Previous Winners

Starting in 2011, the Ocean Exchange founders believed that amazing solutions exist to solve many of the challenges of healthy oceans, but those start-ups needed funding and other help to advance to deployment and commercialization.

In the ensuing years, we’ve proven that hypothesis and have a track record looking back on solutions that are having important impact for healthy oceans, sustainable ocean shipping, and resilient coastal systems.

Meet Nicholas Flanders

Co-founder and CEO of Twelve, the recipient of Ocean Exchange’s 2019 Neptune Award and 2015 Collegiate Award. Twelve uses carbon dioxide, water and renewable energy to create a wide range of materials and fuels traditionally created using fossil fuels. The company recently entered into a partnership with Virgin Voyages that will enable it to scale the production of E-Marine™, the newest sustainable fuel made using its carbon transformation technology.

Meet Coral Vita (Bahamas)

Winner of the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award 2018. Coral Vita uses land-based, high-tech farms of coral to restore dying reefs with corals that exhibit higher growth rates and enhanced resiliency to a variety of ocean conditions. In 2021, the company won the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Earthshot Prize, as the winning solution for the Revive Our Oceans category, worth £1million in prize money.

Ocean Exchange’s 2021 Awards Program was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It featured 12 innovations with the ability to generate economic growth and increase productivity while reducing the use of nature’s resources and the production of waste and emissions. Meet the winners of our 2021 awards, totaling $245,000 in cash prizes:

Element Resources (CA/TX, USA): Winner of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Orcelle® Award of $100,000 USD for containerized, hydrogen-based, carbon-free fuel cells for at-berth (cold ironing) power needs in ports.
Virgil Group (DC, USA): Winner of the Neptune Award of $100,000 USD for SAAS subscriptions to improve seafood traceability through intelligent assessment from the Virgil model to improve seafood supply chain management and regulatory compliance. The 2021 Neptune Award was funded by the Littlejohn Family Foundation and the Marine Research Hub of South Florida.
WeavAir (Canada): Winner of the Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award of $25,000 USD for a system for vessel emission monitoring and predictive algorithms for regulatory compliance and operating cost savings.
Ocean Rescue Alliance (FL, USA): Winner of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation Award of $10,000 USD with its coral restoration solution for healthy ocean ecosystems and wave suppression.
E-Wave Technologies (NJ, USA): Winner of the Broward College Innovation Award of $10,000 USD for wave energy conversion to support offshore aquaculture and other markets.

Contact Us

Ocean Exchange invites you to learn more about Awards Program, our ecosystem and success of our award winners and participants. Together, we can chart a powerful course to help ensure the future of our oceans and the Blue Economy.

“Ocean Exchange has a platform to enable people with information that they need to know about the ocean and then to showcase new technologies that are on the forefront of really helping the ocean and the planet.”

“The quality of the content and the people who are involved with Ocean Exchange is all high end.”

“Besides funding, Ocean Exchange provides access to a wide area network of incredibly talented people in organizations that really do just want to help people.”

“Ocean Exchange is really about helping the little guys grow and in so doing, helping the big guys be better ocean citizens.”

“Ocean Exchange seems to be much more focused on bringing to light under-capitalized, wonderful new technology ideas. And it’s all about two-way access to this new technology and to the people who can help with the experience to grow that technology.”

“Ocean Exchange is a force multiplier to enable sustainable innovation.”

“Ocean Exchange is a global, novel innovation forum that has a greater ability to attract a broader range of impactful stakeholders than any other event that’s out there.”

“Unquestionably, one of Ocean Exchange’s primary strengths is how it brings together people from different paths. That makes its event a delegator experience as well as experience for an innovator or awards nominee.”

“Ocean Exchange is entirely different from any of the other organizations that I’m involved in. It is about sustainable innovation. I think it’s also very different in the extremely broad range of stakeholders that it involves.”

“There’s nothing better than going to an event or engaging with people so you walk away and say, ‘Wow!’”