InnoVenture Labs is a non-profit incubator that helps early-stage science and climatetech companies grow by providing innovation infrastructure, guidance, and community.
With support from MassCEC’s Ocean Innovation Network (OIN), InnoVenture Labs launched OceanTide, which connects oceantech startups with test sites, training and mentorship, and other resources to support development.
Chris Ilsley, president of InnoVenture Labs, discussed the organization’s involvement with OIN and how OceanTide is helping advance oceantech and support healthy marine environments.
Read the interview below.
MassCEC: Can you tell us a little about your organization and mission?
Chris Ilsley: At InnoVenture Labs, we believe innovation thrives when entrepreneurs, startups, communities, and local partners work together. Our labs and shared equipment have called the Cummings Center (or “the Shoe”) home for 15 years, and regional partnerships empower startups in life sciences, cleantech, and ocean technologies to test, grow, and scale—right here in Metro North Boston.
Our core mission is to bring impactful ideas to market and economic growth [to the] regional and Commonwealth, collectively.
MassCEC: What is OceanTide, and what inspired the program?
Ilsley: OceanTide is about bringing people together around the future of our coast. It helps ocean-tech innovators connect with the real places and real expertise they need, from our harbormasters and working waterfront crews to yacht clubs, sailors, and the coastal towns and cities that know these waters better than anyone.
By pairing that local knowledge with new technology, OceanTide gives startups the chance to test and refine their ideas in the environments they’re built for. The result is practical, community-informed innovation that supports our coastal economies and helps protect the marine environment we all depend on.
MassCEC: How is MassCEC funding supporting OceanTide?
Ilsley: MassCEC funding gives OceanTide the backbone we need to support oceantech innovation across the North Shore. We can now develop and equip a mobile workshop, streamline access to real test sites in our towns and cities, and make it easier for startups to work side-by-side with harbormasters, local clubs, and the people who spend their lives on the water. It lets us build a program that listens to coastal communities, learns from them, and then helps emerging companies turn those insights into technologies that actually work in the field.
MassCEC: Looking ahead, what impact do you hope OceanTide will have in the next year or so?
Ilsley: We’d love to look back and see that OceanTide helped spark a real shift in how ocean innovation happens in Massachusetts. That means startups moving faster from concept to deployment, harbormasters and sailors shaping new technologies with their on-the-water experience, and local businesses gaining new opportunities from a growing ocean-tech sector.
As these pieces come together, we hope to see healthier coastal ecosystems, more resilient communities, and a stronger regional economy built around solutions that truly work for the people who live and work along our shores.
MassCEC: Why is oceantech innovation important for Massachusetts?
Ilsley: For Massachusetts, this work is important because it builds on a long, proud history of innovation along our coast. Our harbors and waterfront communities have been shaping the state’s economy for generations — from commercial fishing and shipbuilding to marine research, recreation, and now offshore wind. That mix of tradition and forward thinking is what makes the state so unique.
By giving startups the ability to test and deploy new ocean technologies here at home, we honor that heritage while creating new opportunities for the industries that still define our coastline today. It keeps talent in the state, strengthens local economies, and positions Massachusetts as a leader in the next wave of ocean innovation.
InnoVenture Labs is helping expand Massachusetts’ ocean innovation ecosystem, giving innovators new opportunities to test technologies, connect with coastal communities, and contribute to economic and workforce development. Through OIN, MassCEC is supporting InnoVenture Labs as they build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to advance oceantech in Massachusetts.
Visit the Ocean Innovation Network page to learn more.