Speaker

About the speaker: 

Thiago Correa serves as Managing Director of the International Bioeconomy & Macroalgae Center (IBMC) and the Energy & Biosciences Institute (EBI) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he builds partnerships to advance joint research and technology development in renewable energy and the bioeconomy. With over 14 years in the energy sector at ConocoPhillips — spanning exploration, operations, and technology — Thiago has been driven by integrating complex datasets to solve difficult problems and reduce investment uncertainty. He capped his tenure there as Director of Assurance and Portfolio, developing strategies to elevate technical excellence across the portfolio. He also holds a Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from RSMAS at the University of Miami. At the IBMC and EBI, Thiago channels his scientific, exploration and business expertise toward accelerating the global scale-up of seaweed as a sustainable bioeconomy feedstock.

Company info:

The International Bioeconomy & Macroalgae Center (IBMC) is a UC Berkeley-based global research network, established in 2024 by the Energy & Biosciences Institute (EBI), comprising collaborations across 11 countries and 15 institutions, focused on unlocking seaweed's potential as a sustainable industrial feedstock. Backed by the NSF in partnership with funding agencies in the US, Canada, UK, and South Korea, the IBMC addresses the full macroalgae value chain — from foundational genomics and breeding research to cultivation, sensing/AI, processing, and market development. The center's mission is to drive global scale-up of seaweed production through innovation, policy, workforce development, and community engagement, positioning macroalgae as the emerging feedstock for the bioeconomy and energy transition.

Presentation: 

Thiago will introduce the scope of the IBMC and the key research topics that we are focusing on to unlock the seaweed industry.