OMX, known for disrupting supply chain management primarily in the defence and aerospace sectors moved into the oil and gas industry, brought industry leaders in the aerospace and energy sectors together in Calgary, Alberta for the ConvergX conference this week.

The result was an engaging exchange or ideas, experiences and opportunities as experts from the aerospace, defence, security and energy industries came together.

The event, initially conceived by business development company WaVv, has been in the planning for years. The idea grew from one-to-one alliances and partnerships that have been created, to opening the discussion to the entire energy and defence industries.

“Opportunities lie where people are not used to looking, and that can be as simple as looking across to another industry with close or the same capabilities and standards,” according to Kimberley Van Vliet, founder and CEO of WaVv.

“It is critical for any industries to think about market diversification early,” said Nicole Verkindt, president of OMX, “Large companies use the OMX platform to reduce their costs by sourcing across sectors and to leverage the innovation lessons already in play in other industries. Smaller suppliers use OMX to gain access to a more diversified customer base that protects them during industry downturns while driving service and technology innovation.”

OMX can be found at theomx.com. There is data on over 45,000 Canadian companies and over 4,000 active users in the platform.

For example, OMX subscribers, The Sky Guys  are leaders in drone aerial photography that can help oil and gas producers improve inspection access while significantly lowering those operational costs. Antris, another OMX subscriber, provides remote personnel tracking for those working in large oil, gas and mining operations.

Virtual training experts at  NGrain or Ova can provide interactive, 3D imaging, mapping and simulations for the often challenging environments of the energy and resource sectors.

The pipeline, coating and blasting specialists at ACL Coatings provide custom finishes with leading technologies, reducing costs, improving safety and operational longevity.

“There are countless opportunities for cross sector synergies across the resource, energy, aerospace and defence industries in Canada and the OMX platform is the marketplace for new partnerships, diversification and innovation,” said Verkindt.