There’s an oceans industry symposium happening next month that’s so huge it’s being held on both sides of the Atlantic.

The German Canadian Concourse, or GCC, series of symposiums will hold its fifth edition on Nov. 17 and will focus on the use of data analytics pertaining to ocean-based industries. The goal of the day-long event, which will be held concurrently in Halifax and Berlin, will be to explore ways in which Canadians and Germans can work together in the field.

The title of the session, which will be held in English, is: "Across the Data Pond – Analyzing a Sea of Ocean Data: Germany's and Canada's deep dive into Ocean Analytics and its potential for spurring a new industry niche".

“We have reached the state where ocean data is being generated at a rate faster than it can be assessed and interpreted by humans,” said Jim Hanlon, Executive Director of the Institute for Ocean Research Enterprise in Halifax, a collaborating partner in this year’s GCC.

The two groups in the trans-Atlantic symposium will be connected via video conference and the event offers broad networking opportunities. The conference will be opened on both sides of the Atlantic by the patrons of the GCC, Marie Gervais-Vidricaire, Canada’s Ambassador to Germany, and Werner Wnendt, Germany’s Ambassador to Canada.

A statement from the group said the program includes thought-leading speakers from various maritime fields. The organizers are hoping to draw participants from such fields as remote sensing and information technology, marine tourism, energy, fisheries and aquaculture, marine transportation and marine defence and security.

“German-Canadian joint projects play an important role in the development of analytical systems which provide maritime players enhanced decision-making tools on the basis of intelligent fusion of ocean data from different sources,” said GCC Chairman Matthias Mück. “With a view to the value-creation chain in ocean data, starting at earth and ocean observation down to the development of analytical tools, the GCC will demonstrate how the need to control a data flood generates a new field for enterprises and start-ups – also in a German-Canadian context.”

The GCC not only aims to showcase successful projects of German-Canadian cooperation in ocean analytics, but – as in previous years – wants to create a platform for launching further collaboration between the two countries.

You can register for the conference by Nov. 10 here.

The German Canadian Concourse 2016 is organized by the Canada Meets Germany Network, a not-for-profit association aimed at fostering German-Canadian relations.