MARSHFIELD — A visit from top state economic officials this week put a spotlight on how Marshfield is emerging as a hub for coastal innovation, data-driven science and workforce development along the South Shore. The Atlantic Resiliency Innovation Institute is turning a persistent coastal challenge into an engine for innovation, workforce development and economic opportunity.
Eric Paley, Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Development, and Zenobia Moochhala, Undersecretary of Economic Foundations, toured the Marshfield-based institute and met with staff, researchers, and partners working to address coastal hazards while building a new sector of the state economy.
Jeremy Devaney, executive director and co-founder of ARII, said the institute’s location is not incidental, but central to its mission. Marshfield’s long history of storm damage and coastal remediation made it the right place to rethink how communities respond to rising costs and recurring impacts.
“The cameras show up on the sea walls every time there’s a coastal event,” he said. “They take lots of cool videos, but then everybody leaves. And the locals are left with all the problems and nothing has ever changed.”
ARII was launched with federal funding secured through Massachusetts’ congressional delegation and began operations earlier this year, positioning Marshfield as a testbed for new approaches to coastal resilience.
Paley said ARII reflects a broader economic development principle he emphasizes across the state.
“You have to figure out what unique value proposition your geography can offer,” Paley said. “Look at the problems you have, start solving those problems, and then presumably other people have those problems. You have to figure it out.”
During the visit, staff demonstrated ARII’s Coastal Hazards Lab, where researchers are collecting real-time data through a growing network of sensors and buoys. Josh Humberston, PhD, ARII’s lab director, said the goal is to move solutions beyond academic papers and into real-world testing.
“It’s no use to have academic papers and research collecting dust on the shelves. We have to ask ourselves- how do we do something for people with this?” Humberston said.
Humberston explained that ARII is focused on making data publicly accessible and using digital models to test coastal protection strategies before communities invest millions of dollars in physical projects. This approach removes barriers that often prevent communities and startups from acting on research.
“Data is free for anyone to go get right now,” he said. “If you want to go test your innovation in the water, you need the surrounding data to understand how it’s performing.”
By building a statewide sensor network and shared data infrastructure, Humberston said the institute is empowering communities to move from reactive spending to informed planning.
Moochhala praised the institute’s potential to connect local work with global expertise.
“This seems like it’s a global problem,” Moochhala said, noting opportunities to learn from international partners with experience in coastal engineering.
A key pillar of the institute is its workforce academy, which is designed to prepare young adults for careers in coastal engineering, marine technology and environmental resilience.
Jeff Granatino, ARII’s academy director, said the program is intentionally structured to bridge education and employment.
“We are a school to career program,” Granatino said. “We want to provide an alternative where they could get back into an academic setting that was going to either prepare them for entry level roles in the area of coastal engineering, civil engineering, or anyone that’s dealing with work along the water.”
Granatino said the academy combines technical training with professional skills and paid internships, giving students pathways into the workforce or back into higher education.
Paley said that focus on education and training signals something larger about ARII’s role in the state economy.
“The second you’re talking about a workforce development program, that means an economy is already forming,” Paley said.
Paley added that ARII’s integration of research, data and education makes it a model for regional economic development.
“It starts off as a scientific endeavor,” he said, “but you can pretty quickly understand how it could become a real economy.”