Supercluster investments in ocean robotics are starting to reap benefits

This is the first of two stories about Canada’s efforts to compete in the fast-growing global market for ocean robotics and sensor technologies. The first story looks at the impacts of investments by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster in this space. The second story, to be published on Dec. 15, focuses on one Canadian ocean technology company taking on multinational giants — and finding success.

A large investment by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster in companies commercializing ocean robotics and sensor technologies is starting to pay off, says the supercluster’s chief technology officer.

“As a result of the supercluster, we’ve got a stronger and more visible brand in oceans now. It’s definitely a space where we’ve seen companies have a lot of success with the supercluster program,” CTO Susan Hunt told Research Money.

The Ocean Supercluster has invested more than $35 million in projects with industry that have a dedicated focus on ocean robotics, Hunt said. The supercluster has also allocated an additional larger amount to projects involving sensors, sensor platforms and real-time monitoring technologies. “It’s a really important part of our portfolio,” Hunt said.

Many Canadian companies succeeding in the space are established firms rather than startups, she said. Those companies span the country, including Cellula Robotics, Ocean Floor Geophysics and Open Ocean Robotics in British Columbia, Deep Trekker in Ontario, and Kraken Robotics, XOCEAN and PanGeo Subsea in Atlantic Canada.

The capabilities of Canada’s ocean companies give the country a competitive advantage in the fast-growing global market for ocean robotics and sensors, Hunt said.

Another competitive advantage, she added, is the willingness and ability of Canada’s ocean companies to collaborate with each other, and work with international firms and multiple industry sectors.

“They’re leveraging each other in a way that’s aligned with the Ocean Supercluster’s pan-national, multi-sectoral scope,” Hunt said. “They’re creating new solutions being applied to brand-new markets emerging in this space.”

Early signs are positive for Canada’s ocean tech companies

Hunt said several positive early signs indicate that the Ocean Supercluster’s investment in ocean robotics and sensor technologies is starting to reap benefits.

A high percentage of supercluster-industry funding for projects in this space is going toward wages, salaries and developing employees’ capabilities, she said. “The near-term investment is going right into Canadian people, so there’s an economic impact of that from a jobs perspective," she said.

The supercluster’s projects also have attracted international companies to set up shop in Canada. They include U.K.-based HydroServ, which in November announced a Canadian subsidiary in Halifax, and Ireland-based XOCEAN with a branch office in Dartmouth, N.S.

A third indicator has been the significant follow-on investment after companies got engaged in supercluster projects, Hunt said. For example, XOCEAN received an $11.7-million investment this October. The investment was led by Dublin’s VentureWave Capital and also included existing investor Chris Huskilson, a founding partner of Dalhousie-based startup accelerator Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic.

XOCEAN is part of a five-member Ocean Supercluster consortium spending $3.4 million to develop uncrewed submarines controlled via satellite for applications such as ocean research and aquaculture.

Canadian companies are developing new technical capabilities

Canadian companies are also getting stronger, Hunt noted. For example, in August, Newfoundland-headquartered Kraken Robotics acquired PanGeo Subsea, an international company specializing in high-resolution 3D acoustic imaging solutions for the sub-seabed.

The Ocean Supercluster has invested up to $6.3 million in the three-year, $20-million OceanVision project led by Kraken Robotics. The project aims to develop new marine technologies and products to enable an underwater robotics data acquisition and data analytics as a service business.

"The Ocean Supercluster has helped create collaborations and partnerships," Bill Donovan, senior program manager at Kraken, said in an interview. The supercluster's support and investment enabled Kraken to bring together five industry partners and three government partners under one collaboration for the OceanVision project, he said.

Hunt said the Ocean Supercluster, now with a network of nearly 450 members, invests in projects that are expected to deliver a substantial financial return-on-investment within a five-year timeframe.

Many of the projects in ocean robotics and sensors are in the technology development stage, she added. So in terms of economic benefits for Canada, it will be a couple of years before industry partners start to generate substantial revenues, she said.

Building a more sustainable and digital ocean

Hunt said it is important for Canada, with the world’s longest coastline, to compete in the global ocean robotics and sensors market, given that the country’s ocean environment is not well understood.

“When we look at building a more digital and more sustainable ocean, really understanding it is at the heart of those opportunities,” she said. “This type of technology and this type of innovation are really important to unlocking the knowledge and data as it relates to addressing climate change issues.”

Canada ranks 10th out of 66 countries for its commitment to and advancement in the sustainable blue economy, according to the MIT Technology Review’s inaugural “Blue Technology Barometer” report.

However, Canadian companies working in ocean robotics and sensors face stiff competition from huge multinational companies such as Ocean Infinity, Teledyne Marine and General Dynamics, as well as challenges due to a dynamic market and rapidly changing players, Hunt said.

Ocean robots — essentially platforms that can carry sensor payloads — have been used historically by the defense sector and offshore oil and gas industry. But the price of ocean robotics and sensor technologies has decreased within the last few years, making them more affordable and accessible to other sectors, including offshore wind energy, fishing and aquaculture, Hunt said.

The global market for autonomous marine vehicles is expected to grow from US$3.18 billion in 2020 to US3.43 billion in 2021, according to a report by Research and Markets. The market is expected to reach US$5.1 billion in 2025.

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