint, enabled by the OSC, has allowed us to pivot as the market requires and scale with the opportunity. There would have been little chance to do so without OSC’s support. In the words of Walter Elliot, “perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Niru Somayajula, President & CEO, Sensor Technology
“GIT is excited to continue our collaboration with Canada’s Ocean Supercluster and build on our success achieved through the Smart Protective Coatings Technology Project. This new project funding will provide GIT more with resources to expand production capacity, replicate data and improve coating applications globally.” – Mo AlGermozi, CEO, Graphite Innovation & Technologies (GIT)
We are grateful for Canada’s Ocean Super Cluster’s continued support. This grant directly supports the commercialization of R&D developed through the OceanDNA System Technology Leadership project, led by eDNAtec. Our firm has seen increased demand for our biomonitoring services based upon the measurement of environmental DNA (eDNA). The capacity increases developed through this CASCE project will allow us to meet that demand by increasing our analytical throughput by more than 100%. Our partner on the project, the Nunavut Fisheries Association, will benefit through the training of personnel in eDNA sampling; outfitting vessels to perform the sampling; and the continued application of eDNA technologies towards fisheries management.” – Steve Barrett, CEO, eDNAtec – Visit ednatec.com to learn more about the company, its innovations and solutions.
“With the awarding of this second Ocean Supercluster projected, Ashored is pleased to be working once again with our partners at eSonar and sensor technologies to further the advancement of rope-on-command fishing in Canada by expanding our production capabilities and supply chain to meet the growing demand for this innovative technology.” – Aaron Stevenson, CEO, Ashored
“Funding from Canada´s Ocean Supercluster is going to be critical for advancing our R&D in artificial intelligence in the seafood industry. We´re excited to work with our industry partners Orca Specialty Foods in British Columbia and Eurofish S.A. in Ecuador to pioneer new computer vision and machine learning innovations to improve the profitability and sustainability of the seafood industry. Canada´s Ocean Supercluster is helping us become global leaders in AI for seafood.” – Eric Enno Tam, CEO & Co-Founder, ThisFish
“The ongoing support of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster through the Capacity and Supply Chain Expansion program has enabled DeNova to build a new pilot facility and laboratories, expanding our R&D and in-house production capacity of our sustainable aquafeed protein ingredient. This growth has unlocked the ability to distribute large customer samples and validate production processes under industrial conditions, critically advancing the commercialization of DeNova’s sustainable protein and contributing to healthier oceans.” – Brianna Stratton, President & Founder, DeNova
“As Canada’s first living lab for the transportation industry, The PIER is focused on entering the next stage of innovation and technology development. The Data Enhancement Framework, one of the innovative projects taking place at The PIER, will enable the Halifax Port Authority in cooperation with BlueNode and PSA Global to monitor, track and mitigate carbon dioxide emissions through the Port of Halifax, providing cargo owners and global supply chain partners more sustainable shipping options through the Port of Halifax.” – Louis Beaubien, Co-Founder & CEO, BlueNode
“The OSC has been a tremendous development partner. Their support has helped accelerate our commercialization efforts to bring emission reduction solutions to the ocean economy.” – Craig Latimer, CEO, Katal Energy
“Shift, in collaboration with its development partners and end-users, is driving digital transformation in the marine services industry through the implementation of multi-mission and multi-domain autonomous platforms and sensor suites. These innovative solutions aim to enhance the safety, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of marine services delivery. This CASCE project is a cutting-edge application for port infrastructure inspection and marine incident response, that showcases the expanded capabilities of small uncrewed systems to support enhanced decision making.” – James Spencer, Founder & CEO, Shift Environmental Technologies
“CoLab is focused on building technology that helps enterprise manufacturing organizations develop better products faster. The support from Ocean Supercluster Phase I has allowed us to accelerate our own product development by at least 12 months and help large manufacturing companies leverage the power of Cloud based collaboration years sooner. Phase II will enable strategic investments in security, integrations, and data analytics to better support current and future customers.” – CoLab Software Management Team
“We’re excited to work alongside our partners at Allswater Marine, helping to lead the Connected Worker (CW) project. This new investment from OSC means that we can expand this ship to shore, modern digital technology to more vessels, reducing the risk to offshore companies, allowing for greater efficiency, and improving the overall health and well-being in the offshore environment. This innovative remote digital support application allows seafarers to connect to shore-based resources when needed and optimizes vessel operations services provided to our customers.” – Steve Widmeyer, CEO Horizon Maritime Services Ltd.
About Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. The OSC has approved 86 projects with a total value of more than $400 million which will deliver more than 130 new made-in-Canada ocean products, processes, and services to sell to the world. For more information visit oceansupercluster.ca
Media Contact:
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announces $14.1M Oneka Glacier Project making ocean a sustainable and affordable source of freshwater
(Sherbrooke, QC) Today, alongside project partners, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) announced the $14.1 million Oneka Glacier Project – Utility-Scale Wave Powered Sustainable Desalination, led by Oneka Technologies, a Sherbrooke, Quebec-based clean tech company. In the project, Oneka will scale up its wave-powered desalination technology to utility-scale, creating a desalination “Glacier” system to make the ocean a sustainable and affordable source of freshwater.
Oneka Technologies will work with project partners AF Theriault who is supporting the manufacturing the hull and structure of the Glaciers’; H2O Innovation who is providing the process plant for the desalination portion of the Glacier technology; and government partner, the City of Barrington, NS who will provide a coastal site for buoy installation at Cape Sable Island. With a total project value of $14.1 million, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster will provide $6.7 million in funding with the balance of coming from project partners.
Since the ocean contains almost all the world’s water and approximately half the world’s population lives within 100 km of a coast, there is a significant opportunity for portable, modular, energy efficient desalination plants in coastal areas. The project team will use breakthrough technology to harness wave power to produce fresh water, producing no GHG emissions, requiring minimal land, and employing responsible brine-using modular units for water-scarce regions globally while also reducing water costs by two-thirds or more in identified markets.
Through the Oneka Glacier Project and the technological advancements it employs, Canada can become the global hub of ocean-supplied sustainable freshwater for coastal populations and industries by exporting this high-value technology around the world, helping realize its ambition of bringing fresh water to all communities.
Quotes:
“Through this investment, our government is supporting breakthrough wave-power technology that will enable the production of fresh water at a very low cost and without GHG emissions. Scaling up this project is key for the company’s ability to create well-paying jobs, accelerate its commercialization efforts and seize export opportunities.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“Our government is proud to contribute to Oneka Technologies’ vision. This Quebec-based clean tech company is working to scale up its desalination buoy system, granting coastal communities more affordable and sustainable access to fresh drinking water. This innovative project is taking Canada one step further toward becoming a global leader in providing technology for sustainable fresh water for coastal populations and industries.” – The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
“I am committed to the environment and the adoption of clean technologies. Today, Canada’s Ocean Cluster announced its partnership with Oneka Technologies and its project partners to produce fresh water at the lowest possible cost and without carbon emissions by harnessing wave power. It’s amazing to see such a revolutionary project, right here in our community, that could help increase global access to safe drinking water.” – Élisabeth Brière, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke
“We are extremely excited to announce the Oneka Glacier project, our first ever Quebec-led project that will not only deliver new economic activity in ocean, but also create a solution to a significant challenge – access to freshwater for communities of all sizes. We are inspired by the innovation of this project team and excited that Canada’s Ocean Supercluster can help make it a reality.” – Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“As Canadians, we are privileged with an abundance of freshwater. However, freshwater scarcity is one of the world’s greatest 21st century challenges. I am proud that we team up with incredible partners, H2O Innovation and AF Theriault to develop our Glacier unit and bring our know-how and expertise to the rest of the world. Propelled by the invaluable help of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, this sustainable source of water will make coastal populations and industries across the globe, including the Barrington Municipality, in Nova Scotia, more resilient to impacts of climate change.” – Dragan Tutic, CEO and Founder of Oneka Technologies
“We have been delivering land-based desalination plants all over the world for over 20 years now. With this project, we will apply our deep desalination expertise to ocean-based desalination plants solely powered by wave energy. While desalination is a robust and sustainable solution to water scarcity, it is often perceived as an energy-intensive process that uses meaningful portions of grid and conventional energy sources. Oneka’s innovative approach, which uses the power from the waves to mechanically push the water through our reverse osmosis systems, is a technological game changer because it has literally no carbon footprint and uses free, untapped, consistent, and renewable energy extracted right at the location of the desalination plant on the floating vessel. We are incredibly proud to be a consortium partner for this visionary project.” – Guillaume Clairet, COO of H2O Innovation
“We are delighted to be partnering with Oneka Technologies for the achievement of a project that will meet a growing need in the world, access to drinking water. We believe that desalination is part of the solution if we use systems that have been designed to operate in a sustainable manner. This project is an opportunity for our employees to put their expertise to good use by integrating their know-how which will facilitate the development of this innovation. In addition, it allows AF Theriault, which operates in a cyclical maritime industry, to diversify its markets. We are excited to create a success story with Oneka and its partners.” – Gilles Theriault, President of AF Theriault
About Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. The OSC has approved 86 projects with a total value of more than $400 million which will deliver more than 130 new made-in-Canada ocean products, processes, and services to sell to the world
About Oneka Technologies
Oneka Technologies is a Canadian company working in the water technology sector, with a growing international presence. Its mission is to make the oceans a sustainable and affordable source of freshwater. Using only the renewable energy created through ocean waves, Oneka turns seawater into fresh water, allowing coastal communities and industries facing water scarcity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Founded in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 2015, the company employs more than 25 employees and has operations in Florida, Chile and soon, in Nova Scotia.
