Leading Institutions Come Together to Cultivate Innovative, Scalable, Science-Driven Solutions to Ocean Challenges

ATLANTA (March 29, 2019) – Leading ocean science and engineering institutions are joining forces to create Ocean Visions, an innovative scientist-driven ocean conservation venture that fosters collaboration between top researchers, conservationists and entrepreneurs committed to solving some of the biggest challenges facing ocean health.

The endeavor’s first summit – OceanVisions2019 – Climate – will be held April 1-4 at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The summit will highlight ocean-based science and engineering successes that promote solutions addressing human, climate and ecological pressures.

There are many problems facing the oceans, and Ocean Visions enables a huge and optimistic step forward by creating a comprehensive set of commercially marketable solutions that will make a powerful positive impact on ocean health while offering profitability incentive for widespread adoption on a global scale.

Ocean Visions represents the nation’s leading organizations in ocean science and engineering – Georgia Tech, The Smithsonian Institution, Stanford University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography University of Georgia, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Georgia Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Birch Aquarium at Scripps – coming together under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on scientifically sound, scalable, impactful and viable ocean conservation solutions.

The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth and provides food and jobs valued at $2.5 trillion dollars each year – making the ocean the seventh largest economy in the world. Unfortunately, ocean health has been declining as a result of climate change, overfishing and pollution. Climate change is making our ocean warmer and more acidic, threatening critical ocean ecosystems including corals, shellfish, and plankton. Thirty percent of the world’s fisheries are overfished and nine million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year. Fertilizer and sewage runoff are creating massive “dead zones” – waters with such low oxygen levels that fish can’t survive. Coastal dead zones have increased tenfold since 1950. Finding solutions to these pressing challenges is more urgent than ever.

“The ocean is our past and our future. Healthy people, healthy communities and healthy economies depend directly on a healthy ocean,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., recipient of the OceanVisions2019 Tethys Award, past head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and environmental scientist and distinguished professor at Oregon State University. “Ocean Visions is a pioneering endeavor that is committed to delivering comprehensive, science-led solutions to the ocean’s many challenges – solutions that are scalable at a global level. That has never been done before.”

A champion of science, Lubchenco is the first recipient of the Tethys Award, which was named for the Greek goddess of water and created to honor role models who contributed to, promoted, enabled or raised awareness about ocean solutions and who inspire new generations of ocean experts and leaders. Lubchenco will deliver the Tethys Award lecture during the summit’s opening ceremony live streaming on April 1.

To nurture and work towards these solutions, Ocean Visions will:

create a network that will bring together non-profits, industry and other private and public groups to focus on translational research;
host regular summits to highlight the latest research and scalable concepts to address ocean conservation needs;
launch a fellows program to foster an integrated community of scientists, engineers, policy makers, stakeholders and other groups who can exchange knowledge and experiences; and
sponsor startup competitions in the heart of academic institutions to engage young talent.
“Addressing the challenges facing our oceans will take an ambitious effort that brings together the best talent in our nation,” said G. Wayne Clough, Ph.D., secretary emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, who will open the summit. “Ocean Visions is unique because it is led by trusted institutions and top scientists and researchers in ocean conservation working together to formulate a call to action to foster, support and advance innovative and viable solutions that can make a difference.”

The summit will provide networking events for business leaders to learn more about proposed solutions, ranging from advanced concepts to those that are market ready, such as marine algae-based animal feeds and biofuels that can reduce the carbon footprint of biofuel and protein production and sea-level sensor technologies for coastal cities and communities threatened by rising sea levels.

“There are many problems facing the oceans, and Ocean Visions enables a huge and optimistic step forward by creating a comprehensive set of commercially marketable solutions that will make a powerful positive impact on ocean health while offering profitability incentive for widespread adoption on a global scale,” said Martin Gray, senior vice president & chief marketing officer for the Georgia Aquarium.

Georgia Tech is hosting the April 1-4 OceanVisions2019 summit. Learn more about the OceanVisions2019 program.

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