A milestone event for the seaweed industry - North Sea Seaweed 24

On 3 October 2024, over 250 people gathered at De Pier in Scheveningen for the annual North Sea Seaweed conference. It was an inspiring day of insight, collaboration and innovation, all focused on attracting market players.

The event was opened by the Mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, followed by a keynote speech from Vincent Doumeizel, Senior Advisor Ocean at the United Nations Global Compact and author of The Seaweed Revolution. Vincent highlighted the global crises we face and how seaweed could play a vital role in addressing these challenges.

 

Next, LauraHuff, Head of Sustainability Collaboration at Amazon Europe, spoke about North Sea Farm #1 and the exciting partnership between Amazon and North Sea Farmers to deliver this ground-breaking project as the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm within the offshore wind farm ‘Hollandse Kust Zuid’ (HKZ).

We then heard from Kajsa Olsson, Head of Marketing at Nordic Seafarm, and Robert Carleke, Innovation Ventures Manager at Inter IKEA Group, who shared their insights on the collaboration between their companies and the opportunities to make seaweed mainstream. Their perspectives on market opportunities and innovation generated a lot of interest.

This was followed by a panel discussion focusing on Europe's ambitions in the seaweed sector. The panel included:

  • Maris Stulgis, Policy Officer for Blue Bio Economy, Algae and Marine Aquaculture, DG Mare - EU Commission

  • Peter Paul Mertens, Director General for Fisheries and Large Water Bodies

  • Meindert Stolk, Regional Minister for Economic Affairs & Innovation, Province of Zuid-Holland

  • Joost Wouters, CEO The Seaweed Company

  • Diederik Boomsma, Member of the Dutch House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Safety and Nature

  • André Hoogendijk, Director of BO Akkerbouw

After the plenary session, Sander Vroom, Sustainable Business Developer at Rabobank, officially opened the Expo, where 20 innovative entrepreneurs presented their seaweed-based products.

The day continued with breakout sessions covering a wide range of topics including the role of seaweed in food, climate action, biomaterials, bio stimulants and their production processes (presentations can be found at the bottom of the newsletter).

Roos van Vught - Heeringa of Royal NNZ Group concluded the event with an inspiring speech about her personal drive for sustainable change and NNZ's search for circular alternatives to their current packaging solutions. Eric Klarenbeek gave an overview of Weedware's potential solutions to NNZ's challenge. The conference dinner with over 100 guests rounded off the day with good food, rich discussions and networking.
 

Presentations North Sea Seaweed

We invite you to revisit the key presentations and discussions from the event by downloading the PDF presentations from our incredible speakers.

Biomaterials

Food

Climate Action

Biostimulants

Production
 
 

We look forward to seeing you at next year's North Sea Seaweed event!

 

North Sea Farmers

Our keynote Speakers & Experts that attended North Sea Seaweed 24

VINCENT DOUMEIZEL

Seaweed Ambassador UN Global Compact

"Seaweed is still something unwanted you have in the garden. It's the greatest untapped resource on the planet."

MR. JAN VAN ZANEN

Mayor of the Capitol The Hague & Opening speaker

The Hague welcomes you to North Sea Seaweed 2024, where innovation meets sustainability in the  governmental hub

MARIS STULGIS

Policy Officer of the EU Commission
 (DG MARE) 

“A thriving EU algae industry could become a flagship and source of inspiration for other industries.”

Donne Slangen

Ministry of Agriculture - Director General Fisheries & Nature. 

"Food should be an important pillar for our North Sea."

 

MEINDERT STOLK

Government Deputy Economy & Innovation Province Zuid-Holland

Responsible for Economy and Innovation

ANDRE HOOGENDIJK

CEO BO Akkerbouw

 
BO Akkerbouw is the central platform and knowledge centre for the Dutch arable chains

SANDER VROOM

Sustainable Business Developer at Rabobank

"The Rabobank wants to accelerate the food and protein transition based on its social commitment."
 

Laura Huff

Head of Sustainability Collaboration,
 Amazon, Europe
 
"Seaweed has the potential to boost biodiversity in our oceans, and could be a powerful way to help combat climate change."

Harm Holman

Member of Parliament for the party NSC (Nieuw Sociaal Contract)

 House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature

Kajsa Olsson

Head of Marketing at Nordic SeaFarm

"Seaweed is an underused resource and it is our job to make it truly available to the masses".

Robert Carleke

Innovation Ventures Manager at Inter IKEA Group

Alex Kruiter

Managing director Royal Smilde

Expert at Seaweed for Food

HAIK VAN EXEL

CEO at Hortimare & Expert Session Production

"We need focus and work jointly on our most urgent issues. Let’s make a solid plan and stick to it as an industry.”

Joost Wouters

CEO at The Seaweed Company

 
"It is time to start seeing the seaweed industry as a new branche of agriculture."

FRANCK HENNEQUART

CSO at Algaia & Expert Session Biostimulants

"There is a bright future in biostimulants for cultivated seaweeds if we take the right approach.”

DeniZ Ficicioglu

CEO & Co-founder at BettaFish & Expert Session food

"Save the fish in the ocean and get people used to eating seaweed."

Foppe Wiersma

Chief Culinary Officer Seaweed at Food Solutions & Expert Session Food

"It is time to start looking under water for solutions instead on land."

Remko Hol

Chief Commercial Officer at Olijck Food Solutions

"We are close to a breakthrough of seaweed food solutions into mainstream food markets."
 

Alwin B Kool

CEO & co-owner Dutch Seaweed Group

“Europe's seaweed revolution won't thrive on innovation alone—without bold moves to build markets and sales, it risks drifting like untapped potential in the tide."

zAyla de Heney

Seaweed Sourcing & Commercial Account manager at Notpla

"Cultivated seaweeds are the resource  of choice for our future scale-up plans."

Ines Schiller

CEO at Vyld

 "Through seaweed products and steward ownership, we can focus on long-term environmental and economic sustainablity."

Eric Roosen

Co-owner Forebel/ Founder Healthy Seas

“We want to achieve real change in the industry. By collaborating with everyone that believes we can do it better than today”

Camila Levy

Global Agronomical R&D Manager

“The use of seaweed extracts as biostimulants is still far from their full potential in the market."

Kim Kristensen

Founder, CEO, Arctic Seaweed AS

“Arctic have already successful scale-up. We’re ready to supply large scale farms to any farmer in Europe”

Ana Queirós

Marine and climate change ecologist
 Plymouth Marine Laboratories (PML)

“Testing out the carbon and biodiversity potential of seaweed farming in the wild”.
 

Igino Emmer

Founding Partner
Silvestrum Associates

Sven Rusticus

Founder Seaweedland

 "Land based seaweed cultivation ensures a consistent quality and a consistent supply of seaweed."

Pi  Nyvall  Collén

Directrice Scientifique Olmix Groupe
 
“Seaweed biostimulants are excellent tools for sustainable agriculture under current climate changes”

Peter Paul Mertens

Ministry of Agriculture – Deputy Director-General Fisheries & Large water bodies
Dutch national government

Pieter Lorwa

Connector, innovator and Food Philosopher

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