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Canada’s Ocean Supercluster and Innovate UK Announce $2.3m Node Zero Project to Develop Wave Powered Ocean Observation System

Published: June 3, 2024

(Halifax, NS) Today, at the H2O Conference in Halifax, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, announced Node Zero Project. It aims to develop the first of a global network of next-generation wave-powered, data collection buoys and marine autonomous systems hubs developed by UK and Canadian companies at the leading edge of the next ocean technology revolution. This project will provide oceanographic data to both the National Research Council and COVE’s Digital Harbour, support autonomous underwater vehicle charging, and contribute to digital twinning solutions.

Led by Compusult Limited in Mount Pearl, NL, Node Zero aims to be the first true node for both Digital Harbour and an emerging global network of next generation data collection buoys. The outcome of this project is effectively “Node Zero” of a self-powered offshore ocean observation network that can be rolled out across Atlantic and Pacific Canada and extend into the Arctic and other regions globally. Node Zero will create green jobs and empower coastal communities with critically valuable information.

Project partners include UK-based Pure Marine Gen Ltd, Queen’s University in Belfast, and collaborators PicSea Ltd in Edinburgh, as well as GRI Simulations in Mount Pearl, NL and the Institute for Ocean Research Enterprise in Dartmouth, NS.  With a total project value of almost $2.3 million, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is investing over $575,000 with the balance of funding coming from Innovate UK and project partners.

The technologies employed through this project are individually novel, and the combination of their unique features is what makes Node Zero innovative at the international level, which is the primary benefit of operating as a collective. It will position Canada and the UK to supply technology and services to the worldwide coastal surveillance sector, which is projected to reach a value of $43.19 billion by 2028.