Venue: Quebec City Convention Center, Quebec City, Canada, September 18th

Time: 8:30 am to 12:30 pm

Fee: Conference registration required

This half day OCEANS’08 MTS/IEEE Workshop is focused on marine renewable energy technologies, collaborations and policies. The workshop will also provide a forum for discussing opportunities and planning within the Marine Technology Society’s Renewable Energy Committee.

To participate as a guest speaker or for more information contact one of the following organizers:

Donna Kocak (dkocak@harris.com);
Ye Li (ye.li@pnl.gov);
Burt Hamner (burt@hydrovolts.com)

Venue: Quebec City Convention Center, Quebec City, Canada, September 15, 2008

The OCEANS’08 MTS/IEEE will host the twenty-third in a series of workshops on the Global Earth Observing System of Systems, GEOSS. This workshop is entitled Science Modeling and Data Policy and will address three associated questions: 1) how can GEOSS facilitate new environmental science and modeling capabilities? 2) how can results from models of disparate phenomena such as oceans and atmosphere be integrated more effectively into products? and 3) how can new science and modeling advances be used to facilitate user services as provided through GEOSS? These questions are raised as a means of identifying the key current and potential contributions of GEOSS to science and modeling and the issues associated with GEOSS policy that will enable the envisioned societal benefits. The Data Policy segment of the workshop will focus on global access to earth observation data within the context of GEOSS. Key representatives from industry, academia, and government will provide invited talks on these and related issues that impact GEOSS implementation and utility. This session will acquaint the audience with the “implementation guidelines for the GEO Data Sharing principles”. Questions and comments will be solicited with time allocated for discussion and breakout sessions.

The Workshop is sponsored by the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation (ICEO) and will be held on 15 September in the Quebec Conference Center in conjunction with OCEANS’08 MTS/IEEE Quebec. The Workshop is free and open to all. Registration to the OCEANS conference is not required to attend the workshop; however, there will be significant intellectual crossover between the Workshop and many relevant sessions in the OCEANS program. For more information on the Workshop and to register for the workshop, please visit the following website: http://www.ieee-earth.org/ and select conferences/workshop. For specific questions please contact Joe Czika (j.czika@ieee.org) or Francoise Pearlman (jsp@sprintmail.com).

The U.S. Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST) advises and assists the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and the Interagency Committee on Ocean Science and Resource Management Integration on national issues of ocean science and technology. In 2007, the JSOST wrote Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States for the Next Decade: An Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy (Charting the Course for Ocean Science) as a guide to establish and realize priorities for ocean science and technology to improve society’s stewardship and use of, and interaction with, the ocean. The JSOST developed the unique document in conjunction with its Committee on Ocean Policy partners and the broad ocean science community.

At present, the JSOST and its member agencies are working on implementation of the four Near-term Priorities (NTPs) presented in Charting the Course for Ocean Science: 1) Forecasting the Response of Coastal Ecosystems to Persistent Forcing and Extreme Events; 2) Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization; 3) Sensors for Marine Ecosystems; and 4) Assessing Meridional Overturning Circulation Variability: Implications for Rapid Climate Change. Implementation activities include using Charting the Course for Ocean Science as a point of departure for discussions with the National Research Council on a study of how scientific vision and technological developments in oceanography through 2030 will shape infrastructure needs. The NTP on Forecasting the Response of Coastal Ecosystems to Persistent Forcing and Extreme Events is also serving as a pilot study for the research to application transition model put forth by the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel.

This JSOST Town Hall, “Progress Towards Ocean Research Priorities”, will provide the community updates on implementation activities of the NTPs and steps taken towards infrastructure studies to gather community input on these efforts.

Workshop I: Visioning Round Table: Government-Industry Partnership Discussion
The National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) is implemented through the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST), Interagency Working Group on Ocean Partnership (IWG-OP). Agency representatives from the IWG-OP, including the Office of Naval Research, Minerals Management Service, and NOAA, will lead an invited scoping discussion with industry representatives on furthering industry-government cooperation in ocean related research. This conversation is intended to be an opportunity to identify and understand areas of common interest, and where closer alignment in the planning, sponsorship, and execution phases of research could be leveraged. This scoping session is principally involving invited participants to the round table, but is not a closed session.

Workshop II: Government Industry Technology Discussion
This open session invites conference attendees who are interested in discussing ideas on sharing technology, identifying dual use opportunities, and how to better circulate information in the marine technology and ocean engineering communities about emerging technologies to enable wider applications. Being aware of technologies and applications under development, other ideas and influences on technology could emerge that would enable a wider and lower cost application or product. This session will explore ideas about how to facilitate this information exchange. The session will follow the NOPP Visioning Round Table, after a short break.

Oceans '08 Networking Breakfast
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Time: 7:30 am to 9:00 am
Place : Quebec Convention Center - Room 2000D

Offered by Ministère du Développement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation du Gouvernement du Québec. Come at the Canadian Pavilion to reserve your place.

Canadian Arctic Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges
Speaker: Dr. Pierre Coulombe, President, National Research Council
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Time: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Place: Quebec Convention Center – Room 2000D

Advanced technologies, applied to Arctic challenges, are essential tools for the Canadian Government in advancing its Arctic strategy. The National Research Council of Canada works with companies and with other government departments to create, develop and improve new technologies in areas critical to Canada's future. Hence NRC's Arctic programs carry out research not just about the Arctic, but for the Arctic. Dr. Coulombe's presentation will feature examples that show the breadth and depth of NRC's Arctic experience, and provide information on the opportunities and challenges facing Canada’s Arctic technology. NRC’s role as a technology solution provider with decades of experience in Arctic operations and technologies uniquely positions NRC to engage northern stakeholders as a developer of northern and circumpolar networks and improve the lives of northerners through its extensive international connections.