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St John's in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, is rapidly developing a reputation as a key player in the advancement of ocean technology. IOS paid a visit to North America's most easterly city to find out why

Climb to the top of Signal Hill, a rocky sentinel that overlooks the entrance to St John's harbour, and if your breath hasn't already been taken away by the steep ascent, it will be by the view. Look to the west and you are greeted with a sweeping cityscape of Canada's oldest and most easterly port; turn east, and it is hard not to marvel at the rugged and seemingly endless North Atlantic coastline. Take a moment to soak up the drama provided by the heaving Atlantic - on a good day it's a theatre that can play host to passing icebergs, whales and puffins - and it becomes easy to understand why this vast, resource-rich expanse of ocean has shaped the history, culture and economy of St John's and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador for centuries.

The capital and largest city of Newfoundland and Labrador, St John's is a naturally sheltered harbour strategically located near to major shipping lanes, the Arctic and the once thriving fishing grounds of the Grand Banks. The harbour's long maritime history is steeped in the cod fishery and can be traced as far back as the early 1500s when it became a frequent haven for European fishermen. 

Today, although the fishing industry is still an important part of the provincial economy, cod is no longer king. The continued growth of Newfoundland and Labrador's economy in recent years - according to Statistics Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador experienced greater economic growth in 2007 than any other Canadian province - has been mainly driven by what lies underneath the ocean rather than what swims in it. Powered by the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose offshore oil fields, the province stands as the producer of almost half of Canada's conventional light crude oil. The oil fields have produced more than one billion barrels of oil since 1997 in one of the most challenging environments in the world. 

The challenge of accessing the oil has generated a wealth of ocean technology business in the region, as local companies work with operators to research and develop ways to overcome the problems presented by ice, wind and waves. Scores of the province's companies are involved in both onshore and offshore activities to service the industry and many more are involved in exploration and related activities. 

The vibrant ocean technology cluster that has developed around St John's is by no means restricted to the oil and gas sector however. The area's obvious ties to the ocean have led to the establishment of research institutes and companies serving a variety of maritime and ocean technology sectors, offering some of the most innovative ocean technologies in the world.

St John's itself is home to an ocean technology cluster made up of more than 50 institutions, companies and industry organisations. The cluster employs around 1400 professionals and accounts for 25% of Newfoundland's GDP. At its helm is OceansAdvance, a multi-stakeholder initiative established in 2005 to align the community's diverse interests. Since its formation, OceansAdvance has been tasked with making St John's and Newfoundland and Labrador an international location of choice for ocean technology, with members working towards the common goal of growing the industry's value to CA$1 billion (GB£580 million) - from C$230 million (GB£133 million) - with more than 6000 employees by 2015.

According to Les O'Reilly, executive director of OceansAdvance, the initiative is characterised by mutually-beneficial partnerships that enable local organisations to target new markets and explore new opportunities, both at home and abroad. "By working together, we are able to become stronger and grow the economy," he says. "That's a grassroots approach and OceansAdvance is a grassroots organisation, focusing on strengths, working closely together and achieving success."

OceansAdvance's task received a helping-hand last year with the provincial government's launch of Oceans of Opportunity, a five-year, C$28 million (GB£16 million) strategy designed to accelerate sector development. "For more than 500 years the ocean has been at the cultural and economic heart of the province," explains Shawn Skinner, provincial Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development. "This prominence has led Newfoundland and Labrador to emerge as Canada's most energetic ocean technology community and a significant player in the global blue economy.

"Through the implementation of Oceans of Opportunity the provincial government will work with the local ocean technology community, which is characterised by an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, to advance the industry and create new opportunities for the people of the province."

The strategy is welcomed by Gary Dinn, president of OceansAdvance, who says it strongly reflects the direction identified by the ocean technology cluster to grow research and development options and increase commercial opportunities. "With such an unprecedented alignment of government, academia and industry, increased support is now available to build on the developments in the areas of acoustics, unmanned vehicles, navigation and shipboard technologies, simulation and ocean observation that local companies have championed for a number of years," he says.

Newfoundland and Labrador's key ocean technology research and development facilities serve as the backbone of the ocean technology community. These facilities, all located near or within the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St John's, provide fundamental research, technology development expertise, industry incubation, testing, training and scientific validation services.

The Marine Institute (MI) of Memorial University is recognised as one of the most respected centres for marine learning and applied research in the world. Its specialised centres have expertise in a wide range of disciplines - from aquaculture to simulation (the Institute's Centre for Marine Simulation possesses the most comprehensive suite of marine simulation capabilities in North America, with facilities that cover an entire range of training, educational and research and development capabilities ranging from computer-based part-task simulators to large and complex full mission simulators). 

One of MI's flagship projects is SmartBay, an ocean observation project in Newfoundland's Placentia Bay. It began life as an environmental monitoring demonstration project with the goal of creating awareness of the importance of better observing the marine environment. Today, it is the largest ocean observation project in eastern Canada.

"SmartBay is an oceans observation network that is receiving international attention," says Glenn Blackwood, executive director of MI. "It promotes safe travel and marine operations within Placentia Bay. The information provided assists in the effective management and sustainable development of local fishing, transport and eco-tourism industries."

Every month more than 7000 people visit www.SmartBay.ca for customised weather and sea-state forecast information. This data is updated four times a day and is used by vessel operators to improve marine safety, environmental protection and marine efficiency. 

