Page 43: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2023)

Tech on Display

Blue Venture In-Water Equipment Demo Day

Images: Blue Venture Forum/Maggie Merrill

Patrick Pasteris holding a pro? ler. A Jaia Bot being thrown into the water.

t the Blue Venture In-water Equipment Demo day plained they are transitioning out of research and development earlier this year, the Blue Tech ecosystem located and will be looking for partners to move forward into design in Southeastern New England was on full display. for manufacturing and commercialization.

ACompanies were given a platform to introduce their The day was not just about getting wet, there were presenta- products to the standing-room-only audience in the upper level tions by up and coming start-ups and several RWU students of the Roger Williams University Sailing Center followed by who had a chance to strut their stuff, in front of a group of in water demonstrations off the docks facing Narragansett Bay. investors who showed up purely to “shop” Blue Tech.

To kick things off, Kevin Rosa founder of Current Lab, Blue Venture Forum is known for bringing people, technolo- provided a high resolution forecast of the current conditions gy and funding together for networking and the Demo Day was around the in-water demo area. Its proprietary ocean model- no exception. At the end of the day the entire group attended ing system generates predictions of currents, temperature, and a closing reception that was sponsored by RWU President Dr. salinity at up to 50 times ? ner detail than conventional global Ioannis Miaoulis who talked about RWU’s participation in the ocean models. blue economy via their engineering, law and marine biology

Walter Schulz, founder of the STEC Reactive Cyclical In- departments.

duction (RCI) system for marine diesel engines, gave an im- As Blue Venture Forum Founder and Director Dr. Tobias passioned pitch about the impact of marine diesel engine pol- Stapleton said, “dozens of blue tech companies have formed lution. His passion for eliminating or reducing marine diesel up around the world, over the last ? ve years. Climate and clean toxins drove him to develop a the RCI system to reduce NOx tech investors are now looking at blue tech because they see by 80%, and other harmful emissions by up to 50%. STEC’s growth opportunity in the sector and they compare the trajecto-

RCI can be installed on newbuilds as well as for retro? tting ry of “blue” tech today with where “clean” tech was 10+ years existing diesel engines. ago. And it is widely recognized that the oceans play a critical

In an early spring Nor’easter, attendees lined the upper gang- role to the planet’s climate, so we need to develop technology way to see equipment in the water. Three JAIA Robotics’ JAIA to better understand our oceans. More than $20 billion dollars

Bots, were literally thrown off the dock to show how fast they has been raised or allocated towards blue tech via private, phil- can gather data and get back using an RF link to a handheld anthropic, and governmental investors.” tablet. The Bots are used for environmental monitoring, sur- veying, payload delivery, and reconnaissance operations.

The Aurelia Upper Ocean Pro? ler, was set up in the water

The 9th Blue Innovation Symposium takes place Feb- to track water velocity near the dock. It is touted as an in- ruary 26-29, 2024 at the Wyndham Newport Hotel in

Middletown, RI. For more information visit: expensive, lightweight and user-friendly vehicle for scienti? c www.blueinnovationsymosium.org data gathering and surveying. Patrick Pasteris, founder, ex- www.marinetechnologynews.com 43

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