GAA Sponsors Aquaculture Innovation Challenge, Winners to Present at GOAL 2019
The Global Aquaculture Alliance is proud to announce its sponsorship of this year’s Aquaculture Innovation Challenge (AIC).
Organized by the Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal (STIP) and announced on Jan. 8, the second competition is open to students and researchers, start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises with innovations that result in creating a more sustainable shrimp sector in Indonesia.
After the success of the first competition in Vietnam in 2017, STIP, Solidaridad Network and Fresh Studio partnered with Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) to bring AIC 2019 to Indonesia. The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) joins Hatch Blue and the Walton Family Foundation as sponsors, and GAA’s Global Aquaculture Advocate is a media sponsor.
There are two competition categories — Product Innovation and Consumer Value. GAA is sponsoring the Consumer Value category, and the winner of the category will be awarded $10,000 in cash and the opportunity to present at GAA’s GOAL 2019 conference in Chennai, India, from Oct. 21 to 24. This category is geared toward innovations related to traceability, blockchain, online trading platforms, product shelf life, and marketing and branding of shrimp.
In addition to also presenting at GOAL, the winner of the Product Innovation category will be awarded $50,000 in cash as well as admission to Hatch Blue’s three-month aquaculture accelerator program and access to its global network of industry professionals and investors. This category is related to shrimp farming.
“We are super excited to start with the next edition of the AIC. This year’s focus on shrimp is super important because the shrimp industry provides millions of people with livelihoods but also poses challenges to the environment. It’s crucial for the future of the industry to innovate production practices in a sustainable way,” said Willem van der Pijl, director of STIP and editor in chief of ShrimpTails magazine. “At the same time, recent times have shown that the shrimp market is volatile and prices decline when production increases. Therefore, it’s important not only to innovate production but also find marketing solutions that increase consumer value and the consumption of sustainable shrimp. With this year’s partners and sponsors, we are going to take the AIC to the next level and increase our impact on this industry.”
The competition opens with a kick-off event this month, and the application period is from Jan. 23 to March 15. All finalists are invited to participate in a three-day workshop in Indonesia from June 23 to 27. There, they meet business-plan coaches and pitch gurus who help them fine-tuning their business models and developing their pitch. On the last day, the finalists will present their pitch to a panel of industry professionals and potential investors to get feedback, exposure and opportunities for partnerships and investments.
In 2017, the five finalists were Entobel, Green Solution, ShrimpVet, Verifik8 and Water and Energy Research Lab.
