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Partnership Aims to Bring Water Research Center to West Grand Traverse Bay

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A new multi-agency partnership could provide new jobs training and career opportunities, all related to research on the Great Lakes. The five education and nonprofit partners are working together in hopes of developing a “Freshwater Research and Innovation Center” along Grand Traverse Bay.

Jason Slade is the NMC Vice-President for Strategic Initiatives. He says, “This was a partnership that’s been about a year in the making.” Northwestern Michigan College unveiled the news that they’re partnering with Michigan Tech, the Discovery Center, 20Fathoms, and Traverse Connect; for a new venture in Water Studies: research, education, jobs training, and more.

Photo Courtesy of NMC

“Working with Traverse Connect and 20Fathoms we saw this opportunity to make Traverse City the hub for freshwater research,” Slade says. “Each one brings a unique perspective to the space. We have Michigan Tech that has a very strong research background. And what we’re looking at is making this particular institute focused on autonomous vehicle and sensor technology.”

Beyond the research and skills training – it has long-term implications for the region. “We support the research that’s being done by Michigan Tech. But we also are working with some of those companies that are launching research and technology out of this facility. And we can provide that professional workforce development that they need,” Slade says. NMC can provide that training for their workforce or a new workforce or anybody using that technology. It would bring the research component of Michigan Tech in. It would bring the scalability of 20Fathoms as they take some initial research and launch into a company. The support of Traverse Connect and Discovery Pier. So this would allow NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute to just expand.”

20Fathoms Executive Director Eric Roberts says, “That innovation, that research leads to commercialization of businesses. That’s where 20Fathoms comes in with our incubation and startup services that we offer.” And Slade says, “We’re all working towards this goal. It actually cemented out what each partner brings to the table. When you have such strong unique partners you want to leverage all their strengths.”

Photo Courtesy of NMC

The new research center would be an expansion for NMC’s Water Studies Institute- with the facility headquartered on West Bay at Discovery Pier. Research and startup companies could also share the space. Slade says, “At the new center we’d have Michigan Tech. we would have NMC in terms of our Marine Technology and Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. Our Marine Center which is our professional development arm. All sharing space with research and startup companies and others.”

Roberts adds, “In addition to aligning all of these organizations and their visions and objectives that they have, we also get to invest in water. Which is our most precious resource around here.”

Discovery Center CEO Matt McDonough says, “It’s really synergistic and complementary, so we’re really excited about that. It’s really a collaborative effort. Everybody brings a little something different to the table. But it’s all very complementary. And all kind of focused on the same vision of really trying to create a better hub for Great Lakes research, innovation. All with sound stewardship as the basis.”

Roberts is excited about the partnership. “It lays that groundwork for these five organizations which have said ‘we’ve all got our own objectives, we’ve all got our own visions. But in this one initiative it’s taking us exactly where we want to go.’ So that ability to come together and show the collaborative power of this region allows us to take that next step.”

And Roberts says it took the right leaders at the right moment to make it happen. “What’s most unique about this is we’ve got five organizations that are somewhat disparate, all aligned with the right leadership at the right time to go after an initiative like this. So we’re thinking big. We really want to take this to the next level. And our timing we believe is perfect for that.”

The “Northwestern” is NMC’s research vessel that would likely be moved over to West Bay, the same location as the future research facility. The five partners in the Memorandum of Understanding say the stage has been set, but there is still much more work to be done to make it a reality. McDonough says, “We’re committed to the vision, but we’re very preliminary in our plans still… a lot of work still to be done.”  That doesn’t mean the ship is sunk on work starting sooner, however. Roberts says, “As soon as we can get vessels in there where we can run research out of it, we can start the work immediately before the center even gets built.”

Phase 1 of the plan includes working on funding sources, design plans and construction timelines.

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