Our Ocean Wealth Summit

The ‘Our Ocean Wealth Summit’ will take place in Galway this year as part of SeaFest 2017.

Come and hear from speakers with international perspectives on how Ireland is transforming its marine sector through and new thinking both as a means of achieving economic prosperity for the world and as an imperative to protect marine resources for future generations.

The Ocean Wealth Summit will be held as part of SeaFest, Ireland’s national maritime festival which is returning to Galway following the success of last year’s event.

Session A: Progress on Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth
The objective of this session is to provide a platform whereby tangible progress towards the goals of Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth, the national maritime plan for Ireland, can be announced.

Session B: The Drive for Innovation
This session is intended to highlight to the audience the global context in which efforts to transform Ireland’s marine industry must take place.

Session C: Smarter and Better
This session will examine how Ireland’s existing established economic sectors, such as the food sector, can turn their attention to the sea. The session is designed to highlight that Ireland has key sectors of strength and expertise operating on a global playing field, which if matched to the marine resource, can be drivers for growth.

Session D: The Coastal Economy
This session will move the focus of the summit from the global perspective to one more focused on the Irish economy, using Marine Tourism and Coastal Enterprise as a case study to pose the question “how can Ireland innovate in marine tourism and leisure”.

Session E: Our Rapidly Changing Oceans
This session brings the day’s discussions full circle. Reflecting on the ways in which innovation is possible and the benefits it can bring, participants will also consider the overwhelming and urgent imperative to innovate arising from our changing oceans.