Our Focus on Tampa Bay

We’re deep into drafting the Tampa Bay Ocean Strategy, a bold blueprint to spotlight our rising ocean economy and the region’s strategic edge. With a clear, unified message, we’re positioning Tampa Bay to attract national attention and future investment.

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These are the focus areas guiding our Ocean Strategy:

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Focus Area #1: Unify Strategic Regional Collaboration

The Tampa Bay region has had historical success aligning the triple helix of innovation - academic research, industry expertise, and public policy – to unlock the potential of its ocean economy. We have an opportunity to increase this economic impact by expanding stakeholder engagement and fully leveraging their unique assets through sustained, collaborative efforts.

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Focus Area #2: Catalyze High-Impact Research  

The Tampa Bay region boasts a robust foundation of academic institutions that position it as a leader in high-impact ocean research, with recognition extending from local to global levels.

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Focus Area #3: Accelerate Innovation

To fully realize the region’s potential in the BlueTech and maritime sectors, there is an opportunity to build on our strengths with more specialized capabilities, targeted investment, and expanded collaboration. By connecting existing accelerators, research institutions, and defense partners with emerging technologies, Tampa Bay can position itself as a national leader in ocean and maritime innovation.

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Focus Area #4: Expand High-Quality Jobs

The Tampa Bay region is home to a strong pipeline of academic institutions—from high schools to universities—actively shaping and preparing the next generation for the ocean enterprise. There continues to be a need for traditional marine skills and new, technology-focused competencies.

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Focus Area #5: Sustain Infrastructure Capabilities

The Tampa Bay region hosts three major ports, shipyards, test beds, and a range of specialized facilities that form the backbone of its blue economy. Maintaining and modernizing these assets is essential to ensuring continued growth, innovation, and long-term success in the ocean economy.

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Focus Area #6: Strengthen Coastal Resiliency

Being vulnerable to certain environmental risks, we need to protect the region’s communities and economic assets. Strengthening coastal resilience through strategic urban planning, improved insurance frameworks, informed policy-making, and advanced business intelligence and AI tools empowers decision-makers to anticipate risks, mitigate damage, and ensure long-term regional sustainability.

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Nisuka Williams

Innovation Manager