At Our Ocean Wealth Summit, Creative Thinking takes Centre Stage

Our Ocean Wealth Summit, the annual get together for the movers and shakers in the Irish maritime world which takes place as part of SeaFest maritime festival, is a great opportunity to map the leading edges of Irelands’ ever growing blue economy and get an idea of what’s needed to further its development.

With the line up of speakers announced, creative thinking and innovation look set to take centre stage and be explored as essential elements of blue growth at this years conference.

Our Ocean Wealth Summit 2017

Our Ocean Wealth Summit 2017 takes place on Friday, 30 June at National University of Ireland, Galway and some leading creative thinkers have been invited along to share their thoughts and inspire those attending. The Marine Institute has announced a line-up of speakers to discuss a blue economy agenda that reflects the opportunities arising from our oceans and the need to address a range of environmental, economic and societal issues.

This years summit focuses on the theme of ‘Rethinking Boundaries and Innovation for a Sustainable Marine Economy’ and the high calibre of speakers attending certainly indicate a serious effort to bring the best minds to bear on this theme.




One particularly notable speaker, who will deliver the keynote speech, is author and father of ‘design thinking’ Tom Kelley of IDEO. Having designed Apple’s first mouse among other innovations in Silicon Valley, IDEO now redesigns corporate cultures to drive innovation. He is addressing the Summit on the challenges facing marine development against a backdrop of blue economy opportunity.

Other speakers on the day come from The Maritime Alliance, GEOMAR, PwC, Statoil as well as national speakers and panellists including Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy and Failte Ireland’s Head of the Wild Atlantic Way Programme, Fiona Monaghan among others.

Bringing Ireland’s blue economy into focus, Dan O’Brien, Chief Economist for Institute of International and European Affairs is addressing a number of topics from the Irish seafood sector, sustainability and economic development in coastal regions. The impact of the Wild Atlantic Way will showcase the impact of the experiential tourism programme on coastal communities and rural economic development.

Our Ocean Wealth Summit 2017 takes place on Friday, 30 June at National University of Ireland, Galway. Find out more here.

About the Author

Daniel Farrell
Interested in all things on the Irish coast and sharing the best of it. // Email: Daniel@coastmonkey.ie // Follow on Twitter: @DanielsSeaViews