Blue Tech Talks
Innovate Newport will be hosting four incredible startup founders in July and August. We're excited for each of our guests to share their expertise on the future of the oceanic and maritime industries.
Founders
Our Blue Tech Talk Founders operate in different segments in a diverse industry. We are thankful that each of them have volunteered to discuss their expertise within their field.
Click their photos to learn more
Ocean Tech Hub
Ashley is a strategic, results-driven leader advancing innovation at the intersection of ocean technology, entrepreneurship, and inclusive economic growth.
As a key leader at the Ocean Tech Hub, she helps accelerate commercialization through strategic partnerships, access to capital, and workforce development. With a strong background in program management and stakeholder engagement, Ashley is driving efforts to position Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts as national leaders in the Blue Economy.
Falco
Elsa Nicol is the Co-founder and CEO of Falco, a company delivering smart, tech-enabled solutions for marinas and harbors across Europe and North America.
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With a background in engineering and program management, Elsa is leading the digital transformation of the maritime industry by improving safety, operations, and user experience through connected, turnkey platforms. She aims to help marinas thrive in a new era of on-demand access, sustainability, and seamless service.
Crewless Marine
Steven Bordonaro is the Co-founder of Crewless Marine, a startup advancing uncrewed maritime systems through cutting-edge monitoring and digital twin technologies.
With over 30 years of experience in autonomous underwater vehicles, Steven brings deep technical expertise and a visionary approach to the future of ocean exploration and defense. He’s helping shape the next generation of marine autonomy with smart, scalable solutions for real-world missions.
BlueiQ
Robert McGurrin is the CTO and Founder of BLUEiQ, where he's pioneering edge-AI acoustic sensing to transform maritime domain awareness. With a background in digital signal processing and decades of experience transitioning R&D into fieldable products, he’s built a career turning complex engineering challenges into scalable solutions.
His latest innovation, OpenEar™, is redefining how we secure oceans—delivering real-time, autonomous monitoring through low-power, software-defined hydrophones.
