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Report from the Aquacuaculture Innova� on Summit
Leading edge
Investors, tech entrepreneurs and academics agree there are huge opportunities ahead
BY ROBERT OUTRAM
Be� er diagnos� cs for fi sh health, novel aquafeed ingredients and digital transforma� on for the industry were all on the agenda at the fourth annual Aquaculture Innova� on Summit.
Held this year as an all-online event, the Summit brought together pre-revenue and emerging aquaculture companies; established players and suppliers in the sector; fi nancial, venture capital and private equity investors; government representa� ves and regulators; and service providers and consultants.
Global animal health business PHARMAQ was Digital Innova� on Partner for the Summit, and PHARMAQ’s Nils Arne Grønlie, General Manager and Senior Director Opera� ons, started the event with a refl ec� on on what we have learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and how those lessons could be applied to fi sh health.
Top: The RAS panel: (from top le� ) Jelena Kolarevic, Astrid Buran Holen, Mark Powell and Howard Tang. Below: The Feed panel (from top le� ) Jennifer Kuo, Maye Walraven, Björgólfur Hávardsson and Larry Feinberg Opposite: Nils Gronlie, Amy Novogratz
PHARMAQ Grønlie said, “detects, predicts, prevents and solves” health issues.
The future of RAS (recircula� ng aquaculture systems) farming was discussed by a panel comprising Howard Tang: CEO of investment fi rm Peritus Capital; Dr Mark Powell, CEO and General Manager, Marineholmen RASLab AS; Astrid Buran Holen: Head of Development, CAS, with aquaculture tech business Scale AQ; and Jelena Kolarevic, Professor with UiT, the Arc� c University of Norway.
The panel agreed that the most important change in RAS in the past few years has been scale. Jelena Kolarevic warned, however: “You can’t assume that everything that func� oned well before will func� on when the system is bigger. And the risks are also bigger.”
The availability of experienced, competent people in this new fi eld could place limits on the sector’s growth, the panel felt, and the scale and speed of investment in RAS around the world could also put pressure on operators to move too quickly.
Powell said: “The key thing is to assess where the highest risks are – and not to try to do it all at the same � me… the smart companies will go step by step, develop a working model and learn by doing.”
He added: “I think it will always be cheaper to farm at sea. That said, the benefi ts of reduced environmental challenges, be� er produc� on control and be� er welfare will to some extent off set the market price for these products.”
Price alone might not be the only issue, Kolarevic suggested, since in some regions investment in RAS will be necessary if the industry is to meet demand.
Accessing investment was also the topic for a panel discussion, with Sarai Kemp, VP Business Development, Trendlines Agrifood Tech Fund; Amy Novogratz, Co-founder and Managing Partner, pioneer investment fund Aqua-Spark; Howard Tang of Peritus Capital; Kje� l Haga, Founding Partner of Bluefront Equity and a former partner with Broodstock Capital; and Larsen Me� ler, Managing Director, S2G Ventures.
The panel agreed that investors’ interest in
food and agriculture, and par� cularly aquaculture, had increased drama� cally in the past few years.
Larsen Me� ler pointed out that in some sectors, such as microalgae, investors need a good deal of technical exper� se in order to write a big cheque with confi dence.
Howard Tang said he would like to see more investment opportuni� es in digitalisa� on, ar� fi cial intelligence and machine learning.
Kje� l Haga agreed: “I hope that in future we will be able to reply more on technology and not so much on experience. To scale up, we need to trust technology.”
The panel noted that digi� sed trading platforms, and quality and traceability solu� ons also presented some exci� ng opportuni� es.
The future of aquafeed, especially novel ingredients, was also the subject for a panel discussion. The panellists were Jennifer Kuo, Chief Technology Development and Sustainability Offi cer with Grobest, one of Asia’s leading feed companies; Larry Feinberg, CEO with biotech business KnipBio; Maye Walraven, Director of Business Development with insect-based feed producer Innovafeed; and Björgólfur Hávardsson MSc, is the Innova� on Manager with the Seafood Innova� on Cluster, based in Bergen, Norway. Feed producers and farmers are looking to novel ingredients to demonstrate performance and sustainability, but as Larry Feinberg pointed out: “Sustainability means a lot of diff erent things to diff erent folks.” As well as carbon footprint, novel ingredients also have to show that they use resources like land and water sustainably – and that their producers are capable of scaling up produc� on. Maye Walraven said: “The industry is looking at performance – for example, more effi cient use of land – and also at cyclical ways to produce feed, for example using co-products from other industries to feed insects.” Feinberg said that single-cell proteins, grown on ethanol, are also a promising new feed element. Jennifer Kuo commented: “It’s good to see more alterna� ve ingredients in the market now, and at a reasonable price they could replace tradi� onal ingredients. It’s early yet.” The panel discussing prospects for digital transforma� on in aquaculture was made up of Jarne Elleholm, CEO Stonehaven Incubate; Björgólfur Hávardsson; Bryton Shang, CEO so� ware developer AquaByte; Tore Norheim Hagtun – CEO of fi shery and aquaculture so� ware company Searis; David Kelly – CEO of Innovasea, which has developed a fi sh tracking system; and Dmitry Kozachenok, CEO of digital aquaculture technology company Ecto.
