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www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 43mission afterwards. As Science Officer in Italy, I discov- ered there is a lot of interest in Canada as a marine tech- nology center of excellence. There are many potential syn- ergies.? The missions flow from DFAITs global ocean technol- ogy strategy, developed by Jane Rutherford, DFAITs Global Practice Lead in Ocean Technology. She works out of an office next to OceansAdvance, the organization that represents the Newfoundland and Labrador ocean tech- nology cluster, at the NRC-Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) in St. Johns. "Judging by the feedback we received from mission participants,? Jane Rutherford said afterwards. I think they got a sense of The Canadian Way of pursuing research and develop- ment and our interest in partnerships, networks and excel- lence. Canada has state-of-the-art marine research facili- ties, significant and growing public sector investment in R&D and a global reputation for ocean science and tech- nology excellence. The recent mission to Atlantic Canada was a great opportunity to profile the region and explore new potential international partnerships. We're keen to do more!" The delegation included:?Dr. Adolfo Uriarte and Dr. Lorenzo Motos (AZTI Tecnalia) ?Noelia Ortega (Centro Tecnologico Naval y Mar), & Alejandro Palmeiro (Nautilus Oceanica) from Spain; ?Keith Birch (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton), and Professor Stephen de Mora (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) from the UK; and ?Professor Giorgio Budillon (CoNISMa) and Alessia Baldini (DLTM) from Italy. Following presentations by the Newfoundland and Labrador ocean technology cluster, the delegates and clus- ter members discussed their areas of research interest, opportunities for ocean technology development, and potential collaboration.During the two-day visit, they walked from meetings at the NRC-IOT to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University and visited the Autonomous Ocean Systems Laboratory. They toured the facilities at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (Marine Institute) where they were given an overview of the Centre of Applied Ocean Technology and the School of Ocean Technology. They visited the facilities at the NRC-IOT; Provincial Aerospace; and the Marine Institutes Holyrood Marine Base. DFAIT arranged one- on-one meetings between the delegates and representa- tives of Newfoundland and Labrador ocean technology companies. Reflecting on the mission, Ms. Noelia Ortega, Managing Director of Centro Tecnologico Naval y Mar (CTN), the center for maritime technology development in the Murcia Region in southeastern Spain, noted the innovation of SMEs, and the extent of collaboration among community partners. During the two-day meet- ing, she said that CTN, a technology transfer entity, could serve as the intermediary in the process of collaborating to develop new products. We would be getting knowledge from Canadian companies and we would be providing our knowledge and expertise,? she said, and a new prod- uct could be sold in the future.? Whereas Spain has strong research capacity in fisheries and significant technological capacity in shipbuilding, defense and security, Ortega said there is a lack of ocean technology developers and manu- facturers, which has resulted in researchers having to buy technologies from abroad. A lot of projects for ocean observation are going to be stopped,? she said, because there is no private funding for this.? She suggested that medium- and long-term partnerships with Canadian SMEs could help Spain develop capacities to be able to continue with ocean observation research. Regarding innovation, Ortega said, I have seen how medium-sized and small companies can create new inno- vative products and can benefit from this innovation. Its something thats very inspiring for me.? She added that the high technological level of capability at Memorial Dr. Ralf Bachmayer, Canada Research Chair in Ocean Technology , explains his work with gliders at MemorialUniversity's Autonomous Ocean Systems Laboratory.