BlueTech Week 2026: Where Capability Meets Opportunity

BlueTech Week brings together the people shaping the future of maritime defense, ocean intelligence, autonomy, and the technologies that enable them.

But this is not another conference built around presentations and networking for networking's sake.

BlueTech Week is designed around a practical objective: help participants understand where the opportunities are, meet the people relevant to them, and identify pathways to move capabilities toward deployment, investment, procurement, commercialization, and scale.

Government and operators bring mission needs and operational priorities. Industry brings emerging capabilities. Researchers bring new technologies. Investors bring capital. International partners bring markets and allied opportunities.

BlueTech Week brings them together around what happens next.

Whether you are looking for a customer, technology, pilot opportunity, government pathway, investment, research partner, or international market connection, BlueTech Week is structured to help you find the people and opportunities that matter.

Focused Opportunity Forums, Capability Spotlights, curated connections, and dedicated meeting time are designed to turn four days of programming into actionable relationships and next steps.

NOVEMBER 16 | DEMAND & OPPORTUNITY

Where should industry be building, investing, and partnering now?

Government, defense, operators, industry, and international partners surface emerging priorities, capability gaps, procurement pathways, and market opportunities shaping maritime defense and ocean intelligence.

Understand where demand is developing before deciding where to put your technology, capital, or partnerships.

NOVEMBER 17 | FROM INNOVATION TO DEPLOYMENT

What will it take to move promising capabilities into operational use faster?

Co-produced with MITRE, the day examines one of the hardest problems in maritime innovation: what happens between a promising technology and actual adoption.

Government, industry, operators, buyers, and testing experts explore practical pathways through testing, validation, procurement, integration, and deployment.

NOVEMBER 18 | SECURING THE CONNECTED MARITIME DOMAIN

How do we secure the technologies and infrastructure the future maritime domain depends on?

Co-produced with the San Diego Center for Cyber Excellence and Space Force Association San Diego, the program examines the convergence of maritime systems with space, cyber, AI, and critical infrastructure, and the capabilities required to make that increasingly connected domain resilient.

NOVEMBER 19 | OCEAN INTELLIGENCE ACCELERATED

How do we turn the next generation of ocean innovation into scalable, real-world solutions?

BlueTech Week concludes at Scripps’ Seaside Forum overlooking the Pacific with a showcase of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography StartBlue Accelerator and a gathering of the ocean innovation ecosystem.

Explore emerging technologies, companies, investment opportunities, and pathways capable of moving ocean innovation toward deployment and scale.

DEMAND → OPPORTUNITY → VALIDATION → DEPLOYMENT → RESILIENCE → CAPITAL → SCALE

BlueTech Week is built for people who need to understand not only where maritime priorities are heading, but what to do about them.

2026 PROGRAM FOCUS
Maritime Defense & Security | Ocean Intelligence & Autonomy | Space | Cyber | AI & Data | Commercialization & Deployment

BlueTech Week is designed for action, not passive attendance. Focused forums, capability spotlights, and dedicated connection time help participants identify opportunities, meet the right partners, and advance technologies toward testing, investment, procurement, commercialization, and deployment.

BlueTech Week is designed for leaders and decision-makers across government and defense, maritime and ocean technology companies, primes and integrators, startups, investors, research institutions, ports, international organizations, and allied markets.

If you are developing, buying, funding, testing, integrating, or deploying maritime technology, there should be a reason for you to be in the room.

CLICK HERE to view the Participant Guide

CLICK HERE to view the detailed Program

TMA BlueTech is the first and largest ocean and water technology cluster in the United States, connecting more than 120 member organizations and an extensive network of industry, government, academia, investors, and international partners. BTW26 Sponsorship Guide

Based in San Diego with a growing national and international network, TMA works at the intersection of maritime defense and security, ocean intelligence and autonomy, and dual-use technology.

BlueTech Week is where that ecosystem comes together around opportunity.

Info: Location: Liberty Station Conference Center (2600 Laning Rd, San Diego, CA 92106 )

Info: In collaboration with the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, this program brings together government, industry, operators, and international partners identify the emerging needs, capability gaps, and market opportunities shaping the maritime sector, giving companies a clearer view of where demand is heading and where opportunities for growth are emerging.

Info: Frame the strategic landscape for the week.

Info: Promising maritime technologies too often struggle to move from development into operational use. Understanding where and why they get stuck is the first step toward changing that. Government, industry, and technology leaders will identify the biggest barriers between innovation and deployment and where those barriers can be reduced.

