VICTORIA – Today South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP), the City of Victoria and the Association of BC Marine Industries (ABCMI) are announcing receipt of $100,000 in federal funding to take the next steps towards an Ocean Futures Innovation Hub for Greater Victoria.
Craig Norris is Chair of the SIPP and CEO of the Victoria International Marina
To develop the business case and feasibility study, SIPP has contracted a team from Urban Systems in BC, and Canadian company Hatch, aon the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island, our region sits at the gateway to over 27,000 kilometres of resource-abundant Pacific Canadian coastline and is at the heart of the culturally-significant Salish Sea. The world is taking notice that our region, with a long history of world-class ocean and marine sector activity, is primed for abundant growth. The Ocean Futures Innovation Hub will give our province a critical tool for focusing our energy on developing those opportunities that will put BC in a position of world-leaders in ocean innovation,” said Craig Norris, Chair of the South Island Prosperity Partnership and CEO, Victoria International Marina.
In the fall of 2019, local ocean and marine companies expressed the need for a focused hub to streamline applied innovation, testing and demonstration, which would help the sector elevate its role in securing Victoria’s role as an ocean region and Canada’s position as an ocean nation.
The City of Victoria responded by prioritizing this project in their Victoria 3.0 plan. The Hub is a strategic priority for ABCMI, which represents over 220 companies in the ocean and marine sector in BC.
Alex Rueben is Executive Director of ABCMI
“ABCMI is very enthusiastic about this timely and relevant initiative and applauds the federal government in having the vision and commitment in providing fiscal support in moving this project closer to implementation. The creation of an Ocean Futures Innovation Hub on Canada’s west coast will assist in the region’s economic recovery through the creation of an ecosystem that will help existing and future innovative businesses grow and build their markets nationally and internationally through technological and operational excellence,” said Alex Rueben, Executive Director of the Association of British Columbia Marine Industries (ABCMI).
It will provide opportunities for companies large, medium and small to grow, increase export capacity, diversify supply chains and create more high-paying local jobs. The Hub has also been identified as a high priority through the Ocean & Marine Committee of SIPP’s Rising Economy Taskforce, which earlier this month released 40 recommendations for regional economic recovery and is finalizing a Regional Economic Recovery Plan.
SIPP views the Hub as positioning the industry well for recovery and long-term growth and resilience.
