Blue Innovation Awards 2022: the winners have been announced
The 2022 Blue Innovation Awards ceremony once again demonstrated that the blue economy is thriving in Flanders. The presented projects were all of particularly high quality. That did not make it any easier for the jury and the audience.
On Thursday 15 December, the formal presentation of the 2022 Blue Innovation Awards took place in the Port Authority Building in Antwerp. These are the winning initiatives:
- The Marlinks CPS Monitoring project won the Blue Innovation Wave award. Marlinks closely monitors the state of submarine cables by measuring acoustic vibrations along the cables so as to optimise maintenance and repair work.
- “Drilled XL monopile foundations for offshore wind farms: a triple innovation” by DEME received the Corporate Blue Innovation Wave award. Within the scope of this project, a solution was developed to construct offshore wind farms on rocky seabeds.
- The Belgian pilot of the UNITED project, a cooperation initiative of Ghent University, Jan De Nul, Brevisco, Colruyt, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Parkwind, won the Blue Innovation Swell award. In this case, the focus is on the combination of offshore wind power, aquaculture and recovery of flat oyster as well as seaweed cultivation.
- The project “Treating wastewater with willows: a nature-based solution” by Aquaduin was presented with the Blue Innovation Captain award. This project investigates the potential of willow beds to further purify waste water. This can help to tackle the structural water shortage in Belgium.
- Finally, MULTI.engineering’s ingenious design for the Moray Base received the Inspirational Blue Wave award from the public.
Throughout the year, the winners will be in the spotlight at various events organised by Blue Cluster, and may use the unique Blue Innovation Awards logo.
What are the Blue Innovation Awards?
The Blue Innovation Awards are an initiative of Blue Cluster to give exposure to innovative projects, products and services in the blue economy.
All entries are scored on the basis of five criteria: innovative character; link to economic activities in, on and by the sea; market potential; international ambitions and impact; and contribution to the delivery of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).