Building Business for the Future
Introduction
Being a part of the seaweed industry doesn’t stop when you get off the boat with your harvest. Seaweed makes up the largest marine aquaculture sector in the world by landed weight, and the global seaweed crop was valued at US$ 5.6 billion as of 2022. Whether you are farming your seaweed to sell directly to a processor or you are planning to build a brand around your own seaweed product, it can be valuable to understand both the global and local contexts of the seaweed industry.
In this unit we highlight recent statistics on the global and local seaweed industries. We also cover which markets hold the greatest potential going forward for innovators and entrepreneurs looking to make their names on the seaweed scene. Finally, we review challenges that face the Maine seaweed industry and highlight opportunities for innovation, research, and development.
Video credit: HATCH Seaweed Insights
About HATCH Seaweed Insights and why you should check out their work:
Hatch’s mission is to support entrepreneurs to commercialise their innovative solutions in the global aquaculture market. They recognise that it is often difficult for entrepreneurs to understand the aquaculture market. It’s spread across several difficult-to-reach regions, uses different farming systems with numerous species, and is operated by farmers speaking different languages. Recently, they have witnessed an increasing interest from entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and governments into seaweed aquaculture.
With this project, they aim to help with all of the above, but primarily entrepreneurs, so stakeholders can quickly and understand the reality of today’s seaweed supply chain. They hope that it provides readers with valuable insights that can spur the development of better products, services and business models that help catalyse the adoption of innovation along the entire seaweed value chain.
They have learned how diverse and fascinating the seaweed industry can be. In the future, They hope to see more innovative approaches to the utilisation of seaweed – both in terms of species and products and applications that are derived from seaweed.