Info: Relevant organizations demonstrate capabilities connected to the discussion.

Info: Purposeful networking with speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees.

Info: Our ability to collect ocean data is growing faster than our ability to turn it into useful intelligence. New technologies are creating opportunities to close critical gaps in awareness and decision-making. Operators, government, and industry will identify where better ocean intelligence is most needed and what capabilities can address those needs.

Info: Capabilities aligned with Ocean Intelligence.

Info: Networking and meetings.

Info: Government needs faster access to emerging maritime technologies, but traditional acquisition can be difficult to navigate. New funding, contracting, and procurement
pathways are creating opportunities for companies to get solutions into government hands. Government buyers and program leaders will highlight where those opportunities exist and how companies can pursue them.

Info: Relevant industry capabilities.

Info: The U.S. market can be difficult and confusing to penetrate. Many companies are finding international markets can offer easier routes to customers, partners,
and revenue. Representatives from key markets will highlight emerging opportunities and how U.S. maritime companies can engage.

Info: International and commercialization-focused capabilities.

Info: Senior leaders examine the capabilities that need to move from promise to operational use now, and what must change to make that happen.

Info: Summarize and wrap up lessons learned

Info: Networking

Info: Celebration and networking.

Info: Location: Liberty Station Conference Center (2600 Laning Rd, San Diego, CA 92106)

Info: Co-produced with MITRE, this program brings together government, industry, buyers, and testing experts to examine where promising technologies get stuck and identify practical pathways through validation, procurement, integration, and operational adoption.

Info: Registration and Morning networking.

Info: Recap Day One and frame the transition from opportunity to deployment

Info: From Innovation to Deployment: Why Promising Technologies Get Stuck? Promising maritime technologies too often struggle to move from development into operational use.
Understanding where and why they get stuck is the first step toward changing that. Government, industry, and technology leaders will identify the biggest barriers between innovation and deployment and where those barriers can be reduced.

Info: Deployment-focused capabilities.

Info: Networking and targeted discussion.

Info: Separating real operational demand from interesting technology . Promising technologies can stall when companies don't
understand what government buyers need to see
before they can act. Earlier insight into requirements,
evidence, and expectations can help companies develop
toward real demand. Government buyers and operators
will explain what they need to see before a capability
can move toward adoption.

Info: Buyer-relevant solutions.

Info: Networking and meetings.

Info: Companies can have promising technologies but still
lack practical ways to test and prove them in relevant
environments. Better access to test ranges, expertise,
approvals, and digital tools can accelerate validation.
Government, industry, and testing leaders will explore
how to make proving new capabilities faster and easier.

Info: Relevant industry capabilities.

Info: Targeted discussion and connections.

Info: Even proven technologies can stall before reaching
operational use. Procurement, integration, funding, and
organizational barriers can prevent successful
demonstrations from becoming real deployments.
Government and industry leaders will identify what it
takes to move validated capabilities into adoption/scale.

Info: Buyer-relevant solutions.

Info: Senior leaders examine the capabilities that need to
move from promise to operational use now, and what
must change to make that happen.

Info: Summarize and wrap up lessons learned

Info: Networking

Info: Join us following Day Two of BlueTech Week for an informal evening reception with speakers, attendees, partners, and members of the TMA BlueTech community. Continue the day’s conversations, make new connections, and unwind over drinks and light snacks. Bar and refreshments provided.

Info: Location: 9388 Lightwave Ave, San Diego, CA 92123

Info: Co-produced with San Diego Cyber Center of Excellence (CCOE) and Space Force Association San Diego, this program examines the growing risks across an increasingly connected maritime domain. Leaders from maritime, space, cyber,
government, and industry will explore the capabilities and partnerships needed to protect critical systems, infrastructure, and operations.

Info:

Info: Maritime operations increasingly depend on spacebased
communications, positioning, sensing, and data.
As that dependence grows, so does exposure to
jamming, spoofing, cyber threats, and disrupted
connectivity. Space, cyber, and maritime leaders will
discuss where the greatest vulnerabilities exist and what
is needed to build more resilient operations from orbit
to ocean.

Info: Coffee/Networking + Encourage participants to add organizations, programs, facilities, resources and opportunities that surfaced during the first discussion. TMA team captures missing assets and potential follow-ups.

