The Blue Economy: Best Practices

Sharing on behalf of the Economic Development Administration – U.S. Department of Commerce:

You are cordially invited to participate in the second in a series of Industries of the Future webinars to be held on July 12, 2023.  This virtual session, titled “The Blue Economy: Best Practices,” will build upon the first Blue Economy webinar held on June 21, 2023.  This session will feature best practices and innovative initiatives in supporting and advancing the Blue Economy and coastal resiliency and will highlight how Florida can position itself as a global leader in the Blue Economy.  Members of the Florida Ocean Alliance will join this session as discussants to help review the best practices.

Click here to register.

The Industries of the Future initiative is led by the DR-4673-FL and DR-4680-FL Economic Recovery Support Function (RSF), who is mission assigned to serve Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole.  It is the result of close partnerships between federal, state, local, and non-profit organizations that have missions to see Florida expand and diversify its industries to become more economically resilient.  This initiative includes a series of virtual sessions held during Summer 2023 that will culminate in an in-person, day-long summit on August 23, 2023. 

The purpose of this event series is to help Florida stakeholders better understand these promising industries of the future and what they could mean for Florida’s future economic base and to learn about how other states and communities are nurturing and growing these industries.  In the face of future weather events, this initiative will help state and community leaders see the potential for achieving greater economic diversification and resiliency through supporting industries of the future.

The Blue Economy refers to the sustainable use of ocean resources, encompassing various sectors such as tourism, fisheries, renewable energy, marine technology, and conservation.  Leaders in ocean technological innovation will discuss how they got started, the path they took to get to where they are today, their partners and networks, major assets, key challenges, solutions, and other major accomplishments.  Speakers and topics to be discussed include:

1. Christian Cowan, Executive Director, University of Rhode Island (URI) Research Foundation.  The Rhode Island Blue Economy Tech Cluster Coalition, led by the URI Research Foundation, aims to diversify the region’s blue economy away from its current tourism concentration and toward blue tech and ocean renewables.  The coalition proposes to achieve this diversification by furthering the state’s advanced blue economy, attracting new companies, developing more skilled positions in the advanced blue economy, and creating a blue economy innovation center.

2. Shannon Campbell, PhD, Senior Associate Vice President, The University of Southern Mississippi.    For decades, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has been strategically investing in coast-wide maritime infrastructure that positions coastal Mississippi to advance technology in an initial set of six blue tech innovation sectors.  Today, the USM-led Gulf Blue Initiative is charting the path forward by leading the region to the next chapter of growth focused on discoveries, advanced innovations, and new practices for blue economy commerce.

3. Joshua Berger, Founder and President/CEO, Washington Maritime Blue.  Washington Maritime Blue is leading a coalition to expand the Blue Economy growth cluster in partnership with an ecosystem of state and local governments, port and transit authorities, industry leaders, utilities, community groups, universities and research institutions, investors, and regional innovators.  The coalition is bringing together aligned cluster organizations across sectors to grow the ecosystem and enable the commercialization of new technologies, from initial concept through deployment.

In Case You Missed It:
The recording from session one on The Blue Economy: What It Means for Florida that was held on June 21^st has been posted to the website for this initiative: Industries of the Future 2023 and also available at https://vimeo.com/838765294?share=copy.  In addition, we now have an “Industries of the Future” email address: [email protected].