Ocean Exchange to convene maritime leaders, investors, technical experts, and entrepreneurs to fund, support solutions needed for more sustainable shipping and healthy oceans
Finalists include CRI Cohort 2 Innovator Veronika Stelmakh of Mesodyne
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The ninth annual Ocean Exchange, to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from 28-30 October 2019, will feature twelve innovations with the ability to generate economic growth and increase productivity while reducing the use of nature’s resources and the production of waste.
“We are delighted to see interest in blue tech innovations skyrocket in recent years! The twelve finalists were selected from over 100 entries and include key technologies to solve the great challenges for healthy oceans, sustainable coastlines where vast populations live, and the de-carbonization of shipping,” explains Millicent Pitts, CEO and Executive Director of The Ocean Exchange. She further commented that there was a 29% increase in applications in 2019.
The finalists will present their solutions and compete for one of two $100,000 awards from worldwide sponsor Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW), and sponsors the Littlejohn Family Foundation and the Marine Research Hub of South Florida. Other key sponsors are JM Family Enterprises Inc., Oceaneering and other contributors.
This year’s 12 Solutions Inspiring Action winners who will compete for the monetary awards hail from five countries:
- CWS Morel (Paris, France): Wind power for maritime
- H2OK Innovations (Boston, MA USA): Water quality monitoring platform
- Mesodyne (Boston, MA USA): Compact energy source for autonomous ocean vehicles
- Mobius (Knoxville, TN USA): Conversion of organic waste to biodegradable plastics
- Nabaco (San Marcos, TX USA): Protective, edible coating for fruits/vegetables to reduce spoilage and for more efficient packaging
- Noon Energy (San Francisco, CA USA): Energy storage
- OPUS12 (San Francisco, CA USA): CO2 mitigation and conversion to carbon negative materials, fuels
- SafetyNet Technologies (London, UK): By-catch reduction in fishing
- Scatri Project (Geneva, Switzerland): Ghost fishing elimination
- SeaTrac (Boston, MA USA): Whale strike prevention
- Wavefoil (Trondheim, Norway): Retractable ship foils for energy savings
- Zilper Trenchless (Boston, MA USA): Civil structures to reduce waste-water contamination in vulnerable environments
Having survived two rounds of competition, these innovators will now compete for the following innovation awards:
- The WW Orcelle® Award 2019 will be given to the solution that creates greatest environmental and business value for any of Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s activities as they relate to six identified UN SDGs applicable to WW. Those six UN SDGs are #3, #8, #9, #10, #13, and #14.
- The Neptune Award 2019 will be given to the solution that advances our understanding of the ocean and that helps minimize our impact on these resources, even while using them for human benefit, resulting in more resilient bodies of water, including healthy marine life and coastlines.
About Ocean Exchange
Ocean Exchange™ accelerates the adoption of solutions that help economies, health and the environment while respecting cultures around the world. In its ninth year, it has awarded over $1.5 million of non-dilutive awards to innovative startup companies. Learn more at oceanexchange.org.
About Wallenius Wilhelmsen
The Wallenius Wilhelmsen group is a market leader in RoRo shipping and vehicle logistics, transporting cars, trucks, rolling equipment and breakbulk around the world. The company operates around 130 vessels servicing 32 trade routes to six continents, and operates a global inland distribution network, 77 processing centers, and 13 marine terminals. The Wallenius Wilhelmsen group consists of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Solutions, EUKOR and ARC. The group is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with 7.500 employees in 29 countries worldwide. Read more at walleniuswilhelmsen.com.
