Ocean Startup Project: Free Webinar Series
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Free webinar series launched to inspire and celebrate ocean innovators.
In light of the COVID-19 situation, the Ocean Startup Project cancelled its in-person Engage Café events that were scheduled in communities across Atlantic Canada. Now, people in Atlantic Canada and around the world can participate virtually through a weekly, interactive webinar series designed to engage people who have ideas for ocean companies and technology solutions to help boost the ocean economy.
High-caliber speakers are lined up for the #OceanofOpportunities webinar series. The first webinar, at 12:00 pm on Thursday, April 2, will feature Julie Angus, CEO and co-founder of Open Ocean Robotics. She is not only a scientist and ocean adventurer, she grew a self-proclaimed "geeky project" in a garage into an award-winning, well-funded ocean company.
"Business as usual is next to impossible right now, and our webinars are an important avenue for connecting with more Atlantic Canadians than through our in-person events," said Don Grant, executive director of Ocean Startup Project. "We are especially eager to reach entrepreneurs from industry and innovators from academia, including students, researchers and faculty, as well as people who want to leverage Atlantic Canada and the incredible resources this region has to offer."
Like the original Engage Cafés, these webinars will promote the opportunities available in the ocean economy and inspire people to consider ocean entrepreneurship or to focus their existing startup on solving identified challenges that industry must overcome. The webinars aim to share success stories of local and international ocean innovators and inform people of new funding, programs and other supports available for early stage ocean startups.
"Earlier in 2020, by hosting three Engage Cafés in Corner Brook in Newfoundland, and Sydney and Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, we saw first-hand how excited people are about the opportunities in the ocean sector in Atlantic Canada," said Grant. "Now, the Ocean Startup Project team can continue to encourage, support and bring Atlantic Canadians together in a virtual environment to discuss the ocean economy's potential and what the Project can do to support them."
For more information and details on how to join the webinar, click here.
About Ocean Startup Project
In February 2020, Canada's Ocean Supercluster announced its first Innovation Ecosystem Project was the Ocean Startup Project, a pan-Atlantic collaboration to create and grow high-quality ocean technology companies. Collaborators include: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) - Atlantic, Genesis, Innovacorp, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, PEI BioAlliance, and Springboard Atlantic. Initially, the Ocean Startup Project will focus on interacting with entrepreneurs from industry and innovators from academia to identify ideas and companies with potential to solve challenges facing the ocean sector. Following that funnel development, the Ocean Startup Project's focus will shift to acceleration and incubation programs to prepare the companies for success.
For more information, please contact:
Natasha Legay
Ocean Startup Project
nlegay@oceanstartupproject.ca
902.818.2327
Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 24, 2020