Fish welfare taken
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Above: Bryton Shang, Sophie Ryan
Tore Norheim Hagtun stressed that the biggest challenge for digitalisa� on in aquaculture is making data a useful tool for users at the farm level.
David Kelly said that he sees opera� onal data as the “fi rst wave” of digitalisa� on, with the second wave being longer term use of big data, enabled by the convergence of low cost digital technologies, reliable sensors, advanced video processing and low cost connec� vity to get the data from the farm site to where it needs to be used.
The panel agreed that useful, ac� onable data is key for day to day opera� ons, but also that sharing data on a larger scale could help the industry as a whole.
A panel of experts from PHARMAQ considered the role of diagnos� cs in aquaculture. They were Renate Johansen, Product Manager, PHARMAQ Analy� c; Jan Pe� er Berg, Global Communica� on Director, PHARMAQ; Chris Ma� hews, Business Unit Director UK Ireland, PHARMAQ Analy� c; Carlos Lobos Blumenfeldt, Business Unit Director PHARMAQ Analy� c Spa, Chile; and Terje Tingbo, Head of Commercial Development, Tilapia with PHARMAQ.
They discussed the benefi ts of RAS farming in terms of biosecurity, with the caveat that it is vital to keep pathogens from becoming established in the tanks. Terje Tingbo commented on other species, especially � lapia – he saw signifi cant demand for diagnos� cs in all � lapia markets. Investment in this has been held back by the fact that � lapia produc� on is very fragmented and it is a rela� vely low value fi sh, but technology is making diagnos� cs less expensive, he said. Carlos Lobos Blumenfeldt explained how, a� er some serious biological problems with pathogens at sea, the industry in Chile is now carrying out mandatory, early tes� ng and diagnosis. Chris Ma� hews agreed that diagnosing health issues early is fundamental, including the ability to run tests even in remote loca� ons. He said: “Internet connec� vity is going to be hugely important, allowing vets to carry out diagnos� cs remotely.” The closing address was given by Sophie Ryan, CEO of the Global Salmon Ini� a� ve, a collec� ve of leading salmon companies, from around the world. She noted that choosing a meal is not just about how it tastes now, but also about “goodness” – for the consumer, for animals and for the planet. And she added: “Perhaps the most important ques� on is ‘Am I a good consumer, and what do my food choices say about me?’” Ryan argued that it is important for the seafood industry to promote its sustainability creden� als. This must not be “greenwashing”, she stressed, as it is important to show the facts, good and bad. GSI is sharing exper� se, best prac� ce and inspiring each other to go further, she said: “Perhaps the most important result is a shi� in perspec� ve, to understand that environmental improvements across the whole sector will benefi t all.
“It’s good to be good, but it’s really good to be constantly ge� ng even be� er.”
The Summit also provided opportuni� es for online working, as well as a series of round tables on topics from commercialising innova� on to promo� ng sustainability.
The Aquaculture Innova� on Summit was organised by Kisaco Research and PHARMAQ was Digital Innova� on Partner for the event. Fish Farmer magazine was a media sponsor. FF
Luminis wins Innovation Showcase award
The closing day of the Summit saw the Innova� on Showcase award – for the emerging company making the best presenta� on – go to Luminis Water Technologies.
Based in Singapore, Luminis seeks to take the aquaculture industry to a new level of effi ciency by introducing a range of next genera� on microbiome analy� cal solu� ons addressing water quality problems and early pathogen detec� on. Use of patented equipment, e-DNA and microbiome AI analy� cs help fi sheries diagnose mystery ailments which previously have decimated stock and driven opera� ng costs up.
Key takeways
RAS farming off ers many advantages, but
it carries its own risks and is unlikely to become cheaper than tradi� onal net-pen aquaculture.
Interest in inves� ng in innova� on in
aquaculture is higher than it ever has been, but to make a success of it requires exper� se.
Key investment opportuni� es are likely
to be found in digitalisa� on, ar� fi cial intelligence and machine learning.
Novel aquafeed ingredients hold great
promise, but producers will have to show that they can scale up.
The aquaculture industry needs to show
consumers that it is truly sustainable.
