Terry is managing director of Planet Ocean & ecoSUB Robotics.  Planet Ocean represents manufacturers of oceanographic and meteorological instruments from around the world, as well as designing and manufacturing bespoke instruments and systems for ocean research. In 2016, Terry established ecoSUB Robotics Ltd to develop Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, designed and developed in collaboration with the MARS group at the NOC Southampton.

He is a fellow of both IMarEST and the Royal Meteorological Society and is Chairman of the Marine Science & Technology Group of the Society of Maritime Industries.

 

 

How has Planet Ocean adapted to the challenges of these uncertain times?

We were well prepared before the events of early 2020.  Our IT, comms, CRM, accounting & management systems were already cloud based allowed us to relocate everyone away from our two offices before lockdown was enforced upon us and by alternating staffing of our warehouse, workshop and main office we were able to maintain incoming and outgoing shipments, service & support without interruption.  Thank goodness for Zoom, Teams, skype and the like and our own VPN and servers. Without those tools it would have been a lot harder.  Field testing of our ecoSUB vehicles was challenging, but we have a great team who got very creative, using local resources including paddling pools in the garden, to keep pushing forward.

Please tell us more about how you are supporting your teams and/or local communities?

It’s my job to do my best to ensure that our team have all the resources required to achieve their goals, simple as that.  In the wider community we try to focus on using our expertise and skills rather than in generic community based activities.  For example, I work with Maggie Philbin (remember Tomorrows World?) at Teen Tech www.teentech.com as a STEM ambassador, mentoring young scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs and SATRO www.satro.org.uk which has similar aims.  Others in our team guest lecture to undergraduates at Southampton & Portsmouth University on Robotics and careers in environmental science.  These are things we have passion for and where our experience can be well deployed.

How do you think the industry will change? Are there potential opportunities?

There are enormous opportunities for our industry ahead, not just as a result of the pandemic.  We are seeing a lot of pent up demand from the last 15 months that is being released now.  Clearly this is a significant period of change across the board, faster and more widespread than I have seen in my 45+ years in the business.  The way in which marine science is undertaken is changing, with a move to autonomous data collection platforms and with it the ability to sample with far greater temporal and spatial resolution is foremost; and this requires the ability to process large data sets efficiently, and with more meaning and distribute the learnings from that data more widely and collaboratively.  Climate change is at last very much in the spotlight and there are real opportunities for our industry to provide new technology to contribute to understanding and mitigating the effects and possibly, reversing them.  The energy sector, with the change from carbon to renewables and decommissioning along with, CC&S offer enormous opportunities. Marine Science underpins all of Maritime, including shipping, maritime defence, aquaculture, leisure, resources, sustainability,  the list goes on.

What do you think are the main challenges ahead?

Isolationism – The problems we face and therefore the opportunities are global, they know no geopolitical boundaries, we need to collaborate not just in the developed World, but the whole World.  We need to ensure that the tools and methods used to acquire the data are consistent around the World and that the entire system is understood at the same scale and accuracy.  Funding – Whilst it is true that the Ocean Business is now populated by some quite large multi-national enterprises there are still very many small to medium sized players doing great work and innovating without adequate funding from Government. This slows down the process and keeps the risks for these players high.  Some governments are far more supportive to our industry than others.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Although I have been building and running Companies for over 30 years, I am an engineer at heart and being in the room with our R&D team gives me the biggest buzz.  The ecoSUB project has meant working with some truly amazing, engineers and administrators for whom nothing is ever off the table.  They continue to surprise me with their solutions to problems whilst being able to see the commercial implications.  Similarly, some of the new technology emerging from our global partners is equally as stunning.  Seeing these efforts make a real difference in the World is very satisfying.

Who or what inspires you to be even better?

The team inspire me, their passion and skill, they always go the extra mile, good enough will never do for them.  Do better?  Just keeping up with them is a challenge for me.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself that most people don’t know…

I played County Rugby as a schoolboy but coached non-league youth football for several years as an adult.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry?

This is an industry that has opportunities that cover a huge range skill sets.  If you have a passion for the ocean and the path that you had planned does not pan out, there is always another path to tread that will keep you connected with the ocean and all that it has to offer.

How important is Ocean Business to the ocean technology sector? Why would you recommend a visit?

Ocean Business is unique in our World.  It has grown in a relatively short time to be one of the must attend events in the industry.  OB is truly hands on,  where manufactures can demonstrate their technology on the water or in the NOC facilities, undertake classroom workshops and training sessions and where there are no gigantic stands.  The whole community is looking forward to this years event especially, for most it will be the first face to face event in nearly two years.