Grant Technical Assistance Program (GTAP)
2024 Pilot brought to you by the Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC)

Our Mission

The Alaska blue economy is a cornerstone for Alaskan communities, underscoring the importance of balanced stewardship and sustainable use of marine resources. Through collaborative partnerships, ABEC is focused on sustainability and amplifying community benefits. We seek to engage with different sectors in the blue economy to serve and develop opportunities and value adding activities.

Our Goals & Objectives

  1. Serve as a platform to connect existing resources in Alaska across the blue economy sectors. These resources will range from talent, technology, best practices, and research, to funding and equipment. Our primary goal of creating this platform is to connect industry challenges to the solutions that are available and to support those that require more development.
  2. Generate new funding for the State. We will both lead and support proposal development for teams across Alaska in academia, commercial industries, non-profits, NGOs, Alaska Native stakeholders, and state and federal agencies to better position the State to receive competitive funding to support our blue economy. This funding will lead to more revenue and jobs available in the blue economy.
  3. Tell the story of our blue communities. We will provide a place for every Alaskan to learn more about the blue economy across the State. As part of this work, we will include Alaska Native perspectives on water use, build up data around the blue economy and make it available to Alaskans, and share case studies around current initiatives in the blue economy. We hope that students, faculty members, policy leaders, maritime workers, large industry players, and every community member will visit ABEC physically and virtually to inform projects and decisions to build a better blue economy.

Who We Are

The Alaska Blue Economy Center (ABEC) was established in 2019 by Chancellor Dan White at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who recognized that the disparate communities with livelihoods rooted in Alaskan waterways did not have a platform to connect across all sectors. ABEC was created to serve as a platform to better connect Alaskans to relevant resources, expertise, and best practices both across and outside of the state. Learn more.