Strategic and business planning for the VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada ocean observing systems

The Canadian and B.C. Governments have invested over S100M to build the VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada ocean observatories. They are national science facilities led by the University of Victoria that align closely with the four priority areas identified in Canada's S&T Strategy (Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage) released in 2007: environmental science and technology; energy and natural resources; life sciences; and information and communication technologies. These state of the art observatories position Canada at the leading edge internationally of a new generation of ocean research that combines transformative science programs and innovative technologies. The science is transformative in its focus on integrated earth-ocean system processes, continuous real-time measurement, plate scale investigation, and dynamic web-based collaborative investigation by international research teams. The technologies are innovative in providing continuous power, remote instrument control, and the streaming of real-time data to Internet web platforms. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) was created as a not for-profit society in 2007 to govern and manage NEPTUNE Canada and VENUS to meet the highest standards of research excellence, societal contribution, and best operational and business practices. The rationale for creating ONC reflects the scope, scale, longevity and risks of operating major science platforms. ONC is developing strategic and business plans that maximize the benefits for Canada from these major investments in research infrastructure. While created as national science facilities through major grants from Canadian funding agencies-principally the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund - international collaboration has been central to the design and planning of the observatories and is vital to their future success. To this end, memoranda of understanding are in place or in process with partner agencies in the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and China. Likewise, the technology development required to build the observatories-the backbone system, the instrumentation, and the data communications-involves contracts and partnerships with companies in the ocean sector in Canada and internationally.