BY: Krystyna Urbancic
From March 4 to 5, 2026, Montreal, Canada, hosted the 13th annual Economist Impact World Ocean Summit. I attended the event with my colleague, the Director of Professional Services at ECO Canada, on behalf of the Ocean Alliance Canada program. Our goal was to learn more about the global blue economy and the solutions currently driving both economic growth and sustainability goals.
Over two days we attended sessions covering a wide variety of topics including financing adaptive solutions, disaster management for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Indigenous rightsholders in MPA development. Many sessions also focused on the next five years of the global 30×30 targets and the role of collaboration between countries, industries, rightsholders, scientists, and government in delivering those commitments.
A common theme we picked up on throughout the conference was that conversations around the global ocean are shifting. The challenge is no longer defining priorities in the sustainable blue economy but ensuring that there are systems to finance and scale the solutions that will turn those goals into reality. The conference opened with a keynote from Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, Joanne Thompson, who spoke about Canada’s commitments to these systems. She highlighted several ongoing programs and efforts, including the recently released and much anticipated strategy around whale safe fishing gear, and how those efforts support Canada’s blue economy growth.
One of the more interesting moments came during her Keynote interview where she spoke about how science and innovation are still separate conversations from the ones about finance and economic investment. This is one of the barriers we often see slowing innovation readiness in Canada. Innovation, conservation, and economic development are closely connected to financial systems that allow solutions to scale. These issues are not separate but deeply interconnected.
Several of the most notable sessions focused on financing adaptive solutions, blended public and private funding models, and the growing potential of blue carbon and environmental credits. Many speakers discussed the challenge of translating scientific innovation into investment opportunities and securing financial commitment from private industry. A common point that came up across these conversations was the need for better baseline data, stronger integrated global observation systems, and more collaboration between researchers, industry and governments. Without those components, it is difficult to define and reduce financial risk to attract larger scale investment, and this is being seen across many areas of sustainable innovation.
There was no single clear answer presented for how blended public and private funding models should work and who should be taking charge. However, many speakers agreed that government funding supporting early-stage innovation, combined with blended funding models that help technologies scale, will likely be a necessary pathway for many startups and SMEs.
From the perspective of Ocean Alliance Canada, many of these discussions reinforced the importance of collective action. Across sessions there was a clear message that we need coordination to create faster impact. Though solutions to drive our sustainability goals forward currently exist (many of which were seen at the innovation stage!) what is often missing are the intermediary systems that coordinate and create space for collaboration. Strengthening those connections is essential if we want to move beyond cycles of optimism followed by slow progress. This is where programs like OAC play an important role. We are working to create conditions where the next global ocean conferences are highlighting more success stories than continued barriers.
Overall, as expected from an economist-driven conference, the World Ocean Summit focused heavily on the role of investment in scaling to meet global 30×30 goals. The conversations around ocean sustainability are clearly moving beyond identifying problems and towards implementation and impact, and how we can accomplish more when we remove siloed efforts.
If you are interrested in continuing these discussions, Ocean Alliance Canada will be hosting the next Sustainable Blue Economy Summit in September 2026. The event will bring together ocean voices to explore how we can drive ocean potential to ocean performance. To stay up to date on the latest from OAC, sign up for our newsletter or contact us.
