NEWPORT –
Ask Blue IQ founder and CEO Kim Gavin why she sought to expand the Boston-founded startup's offices into Rhode Island, and two words immediately jump to mind.
“The ocean,” Gavin said. “We have ocean access in Boston,” she continued, “but being in a state that’s so focused on the ocean, that was one big attraction – the capability to deploy [technology] in the bay area, but also in the raw ocean.”
A community of blue technology startups and support services also stood out as opportunities for collaboration and growth in Rhode Island, Gavin said. But even with these resources nearby, she added, forging connections involves a lot of legwork for a small startup.
On Thursday, Gavin hopes that her company will come away with a wealth of new connections from 401 Tech Bridge's BlueTIDE 2024, a demonstration event designed to address this challenge and bring potential industry partners – whether they're startups, venture capitalists, companies or agencies – together under the same roof.
Though 401 Tech Bridge is no stranger to hosting demonstration events, BlueTIDE 2024 is the first of its kind for the organization, said center director Erik Brine. In the past, demonstration events have typically taken place at the Naval Station Newport, and largely involved the defense industry.
BlueTIDE 2024 will continue to host defense companies, Brine said, but will also open the programming to other commercial applications. And rather than taking place at the Navy base, it will host 33 companies at Sail Newport and Narragansett Bay Test Facility in Newport.
“It’s not just about defense in this case, but also aquaculture and fishing, the hospitality industry, research and development,” Brine said. “All of those sectors overlap in areas like Narragansett Bay, and there are great opportunities for collaboration ... For shared usage of technology and data.”
The event's attendance also marks a significant step up from previous demonstration programming, Brine said, which would typically host three to five companies. And its expanding its reach well beyond the region, with attendees from
Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Norway and Canada.
BlueIQ represents just the type of company 401 Tech Bridge wants at the demonstration event: The startup often partners with the Navy in deploying its software, an underwater sound detection device designed with affordability and a compact design in mind.
But the company also works with environmental organizations: For instance, the startup's technology can also help prevent ships from striking whales, Gavin says.
BlueIQ, founded about a year and a half ago in Boston, currently bases its Ocean State operations at the CIC Providence, but is also seeking an office space in Newport. The startup officially incorporated as a Rhode Island business in January, but started involving itself in the state's tech sector last summer.
BlueIQ, which is so far entirely self-funded, will seek funding next year as it pursues scaling its five-person team and operations, Gavin said. But for some, a big draw of the BlueTIDE 2024 event is connecting with potential funding sources.
At BlueTIDE 2024, “We’re really excited about our integration efforts,” Gavin said, which will include a live demonstration of two of BlueIQ’s acoustic, artificial intelligence-integrated buoys.
“To actually integrate and field test together [with industry partners], that’s very exciting for us,” she said.
At the event, Gavin will be joined by companies such as Jaia Robotics, Havoc AI and
Nautilus Defense. The startups in attendance range from around five to 30 employees, Brine said, and many have reached the point where they may have developed a prototype but could be stuck as to where to go next.
Though participants such as Gavin are enthusiastic for the event, the programming also faces some financial challenges in its own effort to scale. BlueTIDE 2024 was originally designed to kick off the "Smart Bay," an initiative overseen by the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation under the broader Ocean Tech Hub, a federally-designated coalition of Rhode Island and Massachusetts blue technology partners.
But in July, the Ocean Tech Hub learned that it did not receive a share of $504 million in federal tech hub funding, which was administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
This funding snub has thrown the scale and timeline of initiatives such as the Smart Bay into limbo, state and blue technology leaders have said, as Rhode Island seeks other funding sources and the upcoming presidential election casts a murky outlook as to what resources will become available in the future.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
