Evidence on the ‘Future of Ocean Technology’

11 July 2023

Background: 

This inquiry will look at the innovative and modern approaches to sustainable ocean technology and infrastructure. This includes aspects such as mapping and monitoring marine protected areas, dealing with disused oil and gas fields, offshore wind, and protection of submarine cables. In all these cases, technology holds the key to success, and so the APPG is interested in the future of ocean technology. This could include AI tools, underwater vehicles, sensors, research platforms, and ocean-based energy generation solutions, including tidal, wave and offshore wind.   

[Source: The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ocean website] 

As part of the inquiry, our Head of Digital Innovation and Marine Autonomy group Prof. Matthew Palmer gave evidence in person at Portcullis House. He said: 

"It was a privilege to provide evidence to this important inquiry on the Future of Ocean Technology on behalf of Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the UK marine science community. The ocean technology revolution that we are experiencing presents many opportunities and challenges, with the potential to provide new insight and solutions to the complex problems that our natural environment faces from climate change and the biodiversity crisis, and their social impacts.” 

“This was a fantastic opportunity to promote the work being done within the UK ocean science community with autonomous systems and digital technologies, and to highlight where future investment is required to meet the full potential of our emerging technologies, skills and talent. This inquiry presents an opportunity for the UK ocean community to feed evidence, opinion and suggestions for the future priorities, opportunities and risks for ocean technologies directly into government and I encourage everyone from the ocean technology community: manufacturers, users and other stakeholders, to actively engage with this inquiry." 

The inquiry will close at 17:00 on Wednesday 12 July. Respondents are asked to submit evidence and any questions to: contact@oceanappg.org. Please can you keep all responses limited to 500 words per question. This inquiry will cover Great Britain, Northern Ireland and British Overseas Territories.   

For more information please visit the APPG for the Ocean website here >>