💙40th Edition💙
Hi everyone!
The NYC OceanTech Summit that Jake Russell of Propeller, Will Lutz of BlueX, and I will be hosting at the South Street Seaport IS LESS THAN ONE MONTH AWAY! One month from today, we will be convening for our Innovators’ Day, and I can’t wait! We are looking for innovators for the following events on Innovators’ Day of the summit:
Participate in our “Three-Minute Thesis” competition that will highlight cutting-edge research and discoveries in ocean science and technology. Register to compete for a $1000 prize pool!
Table at our Innovation Expo to connect the established startup community with local ocean talent. If you’re a startup, sign up!
You can also register for our Investors’ Day here.
News
Marine researchers in South Florida have created a biodegradable coral cage to protect coral grown in a laboratory from being consumer by fish when relocated to reefs in the ocean.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has released a new report entitled “Towards a Regenerative Blue Economy,” which aims to map the evolution of the concept of the blue economy, propose a definition and principles for all blue economy-related work through the lens of conservation and sustainable use.
Yale School of the Environment published an exploration of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), including work done by Running Tide and Ebb Carbon. The overall message of the article is that policy and regulation needs to be made rapidly in order to proceed and expand in a safe and verified manner.
The Blue Marine Foundation published the Mar/April edition of Into the Blue.
The World Research Institute published an article of the state of ocean carbon dioxide removal in the US.
The podcast Future Fundamentals has published an episode on the importance of the ocean to the economy and blue economy investment opportunities.
The Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance has been chosen for the Salesforce Accelerator program AI for Impact to develop “The Octopus Desk”. This platform, in collaboration with Investable Oceans, will be a blue finance marketplace to facilitate blended finance for sustainable and regenerative ocean projects in the Global South. See the LinkedIn post announcement here, and the Salesforce press release here.
The Carbon Herald podcast interviewed David Koweek, Chief Scientist at Ocean Visions, on Ocean Visions work in advancing ocean-based climate solutions.
If you are a scientist, supplier, or otherwise interested party, in OAE and mCDR, Isometric is requesting commentary/feedback on their protocol for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement via Coastal Outfalls until May 5th.
Opportunities
The Urban Future Prize Competition has opened their applications until TOMORROW, May 1st. There will be a prize track for climate adaptation and resilience, in addition to a track for their sector-agnostic Future Solutions Prize.
OceanHub Africa has is looking for their fifth cohort for their 2024 accelerator program. Applications close on May 5th.
The Halifax 2024 OCEANS Conference is still holding a call for abstracts of “engaging and cutting-edge technical papers” until May 10th.
Apply to the Sustainable Ocean Alliance Ecoprenuer Network Class of 2024. The first wave of applications is due by June 3rd. The goal of the program is to provide lifetime support that to advance the world's most ambitious ocean for-profit startups and to amplify their efforts to achieve transformative planetary impact.
Uplink has launched the Regenerative Blue Economy Challenge, which is a call for “solutions to reduce marine pollution and promote ecosystem protection, restoration, and rewilding”. Applications are open until June 8th.
If you have an idea for a new product or initiative that can better protect the oceans against pollution, overfishing, extinction of species or climate change, you should submit your idea for the OceanLove Innovation Awards taking place on June 8th.
The Massachusetts Climatetech Studio is accepting applications for their launchpad program until June 24th at 11:59PM ET.
Hatch Blue, an aquaculture and alternative seafood investor, is looking for startups to join their accelerator program, in which they will invest $75,000 in each successful applicant.
The Ocean Community Innovation Challenge OCC2024 has opened, and it is open to early solutions across all 10 Blue Economy sectors; Water Management, Blue Biotechnology, Blue Transportation, Blue Renewable Energy, Blue Food/Fisheries and Blue Tourism. The selected teams will work with experts and investors for pre-acceleration during 4 weeks+4 months mentoring, followed by access to acceleration programs and investment opportunities.
Apply to Katapult’s Ocean Accelerator program that is designed to guide founders through complex entrepreneurial issues, add structure, and help raise a startup’s next round.
