8:00 am - 9:00 am Welcome Coffee
9.00 am – 9.30 am Opening of the conference
Kuno Jacobs, Managing Director, DLG Benelux, The Netherlands
Joe Williams, JR., USA
9:30 am - 9:50 am: Keynote presentation
Mariculture in Alaska: Oceans of Opportunity
Julie Sande, Commissioner, Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, USA
During this session, we will have a close look at the Alaskan seaweed industry, how and when it all started, what the status is today, and where it is all moving in the last frontier state.
9:50 am - 10:10 am: Alaskan Mariculture: Past, Present and Future
Markos Scheer, Founder & CEO, Seagrove, USA
Ralph Wolfe, Director of Indigenous Stewardship Programs, Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, USA
Dan Lesh, Deputy Director, Southeast Conference, USA
11:20 am - 12:40 pm Session 2: Investing in seaweedsDuring this session, seaweed business and investment experts will share their vision on the seaweed industry in the USA and abroad, on needs and expectations, and on what the next steps should be.
11:20 am - 11:40 am: International Finance Corporation’s approach to investing in seaweed production and application technologies in emerging markets
Ivan Ivanov, Global Lead for Sustainable Protein Advisory Services, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Vietnam
11:40 am - 12:00 pm: An investor’s perspective
Jason Mitchell, Co-Founder, Norfolk Green Ventures, USA
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm: Impact investing in seaweed as a nature-based solution for global food security and the blue economy
Sarah Wan-Yau, Managing Director, Potato Impact Partners, USA
Paul Dobbins, Sr. Director of Impact Investing, World Wildlife Fund, USA
2:00 pm - 2:20 pm: Keynote presentation:
Alaska Mariculture Alliance: the voice of the industry
Heather McCarty, President, Alaska Mariculture Alliance (AMA), USA
2:20 pm - 3:10 pm Session 3: Panel discussion: Marketing seaweeds and the seaweed industry
If we want to establish a flourishing seaweed industry in the USA in the coming years, which is at the same scale as agriculture, marketing of seaweeds and the seaweed industry will be very important. Our panelists will discuss various aspects of this interesting topic.
Moderator
Jenn Brown, Founder & CEO, Foraged & Found, USA
Panelist
Lia Heifetz, Co-founder, Barnacle Foods, USA
Panelist
Jeremy Woodrow, Executive Director, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, USA
Mike Blakeley, Founder & Director, Seagreen Insights, USA
Katie Silva, Research Project Manager, Food for Climate League, USA
3:50 pm - 4:35 pm Session 4: Ask a Kelp Farmer
This session brings together a diverse panel of farmers from three high producing US regions (Kodiak, Alaska; Prince Williams Sound, Alaska; and Casco Bay, Maine). Each panel member will share their unique perspective on the industry, its challenges, and what’s happening in their respective regions. A question and answer session will follow. Conference participants can submit questions in advance or ask during the session.
Moderator
David Bailey, Director of Farmer Advancement, GreenWave, USA
Ken Sparta, Farmer, Spartan Sea Farms, USA
Lexa Meyer, Owner & Hatchery Manager, Alaska Ocean Farms, LLC, USA
Thea Thomas, Kelp Farmer, Royal Ocean Kelp Co., USA
Innovative applications of marine technologies in kelp farming: a case study of the Blue Robotics and Ocean Rainforest partnership
Tyler Buckingham, Strategy & Engagement in the Blue Economy, Blue Robotics, USA
Challenges with securing aquaculture permits in California
David Willett, Founder, Santa Barbara Sea Ranch, USA
Primary processing and testing of seaweed to maximize market access
Spencer Serin, Head of Science, Spoitz Liquified Seaweed, Canada
The Alaska Aquaculture Semester: Are we cultivating the skills your industry needs?
