By Andrew Findlay, Douglas Magazine
“Outside the big white tent at Ship Point Pier, Nanaimo company Seamor Marine Ltd. conducts a demonstration subsea excursion beneath the dock with one of its remotely operated vehicles. Inside the tent, Brandon Wright, founder and CEO of Victoria’s Barnacle Systems, explains to a packed crowd how the U.S. military is using his company’s proprietary tech to monitor the impact that rapid assault marine vessels may be having on a Navy SEAL’s brain.
Jason Goldsworthy, executive director of COAST (Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technology), looks on with a mix of relief and pride. Relief that after more than a year of scheming and planning, COAST’s inaugural Ocean Tech Live event had finally gone “live.” And pride at seeing homegrown West Coast companies making waves in the ocean-tech sector.
“We’re still trying to get the word out that the blue economy and ocean technology and ocean innovation is happening here, and British Columbia and Greater Victoria is a destination for it,” Goldsworthy told Douglas magazine. “I don’t think the general public have that same understanding. So, a big part of this event is to have it in a very visible location and get some public involvement and interest…”