Apply to the TMA Blue Tech Incubator program.
Students and entrepreneurs can enter the Monaco Ocean Protection Challenge to create innovative solutions that have a measurable positive impact on the ocean.
Fair Carbon has launched a Blue Carbon Academy that aims to help with the fine-tuning of the design of a Blue Carbon project.
Events
NOAA Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerators Phase 2 of their applicant webinar series for offshore renewables will be taking place on April 30th at 1PM ET.
The California Ocean Trust will be having a symposium on Thursday, May 2nd from 9AM-5PM on “The Role of Federal Fishery Disaster Assistance in a Climate Change-Driven World” at UC Davis.
The University of Strathclyde Glasgow will be hosting an in-person event with a variety of interdisciplinary speakers on working together for sustainability, especially at the ocean-climate nexus, on May 7th.
On May 18th & 19th, New Jersey’s 21st annual Ocean Fun Days will be taking place. Guests will be able to experience new exhibitors, hands-on environmental programs, demonstrations, and tours of the Sandy Hook lighthouse.
The Seaworthy Collective’s Spring 2024 Startup Showcase is taking place on May 23rd from 6-10PM in Miami. You can get tickets for the event here.
The 7th International Conference on Marine Connectivity is taking place in Montpellier, France, in May 27-31, 2024. It is a 5-day event with a 3-day scientific conference at the heart of the gathering to discuss interdisciplinary approaches to Marine Functional Connectivity (MFC), research and the global functioning/health of the ocean, and how MFC knowledge can be used for improved environmental policies and sustainable development. There will be round tables and applied workshops to integrate this knowledge into decision-making regarding environmental policies.
The JPI Oceans Strategic Navigation Forum will be taking place on June 11th in Brussels.
The OCEANOVATION Festival will be taking place in The Hague, the Netherlands on June 19th & 20th.
From July 1st-5th, there will be a Summer School on Ocean Literacy & Collaboration on Nature-Based Solutions for the Baltic and North Seas in Malmö, Sweden. It is a youth-focused program, so applicants must be under 35 to apply. The applications are due by April 30th.
BlueInvest Africa 2024 will be taking place in Kenya on July 3rd & 4th. The purpose of the event is to facilitate meetings between African entrepreneurs seeking financing and international investors in blue tech.
The Advancing Ocean CDR Summit will be taking place in Boston, Massachusetts from July 9th-11th. You can register, learn more about the event, and check out the speaker guide on their website.
EuroMarine will be hosting their Foresight Workshop this year in Barcelona in October. It is entitled “CIMA: Conservation initiatives in valuable maritime-coastal areas beyond protected areas”. You can find out more on their website.
Ocean Exchange 2024 will be taking place on October 27th-29th. You can follow their event page here to stay up-to-date as the event approaches.
Learning
The Ocean and Us is a book published last year, edited by Farah Obaidullah, explaining all of the main issues facing the ocean today, written entirely by women marine experts.
Check out this blog post in the Economist Impact about the intersection of solving food insecurity and greenhouse gas emissions with aquaculture.
Mia Strand, Nina Rivers, and Bernadette Snow published a paper in 2022 with Frontiers entitled “Reimagining Ocean Stewardship: Arts-Based Methods to ‘Hear’ and ‘See’ Indigenous and Local Knowledge in Ocean Management”. This is a very frequently overlooked part of ocean work and innovation when it comes to technology development, so I think this is a great work to read.
Check out Hardware to Save a Planet’s recent episode on marine electrification with the CEO of Photon Marine.
Companies Doing the Work
The seaweed company Seadling is using a hatchery technology and fermentation to increase the oligosaccharide yield in the seaweed by 345%.
BioMar is a sustainable aquaculture feed company prioritizing low-impact feeds to meet global seafood demand while relieving pressure on wild fish stocks.
The Trofix Upweller technology has been developed out of Otherlab to help cool corals, working like an ocean air conditioner.
Photon Marine is building electric propulsion systems for boats.
CalWave has developed a wave energy converter technology that achieves high performance while surviving storms and extreme conditions.