#HOTCS: Emily King, Halifax

“CETA is really opening doors for Canadian ocean technology, especially in terms of standards and regulations. When you’re talking about really high precision scientific instruments or sensors, for example, the standards and the calibrations are incredibly important, and it can be very difficult for Canadian companies to break into the European market if their standards are not uniform. As the standard and certification elements of CETA become clearer, there will be more robust regimes to move technology from one market to another. That’s going to be huge for the Canadian ocean-tech sector.

“Ocean technology touches so many different industries. It can span everything from aquaculture, marine transportation, marine renewable resources (which includes harvesting things from the sea, but also marine renewable energy, like tidal energy), ocean instrumentation, ocean observation… Ocean-tech products are also in demand in the offshore oil and gas industry, for example in Scandinavia and the UK. Canadian companies may also find opportunities in Germany and the Mediterranean, where there are some important centers of ocean technology excellence.”