Angela Bowers, Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Southeast, USA
Optimizing farm design and operations with distributed sensing
Dan Breyre, Product Lead, Sofar Ocean, USA
Recycled carbon fiber cable for seaweed cultivation - economic and financial benefits
Jon Kroman, Principal, Blue Dot Sea Farms, SPC, USA
Two major obstacles that are preventing the North American farmed kelp industry from scaling and how to overcome them
Mitch Lench, CEO, Ocean’s Balance, USA
Enabling a global sustainable seaweed industry
Kim Kristensen, Founder and CEO, Arctic Seaweed AS, Norway
9:10 am - 9:30 am: Keynote presentation:
Learning by Doing – Advances in seaweed farm design
Clifford A. Goudey, Founder & Engineer, C.A. Goudey & Associates, USA
9:30 am - 10:50 am: Session 5: Innovations in seaweed biorefinery and applications
There is a lot of innovation ongoing in the processing and application of seaweeds in various areas. During this session, three speakers will present their recent work.
9:30 am - 9:50 am: Reinventing plastics using marine resources
Adi Goldman, CEO & Co-founder, Biotic, Israel
9:50 am - 10:10 am: Innovating with Kelp: From Ocean to Retail Shelf - A CPG Perspective on Kelp Processing
Jenn Brown, Founder & CEO, Foraged & Found, USA
10:10 am - 10:30 am: UNCLE-SAM- Developing biomining applications of seaweeds for sustainable, domestic production of critical REE mineral feedstocks
Thomas Mumford, Investigators, PNNL & Marine Agronomics, USA
10:30 am - 10:50 am: Seaweed down under – overview of the seaweed industry in Australia
Jo Lane, CEO, Sea Health Products, Australia
10:50 am - 11:20 am Coffee Break / Trade Show
11:20 am - 12:25 pm Session 6: Exploring New Frontiers
The theme of this year’s conference is Exploring New Frontiers. During this session, experts from around the world will present examples of how they explored new frontiers related to seaweeds.
11:20 am - 11:45 am: The Alaskan Seaweed Genetics Workshop (April 2024) - Searching for seaweed solutions; summary and conclusions
Jessica Whitney, Research Professional, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
Scott Lindell, Research Specialist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
11:45 am - 12:05 pm: Large scale seaweed farming: how the crop start is controlled for optimal yields
Job Schipper, Director, SEAWISER, The Netherlands
Karlotta Rieve, Project Manager, Hatch Blue, Norway
The Alaska seaweed biomining project
Schery Umanzor, Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
Improving the farm while protecting the wild: using genetics to preserve kelp biodiversity
Griffin Hill, PhD Candidate, Nord University, Norway
Increasing farm yield: co-culturing of two kelp species
Michael Stekoll, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, USA
Present and Near Future of Seaweed Tech
Jonas Kamasauskas, CTO, Sirputis, Lithuania
2:20 pm - 3:10 pm: Session 7: Panel discussion: How to accelerate the US seaweed industry?
During this panel discussion, various stakeholders will discuss the status of the US seaweed industry, and the challenges that need to be overcome to accomplish a thriving US seaweed industry.
Moderator
Jim Andersen, Division Director, State of Alaska - Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Division of Investments, USA
Panelist
Nichole Price, Senior Research Scientist, Director Bigelow Center for Seafood Solutions, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, USA
Panelist
Alicia Bishop, Alaska Regional Aquaculture Coordinator, NOAA Fisheries, USA
Panelist
Emily Patrolia, Founder and CEO, ESP Advisors, USA
3:40 pm - 4:00 pm: Keynote presentation:
Development of marine agronomy in Chile: research developments and policy actions towards increasing production, diversification, and value-adding
Alejandro H. Buschmann, Full Professor, Universidad de Lagos, Chile
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Session 8: Seaweed industry from a global perspective
During this session, the speakers will give an overview of the global state of play of the seaweed industry. What are the trends? What are the challenges? These and many other questions will be discussed.
Harrison Charo Karisa, Senior Fisheries Specialist (Aquaculture), Environment Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice, World Bank Group, USA
4:20 pm - 4:40 pm: Maripark - Charting a new course for ocean use
Rogier van Steennis, Director, EY, The Netherlands
Red Seaweed Promise TM
Piet Bogaert, Cargill Food & Bio Innovation Leader, Cargill, Belgium