Ocean Innovation 2011: Sustainable Oceans

October 18-21, 2011
 
The Fisheries and Marine Institute announced preliminary details for Ocean Innovation 2011: Sustainable Oceans - Understanding the Value of Traditional Knowledge and Innovation.  Ocean Innovation (OI) 2011 will take place at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit, Nunavut from October 18-21.
 
Ocean Innovation, now in its 9th year. An initiative of the Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland, the conference attracts presenters and delegates from across Canada and around the world. Ocean Innovation strives to introduce relevant topics centered on the latest innovations in the areas of maritime safety, efficiency of operations and sustainable ocean management.
 
Ocean Innovation is organized as a two day, single-stream conference, with a parallel exhibition. The conference program is carefully designed to ensure that a variety of relevant issues related to a particular theme are discussed and debated by all participants. The speaker program is by invitation only with an emphasis on top notch speakers who will address key topics around the selected theme. The single-stream design helps to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas since every delegate is encouraged to attend every talk.
 
Development and use of ocean spaces and resources is guided by four fundamental principles: safety, efficiency, sustainability and profit. This is no less true in the North, where the relative importance and priority of each may be viewed differently by Northern peoples. It is also true that Northern peoples are some of the most innovative in the world today, although the value of their knowledge and expertise tends to be under-appreciated in the Southern context of innovation. That being said, there is no question that modern technology may be of great benefit to Northern peoples as they struggle to deal with the challenges of sustainable development and use of ocean resources in the face of massive environmental and socio-economic change. Likewise, traditional knowledge and Northern innovation systems can positively influence the design and utilization of new technologies.
 
Ocean Innovation 2011 will bring together representatives from Northern communities, scientists, policy makers and business people to discuss challenges and opportunities pertaining to development of ocean resources, sovereignty, climate change and maritime infrastructure – all of which are of keen interest to the people of Nunavut and other northern jurisdictions. The event will involve representatives from all parts of the circum-polar region. The format of the meeting will be organized in a way that maximizes the influence of Northern values and culture.

www.oceaninnovation.ca