NC State Provost Arden created the Coastal Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (CRSI) as a university-wide effort for students and faculty to tackle challenges related to sea-level rise, increased intensity of tropical cyclones, overfishing, and rapid development of the coastline. Within the CRSI, Professor Christopher Osburn in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences created the Blue Economy Innovation Program (BEIP) to organize an effort that connects the science, engineering, and entrepreneurship groups at NC State. The objective of the project is to conduct an ideation event in which students can learn about and create ideas for the blue economy. The BEIP has members from the KIETS Climate Leaders Program, NC State’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship, First Flight Venture Center in the RTP, and Sea-Ahead, Inc., a bluetech incubator/accelerator company that is working with NC State and other NC universities to establish a blue economy hub in NC for the Mid-Atlantic region.
The February 2024 Creating Solutions for the Global Blue Economy workshop was successfully completed February 23-24 in Morehead City, NC, at the Carteret Community College Hospitality and Culinary Arts Center and the NC State Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST). Over 80 attendees were present including 9 faculty, 45 undergraduates,14 graduate students, and 14 invited speakers. This year’s workshop saw a 15% increase in attendance and included students from Carteret Community College, Chowan University, Duke University, East Carolina University, and UNC-Wilmington.
In FY 2023-24, Dr. Osburn and KIETS Associate Director Raj Narayan also mentored a Social Innovation Fellows team whose work on the Blue Economy initiative led to the development of a Blue Economy Resource Directory, the framework for an NC Blue Economy report, and a Blue Economy Speaker series in collaboration with UNC Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. KIETS support is leveraged with funding from the College of Science, CRSI, NC Sea Grant, CMAST, the NC State Climate Office and Hutchison Law firm. Dr. Osburn invited KIETS’ continued support for the Fall 2024 Blue Economy Workshop which was held on October 14-15, 2024.