The World Ocean Council (WOC), ocean industry leadership alliance has partnered with OCEANOVATION, a company that connects innovators with investors and industry experts to drive innovation for a sustainable blue economy. The partners aim to foster innovation and collaboration to drive long term resilient ocean solutions in the public and private sector.
“By aligning our ecosystems, we can accelerate progress and amplify impact,” said Rick Wall, Founder of OCEANOVATION.
The partners said they will focus on:
- Innovation and technology development–Co-hosting ocean sustainability innovation challenges and competitions as well as publishing joint white papers and research to highlight ocean industry innovation trends.
- Blue growth and development– Facilitating funding and mentorship for ocean start-ups through WOC’s network, providing business incubation and market access, and enabling pilot projects between innovators and corporations.
- Events and thought leadership–Co-organizing an annual Ocean Innovation event as part of the WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS) and Global Blue Finance Summit (BlueFIN) during “Barcelona Blue Week” in November; co-hosting webinars and expert panels, as well as launching an Ocean Innovation Excellence Award to spotlight impactful contributions.
- Industry collaboration–Creating specialized working groups to unite corporations, start-ups, and cross-sector partners in tackling critical ocean challenges.
“This partnership is a major step forward in uniting the power of corporate and business leadership with innovation to tackle ocean resilience and sustainability challenges,” said Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, WEDG, CEO / Managing Director of the World Ocean Council. “Together with OCEANOVATION, we aim to unlock new opportunities for ocean start-ups and scale meaningful solutions globally with our corporate members and partners.”
