After the success of the Inaugural UBC Marine Systems Initiative Industry Workshop featuring over 120 attendees and presentations from the Royal Canadian Navy, industry innovators and academia, we are pleased to announce the 2nd UBC Marine Systems Initiative Industry Workshop titled Future Ship being held in Vancouver on March 4, 2020.

The Marine Systems Initiative (MSI) was launched by UBC at last year’s workshop with the purpose of developing the talent and innovation to support Canada’s shipbuilding, industrial marine and defence sectors – supported by founding sponsors Vard Marine and Vard Electro Canada. This 2nd workshop will be an important learning and networking opportunity for government stakeholders, technology innovators, ship operators, component suppliers, manufacturers, designers, educators, service providers and research organizations to get an update on our progress and help to set the direction for this important initiative in the coming years. The grand challenges of modern ship design we will be tackling are:

1. Clean: Dramatically improve the efficiency of ships, while reducing air pollution and GHG emissions from the marine industry.
2. Quiet: Greatly reduce noise pollution caused by ships and other marine enterprises.
3. Safe: Improve safety and situational awareness in order to avoid the human, economic and environmental impacts of shipboard incidents and collisions at sea.
4. Intelligent: Upgrade shipboard sensor, information, and decision systems in order to provide accurate and timely warnings of surface and near-surface threats.
5. Autonomous: Increase vessel and system autonomy to improve efficiency, safety, resiliency and reduce crewing requirements.
6. Talented: Train people who can design and innovate in the shipbuilding and industrial marine sector

Presentations and discussions during the event will include hybrid-electric power systems, alternative fuels, automation & control, wireless communications, cybersecurity, high-performance computing and designing for people.

The workshop has been scheduled for the day before the Western Innovation Forum (WIF) presented by Western Economic Diversification Canada, together with the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada-Pacific and the Association of British Columbia Marine Industries. This is intended to facilitate travel schedules.

Date: March 4, 2020

Location: UBC Robson Square Downtown Campus, 800 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 3B7

For more information, please contact info@msi.ubc.ca