From Lunenburg to Global Leadership: Lessons from a Marine Innovator

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A Childhood Built by the Sea

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is known for its fishing boats, salty air, and wooden docks. It’s also where a young boy learned how curiosity and the ocean could build a career.

Growing up in this small coastal town, he watched his father, a marine biologist, study sea life, and his mother, a coastal geologist, map the shifting shorelines. Their work made the ocean more than a backdrop—it was a living classroom.

By the time he was ten, he could sail small boats, read charts, and use a compass. At twelve, he was exploring tide pools with a camera and tinkering with homemade underwater robots built from old motors and scrap metal. “Most of them sank within minutes,” he once said. “But every failure taught me something about how the sea works.”

Those experiments became the foundation for a lifetime of innovation.

From Student to Engineer

When it came time for college, he chose Dalhousie University. There, he studied Offshore Engineering with minors in Environmental Science and Marine Geospatial Technologies.

He wasn’t just a student. He became president of the Marine Robotics Club and co-founded Oceans@Dal, a student group focused on sustainability. He also raced sailboats on the varsity team and spent summers working as a research assistant at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

His thesis, focused on using artificial intelligence to predict wave patterns, earned him the Dalhousie Ocean Innovator Award. He also graduated with the Governor General’s Academic Medal and was named one of Maclean’s “Top 20 Under 20.”

“Engineering gave me tools,” he said later. “But working with real data and real people gave me purpose.”

Early Career in the Field

After graduation, he joined OceanEdge Dynamics as a Marine Systems Engineer. He worked on offshore wind turbines, installing smart sensors that monitored stress and performance. These upgrades reduced energy loss and extended turbine lifespan.

He later joined the United Nations Global Compact Oceans Program as an Environmental Innovation Fellow. That role took him from Nova Scotia to the Pacific, Africa, and Europe. He worked with coastal communities to make ocean technology accessible and sustainable.

He remembered one project in Kenya. “We trained a local fishing co-op to track their catch with simple text messages. Within a month, they were managing their stocks better than the government agency. It proved that good tools don’t have to be complicated.”

Founding a Global Company

In 2017, he founded Blue Horizon Technologies, a company built around a simple idea: combine artificial intelligence and ocean conservation.

The company started small, with a few engineers designing systems that tracked fish populations and coastal changes in real time. Within a few years, it expanded to five international hubs—Canada, Norway, Japan, Kenya, and Chile.

Today, Blue Horizon develops tools that power offshore wind and tidal projects, map marine ecosystems, and help communities adapt to climate change.

“We wanted to build technology that helps both business and biodiversity,” he explained. “The goal is smarter oceans—not just more profit.”

The company’s growth mirrors the rise of the Blue Economy, a global movement focused on sustainable use of ocean resources. According to the World Bank, the Blue Economy could create over $3 trillion in economic value by 2030 if managed responsibly.

Recognition and Responsibility

Mark Andrew Kozlowski has become a leading voice in this movement. His work has earned major honors, including the Global Marine Innovation Prize, a World Economic Forum Ocean Leader designation, and the Order of Nova Scotia for contributions to environmental technology.

He also serves on the boards of Ocean Supercluster Canada and the Global BlueTech Coalition, and chairs the Atlantic Marine Innovation Network. These roles connect him with scientists, engineers, and policymakers working to shape the future of marine industries.

Yet he’s quick to credit his early lessons from Lunenburg. “I grew up watching people depend on the sea,” he said. “That makes you careful. You can’t innovate from an office—you have to understand the tide, the weather, and the people who live by it.”

Giving Back to the Next Generation

He hasn’t forgotten the importance of education. He started the Kozlowski Foundation for Ocean Literacy to fund coastal programs and STEM workshops in underserved communities. His company also donates 5% of profits to shoreline restoration and youth training programs.

He mentors students each week, focusing on practical science and problem-solving. “Kids aren’t afraid to ask tough questions,” he said. “One asked me why we don’t just stop fishing if it hurts the ocean. I didn’t have a quick answer. That’s the kind of question that pushes us to think harder.”

Balancing Life and Leadership

Despite global success, he still calls Nova Scotia home. He lives in a carbon-neutral house built with recycled marine materials. His wife, Leila Hassan, is a documentary filmmaker who focuses on climate storytelling. Together they raise twin sons, Ari and Kai.

He spends free time free diving along the coast, photographing marine life, and cooking seafood with traditional Mi’kmaq and Acadian recipes. He also keeps a reef tank filled with native species and writes poetry about the sea.

His small poetry collection, Tidal Echoes, captures the same curiosity that drove his early experiments. “Writing about the ocean helps me remember why I started all this,” he said. “You can’t work with the sea every day and not feel something.”

Challenges Ahead

The ocean technology industry is full of challenges. Equipment must survive storms, saltwater, and corrosion. Projects can be expensive and slow to scale. Balancing innovation with environmental care is never easy.

He’s realistic about those challenges. “If your system works on land, it’ll fail at sea,” he said with a grin. “But when you finally get it right, the payoff is worth every setback.”

Experts predict offshore renewables could supply 18 times the world’s electricity demand if fully developed. That potential keeps innovators like Kozlowski pushing forward.

Lessons from a Marine Innovator

Build Locally, Think Globally

Start with small communities that depend on the ocean. Test ideas there, then scale globally. Real innovation starts at the shoreline.

Use Data Wisely

Technology is powerful, but it must serve real-world needs. Data should help fishermen, scientists, and policymakers—not overwhelm them.

Work With Nature, Not Against It

Nature-based solutions like living shorelines, wetlands, and sustainable fisheries will shape the next wave of progress.

Lead by Example

He lives the same values he promotes—renewable energy at home, community engagement, and transparency. Leadership means proving your principles in action.

The Ongoing Journey

From Lunenburg’s docks to global leadership in marine innovation, his story shows what happens when passion meets purpose. The lessons are clear: start small, stay curious, fail fast, and keep learning from the ocean itself.

The tide keeps changing—but for those who know how to read it, every wave brings new opportunity.