The Seasteading Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to enable seasteading communities — floating cities in international waters — which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new political and social systems.
The first seasteaders will likely be entrepreneurs operating single-purpose businesses on ships just outside territorial waters, where they will be free to explore new opportunities outside the jurisdiction of coastal governments. Accordingly, the Institute's primary objective over the next few years is to support the formation of seasteading businesses that can eventually scale up into thriving autonomous ocean communities. The most successful can then inspire change in governments around the world.
Said Patri Friedman, Founder and Chairman of the Board of The Seasteading Institute, “Our flagship project for 2012 is hosting a conference in San Francisco for entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, ocean law experts, maritime professionals and other forward-thinking individuals who want to learn about where they fit into the future of seasteading, The Seasteading Conference will surely be a landmark event for the development of oceanic cities across the globe.”
Presentations will cover a variety of topics pertinent to the advancement of ocean-based businesses. For example, the Institute's director of engineering, George Petrie, will present research on various ship and ocean platform configurations in terms of cost and comfort, as well as on promising locations for seasteads, and renewable energy possibilities. Myron Nordquist, associate director of University of Virginia's Center for Ocean Law and Policy, and John Briscoe, senior visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley's Law of the Sea Institute, will discuss how ocean laws and policies may affect the first wave of seasteaders. Other topics include, but are not limited to, aquaculture, security, maritime management, investing, and technology.
The conference will be held May 31 – June 2 in San Francisco. Registration begins at $715, and includes breakfast, lunch, and refreshments for both days of conference programming, along with a closing cruise around the San Francisco Bay on Saturday evening, June 2. Additionally, individuals wishing to support the continued success of The Seasteading Institute with a tax-deductible donation are welcome to attend a benefactors' dinner at historic Forbes Island in San Francisco on Friday, June 1. A limited number of discounted tickets are available for students and the press. The Seasteading Institute was co-founded by technology entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Thiel, and social entrepreneur/political theorist Patri Friedman, also the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. For more information, visit: http://www.seasteading.org/conference2012