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Welcome to this week’s Sunday Digest, brought to you by Tiny. In this issue, read about the oceantech startup making a global name for itself, and three products tackling social issues. Have a great day. We'll see you again on Thursday.

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Open Ocean Robotics named a top global maritime tech startup

The local oceantech industry is burgeoning. Our past coverage has shown the breadth and depth of the sector growing in B.C. and in Victoria in particular. But Canada’s bluetech innovators are not only being acknowledged at home; organizations across the pond have recently showcased one of our homegrown water-focused leaders.

Open Ocean Robotics was recognized as one of the world’s 50 most innovative startups and scaleups in the maritime industry by Thetius, a U.K.-based marine intelligence agency. In creating the list, Thetius looked at product announcements, startup investments, partnerships, acquisitions, grant funding, and contract awards. Based on that criteria, Open Ocean was selected out of a list of 2,700.

Founded in 2019. Open Ocean develops autonomous energy-harvesting boats that are equipped with sensors, cameras, and communication devices to collect data. The company is led by Julie Angus, who Victoria Tech Journal spoke to this past June.

At the time, she offered her thoughts and enthusiasm on the growing industry her firm operates within. “We want to take advantage of that awareness and the opportunity to drive growth,” she said. “And to get people excited. We want to have more people enter the ocean economy, we want to have more diversity, we want to have people look at this as a great career for them. There's so much opportunity here. We want to be able to maximize that for our community, for our country, and for the environment.”

Angus and her firm are no strangers to recognition. At the 2021 Foresight Cleantech Awards, Angus took home the Industry Icon Award.

For more on B.C. marine innovation, read our special feature on the locals taking oceantech to the next level.

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📰 More Victoria innovation news

🌎 Social innovation: A recent conference in Nanaimo hosted by the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance showcased tech that helps address social problems. The products included CheckingIn, which offers mental wellness programs and a smartphone application; ElderPrime, a patient health records application; and Circl, a headset and app that tracks cognitive performance. Read more in the North Island Gazette.

🏢 Community engagement: Armon Arani, co-founder of Cognito Health, joined the board of directors of VIATEC, the city’s leading tech industry association. He positioned the move as a way to contribute to the ecosystem. Victoria Tech Journal has previously chronicled Arani’s company’s community-building activities including its Victoria health tech nights.

🕴️ Tech jobs of the week

Find your next career:

• QA Analyst at Megabyte Programming Services

• Back-End Developer at Momentum Dash

• Technical Analyst at BC Public Service

Hiring in Victoria? Reply to this email and let us know! 

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Handol Kim, CEO of Variational AI, explores the massive impact of the new generative AI at Rising Economy 2022 Conference, Nov 15-17.

Generative AI can create original music, images, and writing, rivaling human ability — and advance searches for medicines and climate change solutions. However, it also allows us to convincingly tamper with reality in “deep fake” videos, photos, and more.

The question is — are we summoning the demon or a genie?

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📅 Upcoming events

November 17: BattlePong

November 24: Unthinkable Thursday - Monthly Event

December 8: 2022 Victoria Tech Community Awards

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