Zack Baize, Economist/Ocean Enterprise Program Manager

Tell us about yourself and your work at NOS.

My name is Zack Baize, and I am an economist and manager for the Ocean Enterprise Program within the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) office. IOOS is a national-regional partnership that produces, integrates, and communicates ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes data collected from a nationwide observing network. In my role, I coordinate public-private partnerships, assess marine technology opportunities, and manage blue technology accelerator programs. Much of my focus is on connecting ocean observing systems and environmental data with maritime business and entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation, address challenges, and pursue opportunities in the U.S. ocean economy, such as ocean sensing, automation, eDNA, and environmental management.

How did you get to where you are now in your career?

After college, I spent several years working in the energy sector and became increasingly interested in how policy shapes economics and drives markets. I decided to go to graduate school to study economic and environmental policy, which led me to work as a consultant in Washington, D.C. For the last 15 years, I have worked with the federal government on public-private partnerships, technology commercialization, and economic analysis.

How does your work benefit the public?

To truly steward our ocean and coasts, we need to understand their value and the combined economic, environmental, and societal benefits they provide. When we can clearly measure, articulate, and translate ocean data in terms of value, that data becomes a powerful tool that can inform management. The Ocean Enterprise Accelerator Program helps NOS build relationships with industry partners to leverage data and new technologies to support innovation and growth of the U.S. ocean economy. With better ocean data, NOAA empowers communities, businesses, and local leaders to make smarter decisions that can support the economy and management of marine resources for generations to come.

What about your work has felt especially exciting or rewarding?

I’m consistently driven by the opportunity to transform new environmental knowledge into quantifiable economic value. The most rewarding part of my job is working with innovators and technology entrepreneurs to translate their big ideas into commercially viable solutions. Groundbreaking innovation means very little if it can't reach the marketplace. Through the Ocean Enterprise Accelerator program, NOAA enables the next generation of ocean tech inventors to realize their potential and build the ocean economy of the future, generating value and supporting NOAA’s ocean mission — to understand and predict changes in our ocean and coasts.