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ments in the San Diego report are “Maritime Technology” of $6.2 billion and “Other Maritime” of $6.5 billion for compa- nies that included some maritime, which are not captured as maritime related revenue by NAICS today. But we are much more than research studies. Our contri- bution to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math- ematics) education is the OceanSTEM initiative – the branding of STEM related to oceans. We have unique posters developed to capture the attention of young adults to see their future in the Ocean Technology Industry. A cornerstone of OceanSTEM is collaboration and we are pleased to work with more than 60 organizations and companies across the county. And we helped organize a regional Workforce Development effort with edu- cators and workforce development agencies, including those focused on veteran transition to the private sector, to start pre- paring for the next generation of engineers and techs that will be needed to support the growth of the regional Blue Economy. On the Economic Development and Business Ecosystem Development side, we will put on or support more than 20 events in 2014 including our biggest event of the year – the 6th annual BlueTech and Blue Economy Summit and Tech Expo scheduled for Nov. 12-13 in San Diego. As they have gotten to know each other, some of our BlueTech companies have found ways to collaborate and new companies have formed. One such example is Ocean Aero (www.oceanaero. us) that is developing the Submaran – a patent-pending, hy- brid unmanned surface and underwater vehicle. And we are educating bankers, economic development & elected offi cials, investors, insurance agents, lawyers and other professionals so they will support regional BlueTech companies. On the National & International Outreach side, we are pleased to be working with a number of organizations na- tionally and internationally. Of particular note is our work with the NOAA U.S. IOOS offi ce on the economic value of ocean observation for the U.S.; multi-year collaboration with CICESE in Ensenada, Mexico; our MOU with the vibrant ocean tech cluster in St. John’s, Canada; our participation with the “Maritime Innovative Territories International Net- work” (MiTiN) created in July 2012 by the ocean tech cluster in Brest, France; and our recent work with the University of Southern Mississippi as it prepares to organize a BlueTech cluster on the Gulf. To learn more, please visit our websites, contact me, and participate in our 6th annual BlueTech and Blue Economy Summit on Nov. 12-13. The Maritime Gala Dinner & Award Ceremony is a highlight on the evening of Day 1. Rick Spin- rad, the new Chief Scientist at NOAA, will be the after-din- ner speaker addressing “Blue is the new Green – Promoting OceanSTEM, Maritime Workforce Development and a na- tional Blue Voice”. We thank the Marine Technology Reporter for agreeing to be our Industry Media Sponsor this year! Ocean Aero www.oceanaero.us is developing the Submaran – a patent-pending, hybrid unmanned surface and underwater vehicle. OpEd 22 MTR September 2014 MTR #7 (18-33).indd 22 8/26/2014 11:32:52 AM
