Canada and UK strengthen port ties to deliver economic uplift

Britain’s ‘blue economy’ is vital to our economic prosperity, and we are leading the way internationally in developing clean propulsion technologies through the ports and maritime sector.

Here at Connected Places Catapult, we have issued several reports recently promoting the benefits of green shipping corridors; ports as energy hubs; and enabling a just transition to alternative fuels.

But the UK’s ports sector cannot tackle the challenges of digitalisation, autonomy and decarbonisation alone; it is actively reaching out to other countries with a strong maritime presence to share learnings and develop common approaches.

I was fortunate to travel to Nova Scotia on the Canadian east coast earlier this summer with a delegation from the UK to understand more about efforts being made to develop common understanding.

Our base was Halifax: a city of nearly 500,000 people; a major centre of maritime excellence; and twinned with Portsmouth in the UK. Halifax also houses a significant base for the Canadian navy and coastguard, along with a world class maritime university at Dalhousie.

Championing small businesses

We heard that Canada has thousands of SMEs involved in maritime, working in critical areas related to digitalisation and autonomy. They are supported by federal and provincial government programmes, along with government funded institutions and regional development agencies; with major clusters in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec on the east coast, and Vancouver and British Columbia on the west coast.

During a seminar focused on the Canadian maritime sector, I heard from Jeff Stockhausen from the National Research Council Canada (NRC), who leads on a $500M annual fund called the Industrial Research Assistance Programme. Remarkably, it has supported over 10,000 SMEs over the last 77 years. It was expanded in 2012 to offer international co-innovation support, and currently has $150M invested in 800 projects in 45 countries across the world, including the UK.

Also speaking was Heather Desserud of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), established by NATO to promote emerging maritime technology. Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with both Plymouth and South Devon Freeport for both sites to become NATO test centres. In addition, this summer it launches five challenges for SMEs, after a recent pilot competition saw 1300 applications and 44 companies selected to receive (Euro) 100,000 each.

Dramatic growth predicted

Kendra McDonald from Canada’s Ocean Supercluster outlined the scale of the country’s growth ambitions in the blue economy; which she said could grow five fold by 2035 to $220Bn. We also heard that four projects are receiving joint funding from the NRC and Innovate UK to take forward projects including the ‘BlueGRID bidirectional vessel to grid charging’; zero emission drones; a self-powering buoy called ‘Node Zero’ and a seafloor mapping technology known as Voyis.

At the event, Innovate UK promoted its Global Incubator Programme which includes an Ocean Scale Up Accelerator, and Global Innovation Business Programme.

We also heard from Maria Halfyard of the Marine Institute, who explained that the National Research Council is leading a Canadian Forum for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (CFMASS) which aims to establish four test beds across the country. Transport Canada is developing guidelines for MASS for 12m and under and is consulting on a regulatory framework and future skills requirements.

Read these three maritime reports: the benefits of green shipping corridors; ports as energy hubs; and enabling a just transition to alternative fuels.