Sea Level Rise

At a joint GNC/Virginia Beach Vision Officers meeting in the fall of 2018, two areas of common interest were identified – Broadband and Sea Level Rise/Coastal Resilience. Rather than duplicate efforts, we agreed to collaborate in both areas. GNC members joined Vision’s Sea Level Rise Task Force (already in existence) and Vision members joined our Broadband Task Force chaired by Dave Iwans.

Status

The Task Force has identified 4 primary focus areas:

Support ODU’s efforts to become the global brand in this space
Weigh in on city specific projects to mitigate sea level rise (each organization)
Jointly advocate for state and federal funding
Focus on marketing piece; i.e. communicate that we are open for business

Action taken to date: Joint letter of support to the Economic Development Administration for ODU’s, The College of William & Mary and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s application for funding to support the Open Seas Technology Innovation Hub. The grant application was recently approved by the Economic Development Administration and ODU and its’ partners have been awarded nearly $1.1 million to establish the Hub, which will serve as a catalyst and convener for innovative concepts related to all aspects of living and working on and near the water. The Open Seas Technology Innovation Hub will focus on three industry clusters: maritime, shipping and logistics; aquaculture and fisheries; and flood mitigation and resilience.