Taming the Perspective on Oceans for a More Successful Outcome

From being a mere natural element, the ocean has likely emerged as an effective constituent of the global economy, thanks to the surging technology innovations.                   

FREMONT, CA:In recent years, various sectors where interactions are more visible in daily life, such as media, finance, manufacturing, and medicine, have undergone a paradigm shift into a digitally evolved space, and the ocean-based domain is no exception. Oceans are frequently associated with broad concepts such as biologists, divers, iceberg tracking, weather, whales, and seabird migration, where technology is likely to be relatively advanced. Yet, every innovation comes with its set of traits like lack of communications infrastructure and the challenges of an underwater environment.

Accumulating nearly 70 per cent of space on Earth, the ocean is often considered a crucial factor in achieving goals like climatic change, food security, and improved health outcomes. Because the ocean is a vast domain with numerous factors to explore, innovation leaders must be presented with viable opportunities in the potential leveraging of technology in the sector to remain at the top of the competition table.

Oceans have received increased attention in recent years, similar to the space sector, as innovative technologies that have likely evolved are collecting data on oceans and its assets. That is, sensors, autonomous underwater vehicles, and smart buoys are collecting essential data with increased cost-efficiency and, thus, are emerging as an effective alternative to traditional vessels and human activities.

In addition to the collection of data, analysing it critically is essential, given the increased workforce, to maximise access and interoperability of the data and support decision-making effectively throughout the sectors. This organisation data aids in an intimate understanding of the ocean of the occupied sources, the direction of their location, and their heading. That is, ocean-related activities, from marine life to fishing gear, are distinctly addressed.

Deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) facilitates effective analysis of data, thereby tackling challenges like carbon monitoring, rising sea levels, and water temperatures. It highly favours a net-zero journey and species’ migration, enabling a thorough examination of impacts on sources like fishing and shipping lanes, respectively. The ocean economy is steadily surging and is likely to outpace global economic growth. As a result, technological frontiers enable considerations into growth strategies and commitments to climate action by developing innovative applications in the ocean.

Furthermore, increased automation in the ocean space favours non-traditional workers in addition to traditional occupations such as offshore oil work, ship captain, fisherperson, and plant worker. That is, instead of performing a job merely at sea, the participation is replaced by roles on land, thereby, opening seamless and admissible opportunities for workers in the ocean economy.