Info: As AI becomes embedded in maritime sensors and
autonomous systems, it creates new cybersecurity
risks alongside new capabilities. This panel will examine
how organizations can identify and manage
vulnerabilities in AI-enabled systems, protect critical
data and communications, and build security into
emerging technologies before they are deployed in
operational environments.

Info: Cyber risks become much more tangible when
examined through a real-world attack. Using a case
study, this panel will trace how a breach unfolds—from
detection to containment— and what maritime
organizations can do to better protect their systems and
operations

Info: California’s maritime facilities are increasingly
dependent on connected systems, digital
infrastructure, and a workforce prepared to defend
them. This panel will highlight free local resources
advancing suppliers, workforce, innovation and
cybersecurity including the California Shipbuilding
Ecosystems Alliance (CalSEA) and San Diego Cyber Clinic.

Info: Networking, refreshments, closing remarks, and the
TMA BlueTech Maritime & Cyber Trivia Challenge.

Info: Location: Scripps Seaside Forum (8610 Kennel Way, La Jolla, CA 92037)

Info:
StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator is an immersive program designed to help U.S.-based (or U.S. subsidiary)
ocean intelligence startups launch and scale supporting the goals of the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Initiative.
Housed at University of California San Diego, this program combines the entrepreneurial expertise of the Rady
School of Management and Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation with the world class ocean and
technical expertise of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Nov. 19 Showcase features the fifth wave of innovators supported by the StartBlue Accelerator, highlighting
their technologies, progress and results from participating in the accelerator program, while connecting them
with investors, customers, institutions and strategic partners who can help advance their next stage of growth.

Info: An integral part of the StartBlue Showcase, the Startup Exhibit Hall brings the StartBlue Cohort technologies and
innovators directly to attendees. Throughout the day, participants can see emerging technologies firsthand, hear
from founders about how they work and the problems they address, and explore opportunities for investment,
adoption, research and partnership. The Exhibit Hall remains open throughout the program, including breaks,
lunch and the evening reception.

Info: Begin the day over breakfast, meet fellow attendees and make connections with StartBlue founders, investors,
industry leaders and ecosystem partners. The Startup Exhibit Hall will be open for an early look at participating
companies and technologies.

Info: Opening perspective on the role of BlueTech Week and StartBlue in strengthening San Diego and California’s
position as a hub for ocean innovation, while connecting emerging technologies with the partners, resources and
opportunities needed to move toward adoption and scale.

Info: Welcome from Scripps and perspective on the importance of science, technology and entrepreneurship in
advancing ocean understanding and translating innovation into real-world impact.

Info:
A new ocean enterprise is taking shape at the
intersection of science, technology, data, and
commerce. NOAA leadership explores how ocean
technology and intelligence are creating new
capabilities, markets, and opportunities.

Info: Building a stronger ocean enterprise requires more
than promising technology. This panel explores what is
needed to move ocean technologies from development
to deployment, adoption, and scale.

Info: Continue conversations from the morning sessions, make new connections and engage directly with StartBlue
founders and other participants in the Startup Exhibit Hall.

Info: Promising ocean technologies often face a difficult
path from development to market adoption. This panel
explores what makes ocean ventures investable and
how partners can help companies attract capital, reach
customers, and scale.

Info: Dedicated time to make connections and deepen conversations with founders, investors, funders, industry,
researchers and regional partners, while continuing to explore StartBlue technologies and opportunities for
collaboration.

Info: A preview of the upcoming KPBS documentary series
exploring San Diego’s connection to kelp through
science, innovation, economics, and culture.

Info: Meet the next generation of ocean innovators. StartBlue
Launch companies showcase emerging technologies,
business models, their progress, and opportunities to help
move promising solutions toward real-world deployment.

Info: Take a closer look at the technologies presented, continue conversations with founders and explore where their
solutions could align with real-world needs, markets and partnership opportunities.

Info: Scaling an ocean technology requires customers,
capital, partnerships, and market access. StartBlue
Scale companies will showcase their commercial
progress, growth opportunities, and what they need to
reach the next stage of adoption and scale.

Info: Close out BlueTech Month in style at our legendary Sunset Reception at Scripps Seaside Forum, with sweeping views of the Pacific
Ocean. It is an opportunity to continue meaningful conversations, share updates on initiatives and ideas sparked
throughout the week, and build relationships across the BlueTech community. Against the backdrop of the ocean,
the reception also offers a fitting reminder of the larger purpose behind our work: advancing innovation and
economic opportunity while helping ensure a healthy, resilient and thriving ocean for generations to come.

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