Session: S-128
The value of entrepreneurship for conservation: sourcing, developing, and scaling ocean conservation solutions

The conservation challenges affecting our oceans require innovative and scalable solutions, as well as innovative methods to get those solutions to scale for the maximum conservation impact. This session will include speakers from Conservation X Labs (CXL) and early-stage companies in Oceans X Labs (OXL), which is an innovation platform and joint initiative of Conservation X Labs and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to solve global challenges of... [ view more ]

The conservation challenges affecting our oceans require innovative and scalable solutions, as well as innovative methods to get those solutions to scale for the maximum conservation impact. This session will include speakers from Conservation X Labs (CXL) and early-stage companies in Oceans X Labs (OXL), which is an innovation platform and joint initiative of Conservation X Labs and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to solve global challenges of ocean conservation through the power of emergent technologies, open innovation, collaborative problem solving, and entrepreneurship.  We are creating a solution pipeline for ocean conservation by leveraging open innovation methodologies and competitive events to source new solution ideas, a digital open-source hardware platform called the Digital Makerspace to incubate and develop a community of innovations, and an accelerator program to provide innovators with business support and mentoring to create successful and impactful enterprises that scale.

Yet, it is necessary to support and nurture this community of multidisciplinary solvers and entrepreneurs to successfully move from idea to innovation.  The entrepreneurs featured in the session are creating enterprises that can replace current products with negative environmental footprints in the aquafeeds marketplace, or can dramatically improve the growing conditions and environmental footprints to cultivate algae on a large scale.  A key aspect of scaling innovations is creating business models and seeking investments that ensure financial sustainability. The session will conclude with a presentation about how to scale innovations through innovative financing mechanisms.