For 20 years, the OCEANS Conference & Exposition has brought together leading experts in maritime and marine technology “to learn, innovate, and lead in the protection and utilization” of the world’s bodies of water. In 2025, for the first time, the conference set up shop on the shores of the Great Lakes, and Traverse City took a veritable “army” there to show off its budding status as a blue tech hub. The trip proved fruitful, netting one local business a big prize and scoring Traverse City’s new Freshwater Research and Innovation Center its first major tenant.

Jointly hosted by the Marine Technology Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Oceanic Engineering Society, the OCEANS conference has been offering twice-annual events for the marine industry since 2005 always on oceanic coasts. This fall, from September 29 to October 2, the conference posted up at Chicago's Navy Pier for its first-ever event on freshwater. John Lutchko, director of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), sees the milestone as a recognition of the increasing importance of freshwater research.

“You had all these people there that do work throughout the oceans, but had never been to the Great Lakes,” Lutchko says. “Having those people here allowed us to show them that that these aren't just lakes; these are truly inland freshwater seas, and they are massive. And that’s useful, because I think it’s too easy for this coast to be forgotten in the general conversations that are had about bodies of water and research around them”

While Lutchko is no stranger to big conferences, he says this one was special for how much of a presence Traverse City had.

“Oftentimes, I walk these the floors of these conferences, no matter where they are around the world, and I’m either by myself or maybe I have one other person there with me,” Lutchko tells The Ticker. “This time, we had, quite literally, an army of people from northern Michigan, from NMC, from our partners, it was huge. We were so well represented, and I think that's such a big thing for showing how much momentum is building in our area around the blue economy.”

Much of that energy comes from the construction of the new Freshwater Research and Innovation Center (FRIC), which broke ground at Discovery Center & Pier in September. Once completed, that $29 million, 38,000-square-foot facility will bring together “working pier space, advanced laboratories, and business incubation under one roof,” serving as “the home for water technology and marine mobility” in northern Michigan. With that facility now under construction, NMC and its partners – including Discovery Pier, Traverse Connect, Michigan Technological University, and 20Fathoms – are on the lookout for tenants.

Lutchko says the timing “couldn’t have been better” for the OCEANS Conference to draw focus to the Great Lakes. With FRIC coming online “in 15-18 months,” the center’s partners were in full-on recruitment mode during the conference

“We had a large booth there – us and the FRIC team, as well as the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission, who were there talking about Fish Pass – and we were all working to bring that emphasis on Traverse City and what's happening up here,” Lutchko says.

That work could pay dividends. According to Camille Hoisington, vice president of ecosystem development for Traverse Connect, one of the major companies that had a presence at OCEANS 2025 is now also set to become a core tenant at FRIC.

“NV5 is a big engineering consulting firm; they’re global, and they have offices around the states, but they’ll be launching their first Michigan office at FRIC,” Hoisington says. “They can do surface water work, stormwater surveying, coastal inland waterways surveying and sampling. They can do groundwater testing, drinking water testing, and watershed planning. They have this whole suite of services that they offer within their water vertical. Having them at the center is going to be a really big deal for us.”

Beyond NV5, Hoisington says she “gathered about 100 attendee business cards from a wide range of industries and organizations,” all of whom expressed interest in the center.

“We met with growth-stage companies focused on things like underwater mapping, marine sensors, infrastructure for marine tech, and navigation infrastructure,” Hoisington says. “We also met with leaders from the World Ocean Council, and from organizations like Generator and Continuum, groups that are helping blue tech companies go from research to business. And then there was a large university presence from across the country, and it was really good to engage those institutions about potentially housing their freshwater research projects here in the future.”

Also at OCEANS 2025, NMC announced Traverse City-based startup Wave Lumina as the winner of the Great Lakes Blue Tech Innovation Challenge and its $35,000 grand prize. The Ticker profiled Wave Lumina, which is working to streamline PFAS testing, back in August.