On March 3, 2021, The Ocean Exchange and the Marine Technology Society (MTS) teamed up to offer a joint webinar series – Engaging with the Blue Economy. The webinar series focuses on all facets of the Blue Economy with the goal of recognizing the importance of the ocean to our lives every day.
Recently, organizations have begun to calculate the importance of the ocean as part of the world’s economic engine. In 2018, OCED published “The Ocean Economy in 2030” which calculated, that conservatively the Ocean economy’s value in 2010 was $1.5 trillion (USD), or approximately 2.5% of world gross value added, which is the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy, with a growth potential to $3 trillion (USD) in 2030. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2020 report, “Defining and Measuring the U.S. Ocean Economy” statistics show that the ocean economy accounted for $372 billion or 1.8% of the United States gross domestic product in 2018. Expectations for this economic sector are starting to be realized and will depend critically on the development of a vast array of new information-based products, as well as new policies and innovative ideas for workforce development.
Discussing this Blue Economy, overseeing global and US perspectives were Claire Jolly and Monica Grasso. They were followed by a Panel of Experts consisting of Michael Olson on Wind Energy, Lynette Cardoch on Coastal Infrastructure, Roger Strevens on Decarbonization of Shipping, Erika Feller on Marine Living Resources and World Geospatial Industry Council’s Executive Director Barbara Ryan on Geospatial Data.