October 8th, 2018: Week one is completed with a fantastic trip to Cape Breton (Cabot Trail).
This was a very fruitful working week with close interaction with our client (IORE / COVE) and its key stakeholders (to mention a few… Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia’s Department of Education, Ocean Tech Start-up companies and many more). Ocean is one of the largest industries in Nova Scotia and it has its roots deep in every corner (almost everyone here would have a family member who is/was working for this industry). This is also one of the challenges we are facing when we look at re-branding this sector. The perception among youth is that Ocean Science means hard and dirty work with no career development opportunities, which is a completely different picture from what we have experienced in just a week in the region. E.g. we have been introduced to a ‘Startup Hub’ for companies who develop very sophisticated high-tech products for the ocean industry.
This week we had also a chance to ‘Look and Feel’ the Ocean Industry in a very close range via multiple study trips across the region.
One of the greatest ‘attractions’ was a trip on the ‘Leeway Striker — Halifax’, a fast patrol boat that can get to a top speed of 55knots, or 107km/h !!! This boat is marketed as high speed patrol craft to navies around the world — COVE will use this asset to help companies who wish to test their products in the ocean in a very efficient way.
We could not ask for a better closing for week one — a team trip to one of Canada’s greatest attractions Cape Breton National Park (with the famous Cabot Trail). (https://www.cbisland.com/ )
More to come… so stay tuned :-)
Best regards,
Ilan Menachem
