Review of the Blue Bioeconomy Symposium 2022

Finally back in person and with more members than ever before, the Blue Bioeconomy made an impressive showing this year in the impressive refrigerated ship of the Störtebeker Brewery in Stralsund. The two-day programme was attended by approximately 200 guests from research, industry, administration and politics and resulted in some exciting matchmaking opportunities.

Old and new acquaintances of the BaMS innovation space had the opportunity to learn about the current project progress in poster form and listen to selected presentations and keynotes.

The symposium unofficially began on the morning of the 14th with a select discussion panel on the topic of ‘Aquaculture and its compatibility with inland fisheries’. The guests of honour at the workshop were Sylva Rahm-Präger from the SPD parliamentary group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Anna Kassautzki (Member of the German Parliament).

The Blue.Awards were presented for the first time as an award for outstanding achievements in the bioeconomy. In the ‘StartUp’ category, the audience was able to vote live via mobile phone. On the second day, the extended BaMS board decided on the categories ‘Student Research’ and ‘Research’. Peter Krost from CRM was honoured with a special award for his outstanding commitment to bioeconomic transfer.

The audience has decided: Champignon, sorry, Champion in the StartUp category with prize money of €1,000 goes to Alexander Ruckhaber from Kieler Pilzfabrik with his bioeconomic oyster mushroom cultivation on driftwood. According to testers, the innovative cultivation method makes the high-quality edible mushrooms particularly tasty – and possibly even improves their nutritional profile. We offer our heartfelt congratulations and look forward to seeing how this research-oriented start-up develops in the future!

The start-up MYCOLUTIONS from Hamburg won second place and €500 in prize money with many good arguments: Compared to ‘modern’ insulation materials, the mushroom insulation elements score points for their comparable performance, mite resistance, flame retardancy, positive CO2 balance, attractive design, easy disposal and competitive pricing compared to other natural materials. Hats off, and keep up the good work!

Plastic is unnecessary in many areas of everyday life. NaPur stands for ‘Natural Purpose’ and is a five-person start-up from Kiel that offers plastic-free alternatives for everyday items. For example, guitar picks and glasses cases are made from bioeconomically used by-products, such as coffee husks and algae residues. Third place, with a prize of €300, went to Duc Chinh Nguyen. Congratulations!

Third place was awarded twice this year: Charles Rouse, with his Sustainable Hatchery, has set himself the goal of making aquaculture more sustainable by incubating young shrimp directly at local breeding facilities. This eliminates the need for imports, which were previously necessary. As this part of the breeding process is still difficult to control, he is working with WATER proved GmbH, a RAS system provider that is particularly familiar with the challenges of shrimp farming.

Enno Fricke from the Alfred Wegener Institute is working and conducting research on the BioFiA project together with Monitorfish. He gave the audience a clear and understandable explanation of the pros and cons of various bioeconomic by-products for use as feed supplements in shrimp and fish farming. Enno provided a well-founded context for the causal chains between animal welfare, food quality and economic efficiency. Well done!

Right at the end of the symposium, Rafael Meichßner from Coastal Research & Management managed to wow everyone present. His award-winning presentation on the progress of the BALI project was brimming with cheerful honesty about the untrodden paths in fucus cultivation, great scientific achievements and, almost casually, a wealth of general and specialist knowledge about macroalgae. Thank you for your contribution to the innovation space, Rafael!

Peter Krost is the initiator and project manager of AQUATOR and a key supporter of the innovation space, not only since its official founding. As co-founder of CRM and oceanBASIS, he works at the intersection of marine ecological expertise and the translation of scientific findings into commercial products. We owe numerous projects, products and collaborations to his tireless commitment to blue issues. Thank you, Peter!