With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1388249
JULY/AUGUST 2021 BCBUSINESS 115 Barkley Sound is no Silicon Valley. These are wild ocean waters on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Hump- backs, grey whales and orcas migrate through each year, dining on a rich soup of krill, plankton, capelin and salmon. Most human visitors come to watch the majestic marine life or to catch chinook and coho. So when startup co-founders Mike Williamson, Bill Collins and Tony Ethier arrived in 2019 to plant the seeds for their company, their venture stood out from the fishing charters and eco- lodges in the local business community. Cascadia Seaweed isn't what most people imagine when they think of disruptive tech or the economy of the future. When Williamson, the CEO, first heard the idea of growing kelp, he asked, Seaweed? Is that even a business? But the world is increasingly turning to the oceans for food, energy, transport and other resources—and as a driver of innovation. b y D E E H O N / / p o r t r a i t b y N I K W E S T into the blue SHIPBUILDING, ROBOTICS, NEW FOOD SOURCES– THE B.C. MARINE TECH SECTOR IS RIDING A WAVE OF INNOVATION. BUT OUR GROWING OCEAN ECONOMY FACES STIFF COMPETITION FROM OVERSEAS