FRESHWATER RESEARCH & INNOVATION CENTER

On the Campus of Discovery Pier

Marine Technology. Future Careers. Freshwater Blue Economy.

The Freshwater Research & Innovation Center will provide space for education, research, innovation, incubation, and commercialization in marine technology, right here in Traverse City. The site for the new center is on the campus of Discovery Pier, with accommodations for research vessels and a dockside learning lab.
The Freshwater Research & Innovation Center will be a hub for revolutionizing the way we collaborate to drive positive change for freshwater everywhere.

Our Vision

The Freshwater Reserach & Innovation Center will be a state-of-the-art facility that provides a unique environment for smart collaboration between students, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and the developing workforce. A shared physical space and community where ideas become solutions, technologies become ventures, and opportunities become careers. And, a place where water education, research, and innovation translate directly into “Blue Tech” sector jobs and new businesses.

Our vision includes:

  • Through partnerships with leading colleges and universities, the Center will provide unique space for nationally recognized career programs for Freshwater Studies and Freshwater & Marine Technology to strengthen and feed the workforce pipeline.

  • With direct access to Lake Michigan, research vessels, and high-tech lab space and equipment, researchers will develop new methods and systems to understand our freshwater and marine environments, informing discoveries that bring about a better future for the lands, waters, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes region and beyond.

  • By aligning education and research with innovation space, experts can lean into cycles of learning, development, and refinement to fast-track the creation of new technologies and advance our understanding, management, and preservation of freshwater.

  • The Center will include new business incubation and accelerator space and programs to remove barriers and support the transformation of top innovations into successful companies and careers. Our ability to facilitate the transfer of innovative technology into marketable products and a trained workforce will make us unique and a key contributor to the blue technology sector.

Embracing Innovation.
Revolutionizing Collaboration.
Driving positive change for freshwater everywhere.

Rendering provided by Cornerstone Architects

A Freshwater Blue Economy

What does this mean for the Great Lakes, the Traverse City area, and beyond?

Our Goals

Workforce Pipeline

Inspire and grow a strong workforce pipeline through hands-on education and professional certifications and degree programs.


Top Talent

Attract students, educators, researchers, and innovators in the blue technology sector to create a continuum of top talent.  


Stewardship

Build public awareness around the current issues facing the Great Lakes to promote stewardship for generations to come.

Marine Technology

Promote the development of freshwater technologies and innovative solutions by co-locating working pier space, high-tech lab space and equipment, expert thought-partners, and on-going research and support.

Inclusive Engagement

Foster an inclusive approach to attract others to our mission through public engagement opportunities, scholarship programs, and support for start-up businesses.

Freshwater Management

Long term, we believe that the technological advances that come from the new center will be used by scientists to inform decision-making and better management of water resources around the world.

Business Incubation & Acceleration

Support the transfer of innovative technology into marketable products through new business incubation and accelerator programs.


Blue Economy

Establish the Grand Traverse region as an epicenter for the development of blue technology and applied freshwater innovation and the state of Michigan as a leader in the Blue Economy sector.

Our Need

The first building of the Freshwater Research & Innovation Center will be approximately 40,000 square foot of highly collaborative, shared space along with 3,000 square feet of dockside learning space on Lake Michigan. The center will include:

  • High Tech Laboratories & Equipment

  • Classroom and Meeting Space

  • Maker / Tinker Space for Small Business Development and Ongoing Research Support

  • Research Center Office & Administration Space

  • Start-up Business Office Incubation and Accelerator Space

  • Working Pier Space for Watercraft and Sub-buildings

  • Barrier-free public park and a hub for community engagement and select mission aligned business partners to operate

Estimated project cost — $33.6M

Key Partners

  • The Discovery Pier will serve as the campus for the center as well as the conduit between the community and the partners. Discovery Pier will develop public facing programs to highlight research underway, new technologies being developed, and academic programs available at NMC and MTU. Discovery Pier’s goal is to educate the community and inspire tomorrow’s workforce.

  • NMC envisions the Freshwater Center for Research & Innovation as the home for Great Lakes innovation and research focused on the application of freshwater and marine technologies. The center will house the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute (GLWSI) providing a state-of-the art facility supporting learning and applied research in freshwater, water environmental technology and marine technology. GLWSI will serve as the hub for project-based learning supporting academic programming and experiential learning at the associate and baccalaureate levels. Professional development and workforce training focused on remote sensing, autonomous vehicles and other water related technologies will be spearheaded by NMC

  • MTU and NMC have a long history of working together on engineering education. A new partnership was recently signed to enhance our cooperation to include Great Lakes education and research. Both have waterfront locations, one on Lake Superior, the Michigan Tech Great Lakes Research Center, and the other on Lake Michigan, the NMC Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. This new Center will add multiplicative education and research in areas of water quality, lake bed mapping, autonomous watercraft control, cyber security, as well as the computational and computing research necessary in handling “big data.”

  • As part of this new facility, 20Fathoms will establish a new center for Innovation, to include expanded incubation / accelerator / “collision” space, along with new wet lab space and maker / tinker / light manufacturing space. These new capabilities will enable small business growth in multiple technology areas and become the hub for freshwater small business incubation resulting from the research performed “across the hall”.

Our Progress — Recent News