IN THE KNOW:
Victoria team earns second place at global Ocean Hackathon® 9 Grand Finale in France
Victoria’s ocean innovators earned global recognition this week, taking second place at the Ocean Hackathon® 9 Grand Finale in Brest, France on December 2.
The Hackathon is an annual, 48-hour international competition designed to unlock new ideas for using digital technologies in ocean science, sustainability and management.
Organized by Campus Mondial de la Mer in France, the event asks participants to tackle real-world challenges using open marine data. Each city’s winning team earns a spot at the Grand Finale, where they present their prototypes to an international jury.
57 teams in total competed this year for the chance to represent their innovations in Brest. The 10 finalists represented Canada, France, Malaysia, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Congo, Spain and Croatia.
Representing Canada and all of North America, the Victoria team earned their place in the finale by winning the local Ocean Hackathon® in October, held at the COAST Innovation Hub. Team members are Udbhav Kansal, Noel John, Yi Zhen, Polina Erofeeva and Dom Torres.
Their project, called the Bikini Bottom Current Classifier, uses artificial intelligence and deep learning to analyze complex ocean currents in the Strait of Georgia.
The Grand Finale winning team is from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They developed a real-time AI “translator” that shows fish’s appetite and helps fish tanks operators optimize feeding to reduce pollution and increase profits.
Third place went to a team from Brest, France. Their project is an AI-powered digitalization tool to map coastal paths.
City of Victoria honours outstanding citizens
There are nine recipients of the City of Victoria’s 2025 Honorary Citizen Awards, which have recognized outstanding community service and personal achievements every four years since 1971.
The 2025 winners were selected by a committee led by Mayor Marianne Alto and Councillors Chris Coleman and Krista Loughton. They include:
- Maximum Express Courier owner Al Hasham for his tireless support of local business and non-profits, providing free courier deliveries to charities during disruptions.
- Former teacher Carol Brown, who rallied thousands for health, wellness, and environmental causes focused on education and youth.
- Advocate Del Phillips for his work promoting child and youth care in BC, including 40 years at the Cridge Centre for the Family.
- Karmen McNamara, founder of Help Ukraine Vancouver Island, for aiding over 1,655 Ukrainian refugees since 2022 with 600 volunteers.
- Logan Ford for creating the city’s largest visual arts hub at 780 Blanshard, supporting 90 artists, four galleries, and five non-profits.
- Marceline Moody for her dedication as a music teacher specializing in classical symphonic and recorder music using the Orff Schulwerk method for cognitive and social growth.
- Olivia Hahn, author of Healing Our Wounded Hearts, for building grief resources for youth through Learning through Loss.
- Robert Milne, for two decades of community service, including serving on the boards of Pacific Opera and Dance Victoria, fostering inclusive cultural collaboration.
- And finally, Theodore Alexis, a 31-year veteran firefighter who raised $100,000 for a harbour fire boat, and has been president of the Victoria Fire Department Historical Society for almost 25 years.
Vacant Downtown Victoria storefronts reimagined as creative hubs
Three arts projects have activated vacant downtown storefronts through the City of Victoria’s Storefront Activation Program, with the aim of injecting fresh energy into underused commercial spaces while showcasing the region’s artistic talent.
Vancouver Island Visual Arts Society (VIVAS) at 1101 Yates Street is converting a 9,000-square-foot space into affordable artist studios, plus areas for exhibitions, workshops, and talks.
Monkey C’s Artcade at 706 Fort Street will open “The Alien Lab,” a 1,000-square-foot interactive zone for co-creating music and art with salvaged tech in early 2026.
Beehive Fibre Arts Centre at 1205 Blanshard Street launched November 17, offering 5,500 square feet for fibre arts classes, workshops, and exhibitions through next March.
The Storefront Activation Program builds on the earlier Victoria Storefront Pilot, which launched in 2024 to test temporary leases for arts organizations and small businesses in vacant properties.
Funded by OUR DWTN and Create Victoria, it supports cultural activations amid high downtown vacancy rates, aligning with the city’s Create Victoria Arts & Culture Master Plan.
B.C. launches fund to help local tech firms prove innovations
The Province has issued a $2.5-million funding call to help homegrown technology companies prove their innovations in real-world settings, with backing of up to $500,000 per project available for pilot-scale demonstrations through Innovate BC’s Integrated Marketplace platform.
The early-stage demonstration call is aimed at B.C.-based small and medium-sized enterprises developing technologies that align with priority sectors in the province’s Look West economic plan, including technology, aerospace, marine, AI and quantum, life sciences, agriculture and construction innovation.
The program is designed to help companies validate performance, attract early customers and move closer to full commercial adoption by supporting pilots with end users in operational environments.
The Integrated Marketplace has supported Island companies like Victoria-based MarineLabs. CEO Scott Beatty said the program gives B.C. small and medium-sized enterprises a clear path to demo new technologies “with clients at the table” in ways that de-risk adoption and deliver measurable benefits for industries and communities.
Applications for the 2025-26 intake are open until December 21, 2025, with another call anticipated in mid-2026.
COAST Innovation Challenge promotes clean energy solutions in the maritime sector
The B.C. Marine Energy and Decarbonization Hub has launched the COAST Innovation Challenge offering up to $100,000—or 50% of eligible project costs—for tech companies to test renewable energy solutions. It is offered through
Delivered through Innovate BC’s Integrated Marketplace, the Challenge focuses on practical innovations like wave, tidal, wind, and solar power generation, plus energy storage and quick-to-deploy modular systems, all of which could help organizations like the Canadian Coast Guard, coastal First Nations, and local communities gain energy independence, using B.C.’s rugged coastline as real-world testing grounds.
Jason Goldsworthy, COAST’s Executive Director noted in a media release that “For blue economy entrepreneurs, finding appropriate testing and demonstration sites poses a major challenge on the pathway to commercialization. The B.C. Marine Energy and Decarbonization Hub’s inaugural innovation challenge offers a unique program to address these issues by allowing multiple technology providers to demonstrate their innovations directly within and to the communities and industry clientele they aim to serve.”
The BC Marine Energy and Decarbonization Hub is a joint effort by COAST and the University of Victoria, in partnership with Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET), the Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED), and the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic).
Applications are open until December 31, 2025.
FROM THE PAGES OF DOUGLAS:
Meet the winners of the 2025 Ecostar Awards, a program that recognizes environmental and social leadership on Vancouver Island. Douglas magazine was pleased to be a media sponsor.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
DECEMBER
December 5: Destination Greater Victoria Christmas Luncheon
December 11: VIATEC AI Meet Up
December 18: INSPIRE Conference
JANUARY
January 22 – Feb 8: Dine Around & Stay in Town
January 26 – 28: 2026 IMPACT Sustainability Travel & Tourism Summit
FEBRUARY
February 26: Culinaire
MARCH
March 10 – 11: Rising Economy conference
APRIL
April 1: VIATEC Awards
April 30 – May 3: Design Victoria
Douglas Weekly brings local business news, insights and community spotlights to keep Victoria and Vancouver Island In the Know. Got a story tip? Email us.
