History

OceansAdvance may have a short history but it has evolved very quickly from a government initiative to an influential ocean technology cluster development forum.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, an ocean-technology cluster is a natural development resulting from the region's historical and cultural attachment to the sea, its strategic location in the North Atlantic, and the fact that over 90% of its population lives near the ocean. For the last several decades, federal and provincial governments have targeted the St. John's area for investment in R&D infrastructure; and academic and technical expertise has expanded quickly. All these factors have contributed to the development of the ocean-technology sector, and have positioned it for a new level of competitiveness.

The idea of an ocean research specialization in Newfoundland dates back to the establishment of the Ocean Sciences Centre at Memorial University in the mid 60s. This was the first post-confederation recognition (in infrastructure) that the province had a science and technology interest in the Oceans. The University expanded the interest with the Centre for Cold Ocean Resource Engineering (C-Core) in 1975. At the same time, the Provincial Government established NORDCO, the Newfoundland Oceans Research and Development Corporation. In the early 70s, offshore oil exploration led to a small community of ocean technology consultants trading on the oil companies' unfamiliarity with ice and government interest in the offshore.

Activity peaked at the time of the Hibernia discovery in 1979. In parallel with oil exploration, provincial and federal governments made investments in ocean technology infrastructure, of which the largest was the NRC Institute for Marine Dynamics (now called the Institute for Ocean Technology) and the Institute of Fisheries and Marine Technology (Marine Institute) both of which opened in 1985. The provincial and federal government also invested in many smaller facilities for example, the Ocean Engineering Research Centre, The Offshore Safety and Survival Centre, the Centre for Marine Simulation and the Canadian Centre for Marine Communications.

In 1997, a study conducted by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities agency (ACOA), entitled Prospects for Growing Knowledge-Based Industrial Clusters in Atlantic Canada, identified the St. John's ocean-engineering cluster as a key element in developing knowledge-based industries in the Atlantic region.

Concurrently St. John's was already developing a reputation as a centre for ocean technology. Certain aspects - such as R&D infrastructure in cold-water engineering, marine communications, marine simulation and related advanced technologies - were already in place, as were various agencies to facilitate business development and commercialization.
In 1998 the National Research Council felt that there was enough interest in this Province to develop a cluster in Newfoundland and Labrador relating to the Ocean industry. They moved forward with their idea by hosting a Roundtable of representatives from industry, various agencies from all three levels of government and academia.

The Atlantic Initiative Fund (AIF) then made monies available and NRC was successful in garnering support and funding to support the expansion of the Institute for Ocean Technology (formerly IMD) and create the Ocean Technology Enterprise Centre (OTEC), which provides a supportive environment for the growth and development of new ventures. Funds were secured from NRC as well to, among other things create OceansAdvance. As time progressed so too did the support of the Federal and Provincial Governments. OceansAdvance was incorporated in April, 2005, with funding cost-shared among ACOA, DITRD and NRC-IRAP. In addition, Industry Canada supports specific projects undertaken by OA.

OceansAdvance is a multi-stakeholder, regional technology cluster initiative aimed at making St. John's an international location of choice for ocean technology.

It represents the community integration aspects of the cluster and is governed by a Board of Directors whose members come from the private sector.
Its mission is to foster and promote the development of an ocean technology cluster in Newfoundland and Labrador. The achievement of this mission rests in three major pillars: Forum, Marketing and Promotion.