國際海洋資訊

From Science to Scale:

Making Sustainability Real in the Blue Economy

The ocean is the heartbeat of our planet. It covers over 70% of the Earth's surface, regulates the climate by absorbing more carbon than any other system on Earth, transports over 90% of global trade, and provides a primary source of animal protein for more than 3.3 billion people. Without a healthy ocean, there is no climate stability, no food security, and no sustainable economy. The ocean is not just an ecosystem - it is a life-support system.

This is the essence of the Blue Economy: an economic framework grounded in the understanding that the health of the ocean and the health of our societies are inseparable.

As the National Center for the Blue Economy, our mission is twofold: First, to identify, invest in, support, and accelerate startups and innovations that protect marine ecosystems and address the climate crisis. Second, to explore whether the ocean itself can offer more sustainable alternatives to critical human needs - in energy, food, infrastructure, and more.

With the right innovation and investment, the ocean can become a source of cleaner energy, healthier food, more efficient transportation, and stronger economic resilience. But this opportunity depends on our ability to strike a delicate balance - between preservation and utilization, between impact and investment, between urgency and responsibility. 

That is the central challenge of sustainability in the blue economy: building growth engines that do not destroy the very ecosystems they rely on.

Figure 1. Israel National Center for the Blue Economy

Photo credit: Israel National Center for the Blue Economy | Hila Ehrenreich

Startups as Stewards of a New Era

Achieving this balance requires bold, visionary entrepreneurs. We need startup founders who are not only technologists or scientists - but leaders. People who are committed to creating solutions that deliver both environmental impact and economic value.

For this mission to succeed, we need excellent startups that generate measurable environmental impact while maintaining strong, scalable business models. These businesses must not only survive the difficult early stages of development - they must also endure, grow, and ultimately replace polluting systems in key sectors such as shipping, ports, energy, and aquaculture.

Startups must be both innovative and investable!

As someone who sees hundreds of startups a year, I witness brilliant technologies that never reach a pilot stage - and even when they do, those that manage to raise capital and secure a potential first customer often hit a wall: regulation.

A private investor evaluating a sustainability-focused solution often perceives regulation as one of the highest risks. And this is where promising technologies can fail. Instead of choosing innovation, investors retreat to familiar, legacy systems - even if they are clearly more polluting - simply because they are known, approved, and predictable.

A clear example is in the field of energy storage - widely considered the holy grail of the clean energy transition. There are dozens of proven, cost-effective, and environmentally superior alternatives to lithium-ion batteries and fossil-based systems. Yet many of them remain stuck in limbo, unable to proceed because regulators subject them to prolonged approval processes that can last decades.

This is not to say we should compromise on safety or environmental assessments. These are essential. But the outcome of today's system is that we entrench legacy infrastructure - solutions that we already know are insufficient or harmful, simply because they are easier to permit. And so, we fail to break the loop.

Innovation in the Blue Economy

The Blue Economy is no longer limited to traditional maritime sectors like shipping or fisheries. Today, it's a powerful arena for innovation, where startups are developing technologies that both preserve marine ecosystems and generate real economic value. These ventures operate at the intersection of science, environmental responsibility, and business scalability, and they demonstrate how the ocean can be a platform for meaningful, measurable climate solutions.

At the National Center for the Blue Economy, we invest in and support startups that exemplify this intersection. These companies aren't just reducing pollution - they're redesigning how maritime industries operate. They tackle some of the most pressing ecological challenges at sea while building scalable, investable businesses.

Below are several examples from our portfolio that illustrate the essence of the blue economy in action, where sustainability and innovation converge to transform harmful practices or ecological threats into opportunities for resilience and renewal.

Figure 2. Concept of Offshore Hydrogen Production via Hydrogen Platform

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Bio-Inspired Anti-Biofouling Technology

One startup in our portfolio has developed a breakthrough solution to combat biofouling - the buildup of bacteria, algae, and other organisms on marine and industrial surfaces. Instead of using toxic coatings or harsh chemicals, their approach leverages a naturally derived peptide that prevents bacterial adhesion by triggering a dispersal mechanism. The result is a non-toxic, biodegradable coating that reduces operational downtime, improves system efficiency, and extends the lifespan of critical infrastructure such as desalination plants and offshore platforms.

Waste Heat-to-Energy Conversion in Marine Environments

A pioneering technology in our portfolio is transforming low-grade waste heat into clean electricity using an innovative thermoacoustic process. This system converts residual thermal energy, often released from ship engines, industrial exhausts, or port operations, into usable electricity without any moving parts, combustion, or chemical refrigerants. It works by converting heat into sound waves, which are then transformed into electrical power through a phase-change mechanism. This allows for the efficient utilization of low-temperature heat sources, previously considered non-recoverable. The technology is silent, emission-free, and highly efficient, offering a substantial reduction in operational costs and carbon emissions.

Figure 3. Biofouling Caused by Barnacles

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Eco-Safe Management of Harmful Algal Blooms

Climate-driven increases in harmful algal blooms (HABs) have created urgent environmental and economic threats across aquaculture, tourism, and marine ecosystems. One of our portfolio companies has developed an advanced monitoring and mitigation platform that combines remote sensing, autonomous detection units, and eco-friendly neutralization agents to stop blooms before they spread. The technology is specifically designed for the smart and efficient removal of toxic cyanobacteria  (bluegreen algae) from freshwater bodies, pollutants that disrupt ecosystems, endanger public health, and compromise water quality. By triggering the algae to sink naturally to the bottom, along with the carbon they've absorbed, the system delivers a dual benefit: effective water purification and scalable carbon sequestration. This field-deployable, non-invasive approach offers a powerful solution to one of today's most pressing aquatic challenges - all without introducing harmful chemicals or damaging surrounding environments.

Figure 4. Rankine Cycle – A closed-loop system that converts thermal energy to electricity, including an expander and generator. The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) follows the same schematic but replaces water with another organic working fluid.

Photo credit: Illustration by the Editorial Team

Photo credit: Hila Ehrenreich

In conclusion

The Blue Economy is not just an economic trend. It is a responsibility and an opportunity. It asks us to rethink how we grow, how we consume, and how we live in partnership with the planet's most vital system. We all understand the importance of the ocean as the heart of the Earth and the basis for our lives. We need to harness innovation to preserve the ocean and learn how to use it sustainably to replace old and polluting industries. For this to succeed, we need excellent companies that are both sustainable and investable - companies that can scale, create value for investors, and serve the public good. And our role, as civil society, as environmental organizations, and as governments, is to enable them to develop and reach the market responsibly, but with a more reasonable time to market. 

The path forward demands courage, clarity, and commitment. Because without a healthy ocean, there is no sustainable future. It's as simple - and as urgent - as that.

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