Technology Systems Corporation (TSC), today released details of two marine industry networking events that the ocean marketing and media agency recently hosted.
The year kicked off with the Blue Innovation Symposium in Newport RI from 14 – 15 January, while Subsea Cables: A Critical Connection was a one-day event in Houston, TX on January 23. Attendance at both events exceeded projections, hinting at a growing appetite among the ocean industries for events that cater to more networking opportunities than traditional conferences allow.
Both events presented specialized programs led by industry thought leaders, panel discussions, and technical presentations, but were critically important for different reasons. The Subsea Cable event, co-hosted by TSC’s Subcableworld.com and the Business Network for Offshore Wind, gathered over 120 key stakeholders from the renewable energy sector to look at lessons from the past, challenges of the present, and the prospects for the US offshore wind supply chain, with cables cast in a leading light. The one-day event was supported by many high-profile sponsors, including Nexans, Mott MacDonald, and Aker Solutions.
Meanwhile, the Blue Innovation Symposium, co-hosted by TSC, Salve Regina University and The Consulate-General of Canada in Boston, is as much an exhibition as it is a meeting of the minds. This year’s event welcomed nearly 40 sponsors for a two-day agenda of keynote addresses, panel discussions, and a unique series of five-minute flash talks. Other highlights from the Blue Innovation Symposium included a surprise announcement from Stefan Pryor, RI Secretary of Commerce who revealed that Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, in partnership with offshore wind developer Ørsted, will bring its US Innovation Hub to Providence, RI in spring 2020.
New to the 2020 line-up, the inaugural Rising Tide Awards were presented to Dr. Jim Bellingham, director of the Center for Marine Robotics (CMR) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Boston Engineering of Waltham, Massachusetts and GeoSpectrum Technologies of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, all in recognition of their ongoing contributions to the industry.
TSC’s decision to partner on such events is central to the agency’s 2020 strategy of narrowing the focus on critically important issues and in doing so create ever-progressive forums for thought-leadership and networking.
“We identified a number of strategic partners that wanted to bring something new to the traditional conference circuit,” said Jessie Lewis, TSC’s Operations Director. “While established conferences will always be essential meeting points for our industry, smaller, more intimate events are often more conducive to genuine business networking opportunities in very specific sectors of the blue economy, such as sensor technology and subsea power cables.”
Plans are already underway for follow-up events, as well as a number of projects yet to be announced.