Seagriculture Speaker

About the speaker:

Silje Forbord has 14 years' seaweed cultivation experience from land-based hatchery and field work, including IMTA. She holds a PhD in cultivation of sugar kelp with focus on nitrogen uptake kinetics, growth characteristics and chemical composition. Forbord has her main focus in kelp cultivation but is also interested in cultivation of green and red macroalgae species. She has a broad company network and is active in the Norwegian Seaweed Association.

Company info: 

SINTEF Ocean conducts research and innovation related to ocean space for national and international industries. Our ambition is to continue Norway's leading position in marine technology and biomarine research. Many of the challenges of modern society can be solved through sustainable use of the ocean. Transport, food and energy production represent the backbone of ocean-based industries, and are also core areas for SINTEF Ocean. In addition, we focus on environmental technology, with one of the world’s leading professional environments in marine environmental technology. Through cooperation in the SINTEF group, we are also able to integrate our own expertise with expert technological knowledge from other industry sectors. SINTEF has a long tradition for being a knowledge supplier and a good partner for Norwegian companies. We will continue to be so in the future, and through SINTEF Ocean we have established a centre of gravity for marine and maritime research, both in Norway and internationally.

Presentation:

Over the past 14 years SINTEF has conducted around 60 projects on various aspects of seaweed cultivation and utilization. There is a trend towards upscaling and multiuse of ocean space, and an overview of the most relevant ongoing project at SINTEF is given touching upon IMTA, carbon capture, offshore farms, technology development and establishing of an open research infrastructure for the whole macroalgae value chain. 

Keywords: 

sugar kelp, upscaling, offshore farming, carbon capture, IMTA, technology development