Looking Ahead to Game Changing Emerging Technologies with ‘Catch The Next Wave’ Conference

Oceanology International will, once again, be featuring a one-day conference in advance of the opening of the exhibition. ‘Catch The Next Wave’ will take place on 10 March 2014 at the

prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering.

Conference Chairman, Professor Ralph Rayner explains: “The conference will be taking a longer-term view of some of the capabilities that will shape our future ability to explore, understand, use and protect our oceans. It will be looking ahead to see what new technologies are emerging, with leading experts describing developments that are set to change the way things are done in application areas as diverse as Formula One racing cars and the aerospace industry. Forward thinkers from the marine technology community will explore how some of these technologies are finding application in the oceans.”

The Catch the Next Wave conference is specifically designed for industry professionals and researchers with an interest in key disruptive technologies and where they are emerging in the marine sector. A high proportion of attendees at the inaugural 2012 event were CEOs; Directors of Engineering; Business Development, Strategy, Business Planning; and Chief Technologists.

“The objective is to stimulate creative thinking in areas such as materials science, sensor technology and complex systems and for delegates to leave the conference buzzing with new ideas that will lead to new research and business opportunities,” says Ralph Rayner.

The conference programme
The conference will open with a keynote address ‘Catch the Next Wave – 50 Years of Innovation’ by Don Walsh, Honorary President, Explorers Club.

Speakers then include Andrew Bailey, Operations Director, McLaren GT; Phil Withers, Professor of Materials Science, Manchester University; Alan Smith, Director, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL; Gwyn Griffiths, President of the Society for Underwater Technology; Kevin Hardy, Director of Design, Construction and Operation of Unmanned Landers, Deepsea Challenge Expedition; Peter Yinger, Director, L-3 MariPro; and Paul Bunje, Senior Director – Oceans, XPRIZE Foundation. Two panel discussions are integral parts of the programme – the first on ‘Delivering Reliability in Subsea Systems and Sensors’; and the second on ‘Fostering Interdisciplinary and Cross Sectoral Exchange of Knowledge and Experience’.

The conference will close with the aptly entitled ‘Ride The Next Wave – The Next 50 Years’ keynote presentation by Rick Spinrad, Vice President for Research, Oregon State University, who explains: “The concept of catching the next wave is a particularly graphic way of depicting both the challenge and the opportunity before us in the marine economy.

“We will be looking far ahead to see what new technologies and methodologies are emerging, and we will be building our own momentum to make sure we can adopt and adapt those approaches to meet our marine applications. At the same time, we’ll want to position ourselves well so as not to be swamped by the surge of new capabilities that appears before us.

“To this end, I’d prefer to focus on the excitement of the opportunities. I harken back to the early stages of my research career, when a notably visionary colleague opined about the potential application of emerging biomedical diagnostic technologies to traditional oceanographic problems. The result was a quantum leap in our ability to assess the biological productivity of various marine environments (a scientific outcome with direct implications for such economic sectors as fisheries, aquaculture and pharmaceuticals). What new ideas are bubbling up for us to exploit? Similarly, what technologies have gained acceptance in other fields, but are as yet unrecognized in our marine community?

“’Catch The Next Wave’ is a program that will stimulate our thinking about these questions. From materials science, to information technology, to robotics, to complex systems, the pace of growth is mind-boggling. Our opportunity to apply the knowledge from these fields (and others) to our marine issues is limited only by our awareness and our imagination. No doubt, the program will stimulate some very creative thinking about the “hybrid vigor” attained from cross-fertilizing our own oceanographic knowledge base with the understanding gleaned from seemingly disparate fields of research. I, for one, will be eager to catch that wave!”

The conference committee
Catch The Next Wave’s conference committee comprises:

 
 Ralph Rayner, Catch the Next Wave Conference Chairman
 Justin Manley, Senior Director of Business Development, Teledyne Benthos
 Chris Scholin, President/CEO, MBARI
 Gwyn Griffiths, Principal/Founder, Autonomous Analytics and President, SUT
 Dougal Goodman, Chief Executive, The Foundation for Science and Technology
 David Brookes, Senior Advisor – Subsea and Floating Systems, BP E&P Sunbury UK
 
The conference is organised by Reed Exhibition’s Oceanology International, and held in association with the IMarEST, Marine Technology Society, and the Society for Underwater Technology.

Source:- Oceanology International