The Blue Climate Initiative (BCI) is honored to announce the winners of the US $1 Million Ocean Innovation Prize. The announcement comes on February 9 at the One Ocean Summit in Brest, France. The Prize, hosted by the Blue Climate Initiative in partnership with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, is designed to accelerate ocean-based solutions to climate change.
The winners who will share $1 Million in prize money for their innovative solutions to help in the fight against climate change are:
Biopac – an Indonesian company, which innovates and manufactures seaweed-based bioplastic through an environmentally-friendly production process. Their product line includes wraps, sachets, gussets, drawstring bags, and seal-tapes. They also offer innovative bioplastic vacuum packaging. Biopac’s solution will address climate change head-on through seaweed cultivation that reduces carbon emissions, and indirectly by reducing plastic waste in the ocean. (Dr. Noryawati Mulyono, S.Si., Co-Founder [email protected]; biopac.id)
SMO Solar Process – a company from Guadeloupe, which is using thermal solar power to convert biomass – in this case, Sargassum seaweed – into highly valuable products with a negative CO2 balance: activated carbon, biochar, clean hydrogen, and electricity. They estimate that one SMO production site allows storage and avoidance of at least 70,000 tons of CO2 annually. (Dr. Nicolas Ugolin, Founder, Inventor & Lead Scientist [email protected]; smosolarprocess.com)
Symbrosia – a USA-based company, is “Solving Climate Change with the World’s MightiestSeaweed.” Methane reduction is their area of specialization. They produce a livestock supplement that chemically reduces the methane that is produced in the digestive process of cows and other livestock. This novel seaweed additive reduces livestock methane emissions by over 90% at minimal feed inclusion rates. (Alexia Akbay, Founder & CEO [email protected]; Symbrosia. co)
In addition to the prize money, winners will be featured at the Blue Climate Summit in May 2022 in French Polynesia. The Summit is a gathering of over 250 scientists, investors, researchers, public officials, community members, and thought leaders committed to addressing the climate crisis and protecting our oceans. Winners will be supported with publicity, match-making with experts and investors, and mentoring.
“The Ocean Innovation Prize has infused new energy and hope into efforts to create by 2030 the ocean we all want – and urgently need. Congratulations to the winning projects for coming on top of this highly competitive process. And congratulations to all of the competitors: your ideas and entrepreneurial spirit are a testament to the yet untapped potential for technology and innovation to revitalize the ocean and create a more sustainable society,” said Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, the agency tasked with global coordination of the UN Ocean Decade. Mr Ryabinin is one of the seven High-Level Judges of the Prize.
“These remarkable innovations demonstrate the amazing power of the ocean to help solve the climate crisis,” said Stanley Rowland, CEO of the Blue Climate Initiative. “The global community needs to rally around and help scale up projects such as these if we are to have a chance at solving the climate crisis before reaching further major tipping points.“
The three winners were chosen by a distinguished seven-member panel of judges and 17 Expert Evaluators from among 236 applicants from around the globe. Submissions were evaluated for their impact potential, commercial and scale potential, capacity and feasibility, the value of Prize support, and alignment with Prize principles.
Two applicants received honorable mentions for their innovative wave energy conversion solutions. Both are helping to increase the proportion of wave energy in the renewable energy mix, using technology that ensures the survival and viability of their products in harsh ocean environments.
CorPower Ocean – Clean Energy from ocean waves from Sweden. (Patrik Möller, co-founder & CEO, email: [email protected]; https://www.corpowerocean.com/)
Eco Wave Power – Clean electricity from ocean and sea waves from Israel. (Inna Braverman, Founder & CEO. email: [email protected]; https://www.ecowavepower.com/)
For more information on the Ocean Innovation Prize, please visit:
https://www.blueclimateinitiative.org/ocean-innovation-prize
The Blue Climate Initiative (BCI) is a global initiative bringing together scientists, community groups, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, influencers, and others to protect the ocean and accelerate ocean-related strategies to address the climate crisis and other pressing environmental issues. The fiscal sponsor for BCI is the Tetiaroa Society. For more information about BCI, please visit www.blueclimateinitiative.org. Questions can be directed to Jeanne Everett, Director of Program and Operations, [email protected]
UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (‘the Ocean Decade’) seeks to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and catalyze new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive marine ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we need for the ocean we want. The Ocean Decade provides a convening framework for scientists and stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop the scientific knowledge and the partnerships needed to accelerate and harness advances in ocean science to achieve a better understanding of the ocean system and deliver science-based solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.