The project has become an early beneficiary of the Oceans of Opportunity strategy, with a recent C$330,000 (GB£191,000) investment. The investment has enabled the purchase of WatchKeeper buoys which will allow for greater weather, environmental monitoring and observation of ocean conditions.

Established in 1985, the National Research Council Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) is Canada's national centre for ocean technology research and development. With a mandate to develop and transfer the technology solutions required by private and public sector partners and clients, its facilities include a 90-metre ice tank, 200-metre towing tank and a state-of the art offshore basin, complete with current generators and wavemakers. NRC-IOT takes great pride in its experience with technologies required for extreme environments, including ships, offshore platforms, underwater vehicles, ocean energy devices and evacuation systems.

 "Our research programme concentrates on the technologies required for marine safety, ocean observation and to a large extent Arctic operations," says Dr Mary Williams, director general of NRC-IOT. 

According to Dr Williams, it is the Arctic that is the main driving force behind much of the Institute's activities. "Because of its access and proximity to the far north, and because of the extensive and highly-skilled ocean technology cluster in the province, I like to think of Newfoundland and Labrador, and especially St John's, as the gateway to the Arctic," she says.

Dr Williams points out that commercial activity in the Arctic is very limited at present, therefore there are many questions to be answered for Arctic operations. "We want to be the ones to help find those answers and build the technological stepping stones to safe operations in that environment," she says.

With a bounty of undiscovered natural resources potentially hidden under the melting Arctic ice cap, the opportunities for companies wanting to operate in that frontier are plentiful. Not surprisingly, a number of large, multi-national companies, as well as new enterprises and government departments, have been keen to utilise NRC-IOT's expertise.

Walk through the NRC-IOT car park and there's a good chance that you will come across a red Ford pick-up truck with a bumper sticker declaring "my other vehicle is unmanned". It belongs to Neil Riggs, vice-president of research and development for St John's-based subsea technology company Marport Canada. For the past few years, Riggs and Marport's Underwater Robotics Group have been hard at work at the NRC-IOT's facilities developing Marport's new SQX-500 AUV.

The hydro-dynamically stable AUV, developed in conjunction with NRC-IOT, has been designed for search and survey applications in waters up to 500 metres in depth. According to Riggs, its unique dual-pod design and propulsion and control system enable exceptional stability. "Its rudders can rotate 360 degrees and its propulsion system utilises vector thrusters. As such, the vehicle can hover or transit laterally, vertically, forward and reverse, enabling stealthy manoeuvres," he says.

The AUV is a move away from the company's bread and butter work of designing sonar hardware and software for the fishing, military and offshore oil and gas industries. "Having investigated existing AUV technology as a demonstration platform for our sonar technology, we identified an opportunity to develop an innovative new vehicle," explains Riggs.

Riggs says the obvious next step was to get in touch with engineers at NRC-IOT, who have been developing underwater vehicles for a number of years. "We have the sonar expertise and they have the vehicle design expertise - it's a perfect match," he says.

Riggs and his team's hard work is starting to pay off. Marport has received its first order for the SQX-500, a C$1 million (GB£580,000) contract from Nigeria-based Geodetic Offshore Services. The vehicle is slated for delivery early in 2010 and will be used for seabed survey applications. The company has also recently been recognised by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which presented Marport with its 2009 Award for Innovative Excellence in New Technology, largely as a result of Marport's unmanned underwater vehicle programme.

Another member of the St John's ocean technology community to receive recognition in 2009 was Moya Cahill, president of PanGeo Subsea. Cahill was presented with Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industry Association's Outstanding Contribution Award for her role in the development of the offshore industry in the province over the past 20 years, and is the epitome of the dynamism found in the St John's ocean technology cluster. Dividing her time between PanGeo's headquarters in St John's and company interests in Stavanger, Norway, Aberdeen, Scotland, and Houston, USA, she is rapidly growing PanGeo's 3D and 4D real-time acoustic sub-seabed imaging technologies into a global enterprise.

The company's Acoustic Corer - a seabed deployed unit with dual sub-surface scanning sonar heads attached to a 12-metre boom that rotates to cover 360 degrees - images geohazards buried beneath the seafloor such as boulders, shallow gas, abandoned seabed infrastructure and unexploded ordnance. These present a considerable potential risk and cost if encountered during the installation of offshore infrastructure.

"We bridge the gap between conventional sonar and core sampling, providing unsurpassed resolution and definition of the sub-seabed geology," explains Cahill. 

According to Cahill, the availability of real-time data is an important advantage over conventional sonar and core samples where subsea operators can wait weeks for processed data. "We are enabling operators to work more efficiently, preventing delays, and saving them lots of money," she says.

On the horizon for PanGeo is the Sub-Bottom Imager, an evolution of the company's Acoustic Corer technology that interfaces with ROVs. "It's intended for site assessment prior to pipeline laying to identify geohazards and debris lying in and around the pipeline route, and for annual surveys of sub-seabed pipelines," says Cahill. At the time of writing, the Imager was undergoing tests in the North Sea, and it is hoped that it will be commercially introduced in the very near future.

For any interested visitor to St John's, it is clear to see that the area's long maritime history, together with the world-class research and development facilities located there, has placed the city and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador at the forefront of Canada's ocean technology industry. With this solid foundation, the promotion of collaboration among the business and educational communities through initiatives and strategies such as OceansAdvance and Oceans of Opportunity can only help build upon the region's reputation as a world leader in understanding our oceans.