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22 MTR November/December 2010 Oceans Week in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador focused a spotlight on underwater vehicles at both the Ocean Innovation confer- ence and the 6th Biannual National Research Council-Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) Workshop on Underwater Vehicle Technology between October 17th and 23rd. Now in its eighth year, Ocean Innovation was the brainchild of Randy Gillespie, Director of Applied Research at the Marine Institute’s School of Ocean Technology. Asked why St. John’s has become a center for ocean technology development, he said, “A large number of individuals have been working in the oceans sec- tor here for 25+ years. They know each other, and that level of familiari- ty makes this place unique. In a Canadian context, the fact that the government of Newfoundland and Labrador has identified the ocean technology sector as a priority is also unique.” The two-day specialist workshop on underwater vehicle technology brought Canadian researchers togeth- er “so they find out who’s who, get them talking to each other, and col- laborations may result,” said Chris Williams, NRC-IOT Senior Research Engineer and a lead organizer of the event. Building capacity is another objective. There were 24 presenta- tions including 11 by graduate stu- dents from University of Victoria, Dalhousie and Memorial Universities. The recently established Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Laboratory at Memorial University is becoming a hub for AUV develop- ment. Commenting on the facilities available to the laboratory and the research performed there, Ralf Bachmayer, Canada Research Chair in Ocean Technology and director of the lab, said, “I’m not aware of any- place in the world that has compara- The View from St. John’s Oceans Week 2010 Spotlight on Underwater Vehicles By Andrew Safer Marport Deep Sea Technologies' SQX-500 twin-pod AUV being tested in the Ocean Engineering Basin at the National Research Council of Canada – Institute for Ocean Technology. Marport Deep Sea Technologies Autonomous Underwater Systems team.
