Will seaweed soon be an everyday product?

Seaweed is not yet an everyday product for many people, but people are positively surprised when they find out, for instance, that seaweed can replace plastic packaging material or that it improves the quality and taste of their food products. Seaweed entrepreneurs already have these kinds of solutions in place, but time and again it proves difficult to reach consumers with them. North Sea Farmers and Brave New Food want to shake up the seaweed market through the Seaweed Innovation Challenge. 

Seaweed is a versatile raw material that can be grown on a large scale in Europe in a sustainable and nature-inclusive way. It is a local crop that does not use scarce land or fresh water to grow. Seaweed can be used in many different everyday applications in food, animal feed, biostimulants and biomaterials. These seaweed-based products are often a more sustainable alternative to existing products currently made from fossil fuels. 

Lowering barriers

North Sea Farmers and Brave New Food have partnered to lower market barriers for seaweed-based packaging materials and food products. In their Seaweed Innovation Challenge, they invite innovators from around the world to showcase the most promising and inspiring products and solutions. In a live pitch event, the best entrepreneurs get to pitch their product or solution to influential established companies with a large market reach in Europe. All this to create new collaborations and get these products to consumers.

Opportunities

The live pitch event will take place on 8 June 2023. Four winners will be chosen by a jury (consisting of Colruyt Group, DS Smith and two more relevant market players to be named) and they will have the opportunity for a one-on-one brainstorming session with the companies on the jury, media coverage through North Sea Farmers and Brave New Food channels, among others, and, of course, the chance to network with a wide range of companies and investors who will also be present at the event.

Bravenewfood.com