Media Contacts:
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
709.725.7070
Camille St-Pierre
Oneka Technologies
camille@onekawater.com
819.485.0335 ext. 711
Human Resources Manager
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) is an innovative and imaginative organization with national scope that is ensuring we as Canadians, achieve sustainable economic growth in our ocean-based industries while preserving the health and protection of one of our greatest natural resources. The OSC’s mandate is to collaborate with investors and partners from across ocean industries to develop and commercialize innovative solutions to shared challenges. The OSC guides ideas from the conceptual to the actual; partnering with industries who have big goals and innovative concepts. Actualizing these ideas is our passion and the process is our mission. Our organizational values include creativity, inclusion, collaboration, and inclusion. To learn more, click www.oceansupercluster.ca.
THE ROLE:
The OSC has a team of over 25 employees across six provinces and growing. We are looking for an innovative thinker to drive our HR agenda and contribute to the growth, retention and development of the team supporting the ocean economy and the health of the planet. Reporting to, and working with, our CAO, the successful candidate will be our primary HR lead across a variety of areas and help drive our HR agenda and take ownership of key HR activities and initiatives. With a number of HR programs and initiatives in place, we are looking for someone to take lead and make recommendations to build on what is already in place. This is an exciting role that will help shape HR at the OSC and provide value across a variety of areas for the organization.
KEY FUNCTIONS:
• Formulate, lead and execute recruitment and retention strategies to attract and retain talent
• Drive our performance management and employee engagement programs
• Deliver and shape our learning and growth plan
• Oversee our onboarding and offboarding programs
• Participate in the OSC’s EDI committee and with implementation of our EDI plan
• Play an active role on the OSC’s social committee
• Assist with planning staff retreats and offsites
• Drive reporting and maximize the use of data/usage of HR systems
• Enhance existing HR policies, systems and processes, creating new policies and processes as required
• Drive OSC’s internal communications as it pertains to talent and HR
OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE:
• 5-10 years of relevant hands-on experience in HR across a variety of functional areas including performance management
• Relevant university degree (e.g., Business/Commerce) with a concentration in Human Resource
• Experience leading and designing programs or enhancing elements of existing programs and policies
• Familiarity with (or experience) establishing and executing talent strategies
• Comfortable working both with senior teams and junior staff members
• Ability to connect and easily forge relationships with staff
• Comfortable working remotely and engaging virtually with key stakeholders
• Self-starter who can work independently to successfully deliver outcomes
• HR designation would be considered an asset
WHY JOIN OUR TEAM?
• We are excited to continue building our team with experienced professionals who are passionate about realizing Canada’s opportunity and growing the ocean economy in a digital, sustainable, and inclusive way.
• We pride ourselves on our core values – creativity, inclusion, collaboration, and ambition.
• We offer an attractive Total Compensation package which includes competitive salaries, group RRSP, comprehensive health benefits, and professional development opportunities.
HOW TO APPLY: https://www.jumpcareers.ca/bullhorn/#/jobs/1106
Looking Ahead With Great Ambition
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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
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Canada’s Ocean Ambition: Shaping the next phase of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
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