Conference Program

Seagriculture EU

17 - 19 June 2025

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Conference Program

Theme of Seagriculture EU 2025: Seaweed 2.0: Today’s scaling for tomorrow’s needs

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The theme “Seaweed 2.0: Today’s scaling for tomorrow’s needs” represents a call to action for the professionalization and scaling of the seaweed industry to meet the growing global demand for sustainable solutions. Collaboration across the value chain is crucial - bringing together producers, policymakers, investors, and buyers to bridge gaps and foster synergy. By working collectively across the value chain, the industry can establish a robust and resilient infrastructure, ensuring scalability and sustainability to address tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.

Program is tentative and subject to change.

Site visit to Hortimare & NIOZ: Tuesday 17 June 2024

The site visits will take place on 17 June 2025.

You can either join the site visit to Hortimare or NIOZ. Find out more!

Conference day 1: Wednesday 18 June 2024

8:00 - 9:00 Welcome Coffee

9:00 - 9:25 Opening of the conference

Session 1: Roadmap for the European seaweed industry

This session will be developed by DLG and the North Sea Farmers, in close collaboration will various national governments and the EU.

Panelist

Maris Stulgis, Policy officer Blue bioeconomy, algae and aquaculture, DG MARE, European Commission, Belgium

10:45 - 11:15 Coffee Break / Trade Show

Session 2: Professionalizing the seaweed industry: learning from pioneers 

During this second session leading pioneers from various emerging industries will share their experiences on how they developed their businesses, how they  learned from failures, and monetized opportunities.

The details will be provided soon

Haik van Exel, Managing Director, Hortimare, Netherlands

Keynote Presentation

Shot in the Foot: Unintended consequences of using

inorganic fertilizer in commercial tropical eucheumatoid

seaweed farming and wider implications perhaps for a number of other cultivated species

Alan T. Critchley, Research Fellow, Verschuren Centre, Canada

12:55 - 14:10 Lunch / Trade Show

Session 3: Collaboration as a tool to a successful seaweed industry

As the African proverb tells us, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” During the past 15 years collaboration within the seaweed industry was highly underdeveloped. During this session 3 speakers will demonstrate the value of collaboration.

Norwegian Seaweed Cluster – how can collaboration enable a new industry?

Elin Njåstad, CEO, Norwegian Seaweed Cluster, Norway

Beyond Competition: Why Collective Growth is the Future of Seaweed

Alexander Ebbing, CTO & Co-founder, Ebbing Tides, The Netherlands

Critical (bio)mass: collaboration as a strategy for regional resilience and global competitiveness 

Frederick Bruce, Senior Project Manager, s.Pro – sustainable projects GmbH, Germany

15:30 - 16:00 Coffee Break / Trade Show

Session 4: Panel discussion on seaweed investments and business aspects

During this panel discussion, a number of seaweed business and investment experts will share their vision on the seaweed industry in Europe and abroad, on needs and expectations, and on what the next steps should be.

Panelist

Richard Piechocki, Lead Financing the Bioeconomy, Rabobank, The Netherlands

Panelist

Morgan Ræ, Founder & Director, L’eautelier, Belgium/USA

Panelist

Tessa Charupatanapongse, Investment Lead, Potato Impact Partners, Singapore

Panelist

Rita Sousa, Partner, Faber, Portugal

Seaweed Elevator Pitches

The Seaweed Elevator Pitches offer a unique, fast-paced, and diverse session where presenters have five minutes to deliver a concise, impactful presentation on their activities and innovative ideas. All topics are possible as long as they deal with seaweeds.

The Algae AI Research Hub: Bridging Innovation, Collaboration, and Sustainability

Josefine Staats, Founder, Algae AI Hub @ Kulau GmbH, Germany

Process development and scale up for extraction of high-value polysaccharides from seaweed

Karla Dussan Rojas, Scientist Specialist, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, The Netherlands

Seaweed Biorefinery: A Key to unlock novel  environmental and economic sustainable market opportunities

Helena Melo Amaro, R&D Manager, Ínclita Seaweed Solutions, Portugal

17:45 Pick-up at the De Doelen. A bus will bring participants to Blue City for the conference dinner

18:15 - 21:30 Conference dinner at Blue City

Conference day 2: Thursday 19 June 2024

8:00 - 9:00 Welcome Coffee

9:00 - 9:15 Opening of the conference day

Keynote Presentation

The current status of macroalgae in animal feed; Quo Vadis?

Dr. Stefan Kraan, Chief Scientific Officer, Oceana Organic Products Ltd, Ireland

Session 5: Novel seaweed applications: value-added products and market opportunities

The Seagriculture conference is not complete without this session. Three speakers will present their work on processing aspects, market opportunities, and (novel) seaweed applications.

Optimizing the Natural Functionality of Seaweed for Clean-Label Food and Nutrition Innovation

Kate Sullivan, Founder, Uncracked, The United States

The role of fusion (hybrid) food products in the protein shift

Remko Hol, Co- owner & fouder Olijck Foods, Meat you Halfway & Sea you Halfway, The Netherlands

10:35 - 11:05 Coffee Break / Trade Show

Session 6: Seaweed 2.0: Today’s scaling for tomorrow’s needs

Experts will discuss the state of play of the global seaweed industry. What is the status today and where are we heading to?

Building the Future of Seaweed: Insights from Production, Trade, and Utilization

Junning Cai, Fishery Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy

Assessing Sentiment Towards Seaweed Aquaculture In Media With Integrated AI-Human Approaches

Bailey Moritz, Lead Specialist, Seaweed Farming, World Wildlife Fund, The United States of America

Ulva cultivation at sea – from research to commercial scale

Annelous Oerbekke, Hatchery and R&D manager, Nordic SeaFarm, Sweden

Can past lessons and present innovations pre-empt future impacts of pests and diseases in an expanding seaweed industry

Juliet Brodie, Merit Researcher, Phycology, Natural History Museum, The United Kingdom

12:25 - 13:40 Lunch / Trade Show

Session 7: Seaweeds as a tool for ecosystem services 

For many years seaweeds have been glorified as the ultimate solution for climate change. During this session experts will give a realistic overview of what seaweeds can really bring to global ecosystems.

Who lives in a pear tree under the sea? Tree-reefs increase trophic complexity for top down predatory control of pests

Jon Dickson, Marine restoration, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research / Marine Trees, Netherlands

mar-fernndez-mndez

Aquafarming floating seaweeds in the open ocean to sequester carbon at scale via sustainable hydrocarbons, carbon black, and biochar

Mar Fernández Méndez, Research Scientist / CEO, AWI / MacroCarbon, Germany / Spain

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee Break / Trade Show

Seaweed Elevator Pitches

The Seaweed Elevator Pitches offer a unique, fast-paced, and diverse session where presenters have five minutes to deliver a concise, impactful presentation on their activities and innovative ideas. All topics are possible as long as they deal with seaweeds.

Technology development for kelp nurseries

Aurora Tung Nilsen, Master of Science, SINTEF Ocean, Norway

Potential of Seaweed production in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Claudio Grunewald, Algae Program Director, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

The South African Kelp Farming Project (SA KFP)

Lizeth Botes, Project Manager, Bivalve Shellfish Farmers’ Association of South Africa (BSASA), South Africa

Upscaling the cultivation of Saccharina latissima on net systems in Denmark

Teis Boderskov, Academic Employee, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark

16:30 - 16:40 Closing of the conference

*The conference program is subject to change*

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