Blue Ocean Ventures launches biotechnology startup SHRMP.bio
Venture studio Blue Ocean Ventures have today announced the spinning out of its first development project. The new biotechnology startup SHRMP.bio is developing the technologies to build a seafood manufacturing system ready for the challenges of the 21st Century.
SHRMP.bio aims to make sustainable seafood possible through a fusion of molecular biology, industrial bioprocessing and automation with the latest aquafarming approaches.
SHRMP.bio’s technology convergence has the potential to overcome current production challenges and take seafood production into urban or industrial areas close to markets, thereby minimising land use and simplifying supply chains.
Using SHRMP.bio’s future technologies, seafood production could also be moved away from areas that are severely exposed to climate risks, resulting in fewer disruptions due to natural disasters and reduced losses caused by the impact of disease or predators.
Spinning out their first project is a significant milestone for Blue Ocean Ventures on its mission to become Australia’s leading Blue Venture Studio, which was created to help build a sustainable and thriving local Blue Economy ecosystem.
“Our COVID experience shaped the way we started assessing future economic opportunities in Australia. Looking at how Australia could harness unique geographic features to its advantage, we identified the Blue Economy and, in particular, Ocean Innovation as an area of emerging economic value for which Australia has everything to succeed,” says Dr Lichtfuss, Managing Director of Blue Ocean Ventures.
“We believe Australia offers all the components needed to become the world leader in Ocean-related research and innovation and ultimately a powerhouse in the Blue Economy. We have excellent research organisations and an established and growing entrepreneurial tech culture, and we are a very wealthy nation that could easily fund the development of breakthrough technologies. On top of this, we also have thousands of kilometres of coastline – a quarter more than the US. This combination of factors is the reason behind the creation of Blue Ocean Ventures. For us, SHRMP.bio is not only an exciting Blue Bio-Technology startup – SHRMP.bio is also a probe to sound the depth of the water under the keel of our hypothesis that a Blue high-tech company can be developed in Australia. I am expecting this is not going to be a cocktail cruise. However, that’s also a big part of why we do it. It’s going to be exciting.”
