Greentown Labs and Vineyard Wind have selected three start-ups for the Offshore Wind Challenge. The start-ups will focus on innovations in marine mammal monitoring through data collection, real-time transmission, and analysis. The Challenge, run by Vineyard Wind and Greentown Labs with support from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), received more than 60 applications.
The following three companies have been selected to participate in the Offshore Wind Challenge and apply their technologies to near, real-time marine mammal detection:
- SICdrone, based in Massachusetts, builds offshore-capable aerial drone systems that can fly in harsh weather conditions, eliminating weather delays for critical inspection and monitoring at sea.
- Night Vision Technology Solutions, based in Rhode Island, is a high-technology provider of thermal and visible camera systems designed for offshore wind, search and rescue, threat detection, and situational awareness.
- Open Ocean Robotics, based in British Columbia, makes it cheaper, easier, and safer to understand our oceans using solar-powered, self-driving boats that travel oceans for months at a time while collecting ocean data.
Based at Greentown Labs, which is headquartered in Somerville, Mass., the Offshore Wind Challenge is a six-month accelerator program focused on providing entrepreneurs with the connections, business and technical resources they need to commercialise their technologies. In addition to receiving direct support from Vineyard Wind and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Challenge also draws on the knowledge and expertise of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the New England Aquarium.
