One of five Ocean Supercluster projects announced today
Today, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announced five new projects with a total value of nearly $29 million, including the Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) Project. This BC-led project will provide coastal, Indigenous, and remote communities a cost-effective rapid response package, including a mobile command, control and communications system, data analysis tool and mobile incident platform for marine emergencies.
This new capability addresses outdated domain awareness and communications technologies to prepare for, respond to and recover from marine oil spill hazards and other environmental emergencies. When put in the capable hands of First Nation coastal communities, who have multi-generational mariner skills, as well as deep knowledge of their territory, its resources and their vulnerabilities, the Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) capability will transform elements of Canada’s Marine Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Regime.
In the Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) Project, Shift Environmental will work with a pan-Canadian team including T’Sou-ke Nation, Saab Technologies, BlueNode, the Canadian Coast Guard, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) and the National Indigenous Fisheries Institute. With a total project value of nearly $10.5 million, the Ocean Supercluster will provide $4.4 million in funding with the balance coming from project partners.
The packaged solution created by the Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) Project includes state of the art communications software and hardware; novel response equipment, procedures and training; and un-crewed surface vessel and aerial vehicle designs for spill detection, immediate response, and persistent monitoring. This package will address marine emergency incident command and response’s two critical gaps: sense-making and communication between responders; and timely spill assessment and response capability in remote and nearshore locations globally.
This project is expected to create 18 new direct jobs and an estimated 90 indirect jobs and will help build transformative public-private-First Nation partnerships by providing new capabilities to coastal resources.
About OSC
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is a pan-Canadian, industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally relevant solutions, while also building a highly capable, inclusive workforce. The Ocean Supercluster has approved projects with a total value of more than $320 million which will deliver more than 100 new made-in-Canada ocean products, processes, and services to sell to the world.
Media Contact:
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
709.725.7070
Quotes:
“Our government is ensuring our oceans and marine ecosystems remain clean and healthy for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The Ocean Supercluster projects announced today will help us build a cleaner post-pandemic economy and achieve environmental sustainability on a global scale. Projects such as the one led by Shift Environmental are taking innovation further, making lasting contributions and helping our oceans thrive.” – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“The Ocean Supercluster is built on collaboration, from across the country and across ocean sectors. Together we are solving some of the biggest challenges in ocean with globally-relevant, sustainable solutions. This BC-led project has taken a collaborative approach to ensuring coastal, remote, and Indigenous communities have the capabilities to effectively respond to marine emergencies.” – Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“Isolated coastal communities are often the most vulnerable to marine oil spills and vessel discharges. Capabilities such as CIMS provide a cost-effective solution, putting immediate response capabilities into the skilled hands of those who need it most. T’Sou-ke Nation and the project partners look forward to demonstrating CIMS as a locally owned, operated and maintained solution to Canadian communities from coast to coast to coast and to vulnerable communities around the word.” – T’Sou-ke First Nation
“Data is the new oil and software is the new steel” as pronounced by Rear Admiral Selby “The Small the Agile and the Many” is being used as a hedge strategy for the U.S. Navy to meet national security interests by balancing large, centralized, and expensive equipment and forces with a distributed and agile rapid response capability. Similarly, these same principals can de-risk spill response and diversify capabilities. In a country with the longest coastline in the world…the principal of “The Small the Agile and the Many” is integral to a robust response strategy.” – Shift Environmental Technologies Ltd.
“The Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) collaborative project has the potential to transform the way that coastal response is managed in Canada and around the world by improving technology and communication and providing rapid assessment and response capabilities in the critical moments immediately after an incident occurs.” – Saab Technologies Ltd.
The Coastal Incident Management System (CIMS) will provide eyes, ears and agility that is ready to respond and enhance Canada’s Spill Response Regime by co-developing modern technology with First Nation communities such as T’Sou-ke Nation.” – BlueNode