The Canadian oceantech community – and the Atlantic Canadian contingent in particular – is on full display at the Oceanology International conference in London, seeking investment, customers and international partnerships.

Oceanology International – whose London event is taking place this week – bills itself as the leading forum in the world to connect with the global science and ocean technology community. The Canadian delegation fills a red-carpeted swath of the conference hall, with several Canadian oceantech startups staffing booths inside the country’s section and in other parts of the hall.

There are two inter-related trends or initiatives on display at Oceanology this week. First, governments and support organizations have ambitious plans for the sector, hoping to quintuple the size of Canada’s ocean economy in the next 11 years. Second, individual companies are seeking international customers, partners and investors. The latter would be a key component in realizing the former.

“Our aim is to have 5X growth by 2035,” said Shelly Petten, the Executive Director of St. John’s-based OceansAdvance. “That would mean a contribution of $220 billion to the Canadian economy.”

Petten was speaking at a kick-off event for the Canadian delegation at Canada House on Trafalgar Square on Monday. Due to last minute changes, members of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster missed the event and Petten spoke on their behalf.

In an interview at the first day of Oceanology on Tuesday, the Supercluster’s Chief Growth and Investment Officer Jennifer LaPlante described the $220 billion goal as “ambitious” and said it would include about $100 billion in offshore energy projects, mainly renewable energy like wind power. Should those projects be delayed by supply chain problems or tardy regulatory approvals, it would be difficult to hit the goal by 2035, she said.

But the community is still targeting strong growth in a range of areas, such as transport, tourism and food production. She hopes this week to get the word out to potential partners from around the world that Canada is looking for collaboration and there are opportunities for partnerships.

“We’re looking for solid investment in the ecosystem because we have money to invest,” said LaPlante. She noted the Supercluster always has an open call for R&D project proposals, which the organization helps to fund. And it has specific calls now for proposals for sustainable seafood and marine transport projects. (Expressions of interest for these two must be submitted by April 16.)

In a sign of cross-border collaboration, the Ocean Technology Council of Nova Scotia on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Maritime UK Solent, which is the main industry association for British maritime companies. The two parties said the agreement aims to strengthen investment and share future maritime business opportunities to ensure both jurisdictions' maritime businesses are connected.

“We’re witnessing a sea change in maritime [industries],” said Alistair Trower, the OTCNS board member who represented the Nova Scotian organization. “It’s really going to change in the next few years, extending right to the end of the decade.”

The change will be driven by the growing cross-border cooperation, the improving innovation leadership, the need to address climate change, and geopolitical problems around the world, said Trower, whose day job is Director of Business Development at the Halifax engineering firm, Enginuity.

Collaboration across the Atlantic Ocean was a theme among the Canadian startups we spoke to. All have products in the market and are looking for greater exposure, and hopefully, more sales.

“We’re finding the B2B engagement is a really significant piece of what’s on offer here, and the first day is the most active for B2B,” said Gary Dinn, CEO of St. John’s-based eSonar.

“Ashored coming to Oceanology International is a testament to our rope-on-command platform being used for applications outside of the commercial fixed-trapped fisheries of crab and lobster,” said Ashored Innovations Chief Business Development Officer Stephen Jones. “For us, we are marketing ourselves and focused on the unmanned deployment and retrieval of underwater assets, and for this show it is sensor deployment, of which the trade show is full of opportunities.”