William Cork and Christopher Engels brought some #bigideasoutoftheblue directly from the Mississippi Gulf Coast to Ostend Science Park and Flanders Maritime Laboratory
Ostend Science Park had the pleasure to receive the visit of the Mississippi Development Authority. William Cork, Chief Economic Development Officer and Christopher Engels, Director, International Trade and Investment, came on a fact finding mission to Flanders to discover our vibrant blue ecosystem. They discovered a lot of similarities between the mission of Ostend Science Park and the recently launched Gulf Blue Initiative of the University of Southern Mississippi. Just like us, they aim to boost the blue economy by bringing business and science together.
The Gulf Blue Initiative focuses on an initial set of six blue tech innovation clusters:
- uncrewed maritime systems
- ocean-friendly plastics
- precision aquaculture
- smart ports
- sea-space systems
- coastal data
Picture above: Visit to the Flanders Maritime Laboratory with Stefan Geerts
Further reading: https://www.usm.edu/news/2021/release/gulf-blue-initiative.php
