Fish 2.0 Global Innovators Forum: Diving into Seafood Innovation
Stanford University and surrounding Silicon Valley are epicenters for technological innovation, so it’s no surprise that Stanford’s campus was yet again the setting for Fish 2.0’s Global Innovators Forum, where 40 seafood sector entrepreneurs pitched their latest and greatest ideas to peers, investors and experts.
The Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions was a co-sponsor of this year’s Forum, held November 5-6. Several COS colleagues attended the event to learn about some of the biggest areas of innovation from participants, who came from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, the Pacific Islands, Philippines, Russia and the UK.
Presenters and panelists focused on several themes: the role of innovation in the future of the seafood industry; navigating dilemmas around private profit from public funding and data sharing vs. privacy; frank insights from Fish 2.0 alumni companies about the early stage rollercoaster of growing a seafood business; charting the course from connections to growth; and keeping the future of aquaculture bright.
In response to these themes, company pitches at the Forum targeted areas including: aquaculture technology, packaging and storage; traceability and supply chains; quality control; waste reduction and seafood by-product use; climate change mitigation; algae, kelp and seaweed production and products; seafood trade and distribution; aquaculture disease control; and next-generation fishing gear.
“As these new ideas and personal networks pull together pieces of innovation bubbling up around the world, and more investors jump into the pool, the pace of change in seafood has moved from a simmer to a rolling boil,” explained Monica Jain, founder and director of Fish2.0.
