In a December press release, it was announced that NOAA and the Department of Commerce recommended awards totaling $54.3 million to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. Organizations will use these funds to bring to market solutions that will benefit coastal resilience and a sustainable Blue Economy.
According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem.”
Recommended awardees and funding amounts include:
StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator. UC San Diego-Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Rady School of Management: $13.5 million.
gener8tor Great Lakes Innovation Accelerator. gener8tor Management, LLC: $13.4 million.
VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator. National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance, Inc. (dba VentureWell): $13.5 million.
The Continuum. Tampa Bay Wave, Seaworthy Collective, St. Petersburg Innovation District, Braid Theory, University of South Florida, Ocean Exchange, World Ocean Council: $13.9 million.
Recommended awards will support the development of technologies and services that address all of the following topics:
Ocean Renewable Energy to support the siting, construction and operation of ocean renewable energy resources.
Coastal and ocean carbon sequestration monitoring and accounting to track the effectiveness and environmental impact of removing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and storing it in the deep ocean.
Hazard mitigation and coastal resilience to improve wind and water level predictions that help prepare for and reduce beach erosion, coastal flooding and — most important — prevent loss of human life.
Ecosystem Services to accurately assess and forecast ecosystem changes, like shifts in species location, marine heat waves or changes in sea level and to support decision makers, including natural resource managers, offshore operators, permitting agencies and others who require the best available science, data and predictions to reduce uncertainty in decision making processes.
According to NOAA “More than 40% of the U.S. population lives in coastal counties that produce in excess of $9.65 trillion in goods and services and employ 54.6 million people.
Picture courtesy of NOAA