The Inter-American Development Bank announced in March five finalists for its Blue Tech Challenge, representing projects from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Haiti and St. Lucia.
The Blue-Tech Challenge accepted 50 applications in 2018 for projects using new solutions to ensure continued sustainability for the Caribbean’s vital ocean economy. IDB specialists worked with a Blue-Tech Advisory Panel to consider proposals based on social/environmental impact, scalability, and viability.
The Winners
- Bahamas – Clean Marine Group Limited – MARPOL1 Port Reception Facility, which uses technology to break oil and water emulsions and process contaminated water.
- Barbados – Ten Habitat Inc. – Totally Traceable Tuna uses several technologies to improve traceability and advanced testing of the tuna supply chain.
- Belize – Oceana – Market-based Incentives for Sustainable Fishing would create a virtual marketplace to connect local fishers and buyers of sustainable seafood.
- Haiti – Environmental Cleaning Solutions S.A. and Pan American Development Foundation – Ayiti Blue Ocean Plastics Solution would use multiple technologies to collect, recycle and transform ocean-bound plastics into high-value synthetic lumber.
- St. Lucia – Algas Organics – Convert Sargassum Seaweed from Problem to Industry seeks to scale up extraction technologies that convert sargassum into organic bio-fertilizer.
The winners are now eligible to receive financing and/or technical assistance to implement a pilot of their proposed model in one of the target Caribbean countries. More information on the finalists is available here.
