The WET Center, which opened in 2006, seeks to provide opportunities for this research to reach the market. The university has for years provided facilities to quantify and field-test water technologies developed by industry and researchers both in California and elsewhere.
The WET Center is a focal point allowing researchers and industry to connect.” “The region has a set of unique resources and physical assets for inventors, entrepreneurs and start-ups, creating a suitable environment for developing and commercializing innovative water and energy technology. “This is the front door to the Blue Tech Valley,” said Helle Petersen, development director of the WET center. The Water, Energy and Technology (WET) Center, located at Fresno State University, includes resources such as the testing facilities of the International Center for Water Technology and is designed to help create and sustain an ‘ecosystem’ that will allow water and energy technology startups to flourish.
Our role is to help our member companies prepare to seize those opportunities,” said Potts.A collaborative high-tech business incubator in Fresno is opening the door for water and energy technology startups in the San Joaquin Valley, working to build a “Blue Tech” community of water-related companies with a national presence similar to Silicon Valley. “There are opportunities for so many of our local companies in the growing BlueTech sector. Much of the work in transport and installation, construction and construction support, inspections and maintenance, etc. With wind projects coming online, opportunities are on the rise for local suppliers to meet their needs. Likewise, companies like Revolution Wind - a partnership between Eversource and Orsted - are also looking to local industrial suppliers to contribute to offshore wind projects as they approach the end of the permitting phase. Through mentorship, collaboration, and business networking, we bring companies together and create opportunities for growth.” Some of this growth is coming through Electric Boat, who are effectively tripling their production capacity, and asking more than ever in terms of capacity and capability of the regional industrial base. “Our organization includes everything from small machine shops with 2 or 3 people all the way up to major suppliers that have been doing extensive work for OEMs for decades. That investment, along with innovative technology and workforce talent coming out of our universities and the private sector, is giving us the opportunity to see growth at the magnitude of Silicon Valley in the 1990s.”Īs the Executive Director of an organization with over one hundred members in the maritime industry, Potts is actively working to help BlueTech companies benefit from this windfall. “The region has secured billions in BlueTech investment over the coming decades, mostly centered around in the defense and energy sectors. Today, that industry is coming back in a very significant and modern way,” said Potts.
“This region has been a major hub of global maritime economic activity dating back to the 17th century, with a long heritage of seafaring, from fisherman and sailors, shipbuilders and ropemakers, naval architects, and maritime manufacturers. Walker Potts, Executive Director of the Naval & Maritime Consortium, is anticipating significant economic growth tied to Groton’s BlueTech industry.