Protecting and exploring our global ocean is a huge job: It covers more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Cutting-edge technologies help us dive deeper, gather more ocean data and solve some of its biggest challenges.

Here are 5 innovative high-tech tools borne from NOAA’s partnerships with the fishing industry and technology companies large and small.

Sea Grant is partnering with Swift Engineering on the development of a buoy like none before. Meet Kelp - a remote, self-powered buoy for water quality monitoring.

Joined through NOAA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program, Sea Grant is helping Swift Engineering deploy and test Kelp in different environments for a variety of purposes. Check out this multimedia feature to learn more about Sea Grant and Swift’s partnership on Kelp.

In 2019, the TPO contracted a private company to research and assess the economic impact and overall effectiveness of NOAA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) component of NOAA's Technology Transfer Program.  The attached document provides a high level summary of the results.

Representatives from NOAA's Technology Partnerships Office attended the SBIR/STTR National Conference November 13-14 in Portland, Oregon.  The conference allowed NOAA' SBIR program manager an opportunity to present to hundreds of small businesses from Portland and across the country.