On 16 September 2026, SUBMARINER Network hosted the Berlin regional round at Mitosis LAB, bringing five finalists in front of an expert jury and an audience drawn from across the blue economy. The event is funded by EIT Water, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s newest Knowledge and Innovation Community for water, marine and maritime innovation, with support from the Grundfos Foundation (Poul Due Jensen Foundation).
Five Ideas, Five Different Angles on the Same Problem
The five finalists showed how differently the marine restoration challenge can be approached. Oyster Heaven builds oyster reef restoration into a scalable model. Ocean Ecostructures develops AI and ROV-powered monitoring for renaturalising marine infrastructure such as ports and offshore structures. blueOASIS applies high-performance computing and underwater acoustics to ocean sustainability, from decarbonising shipping to reducing noise pollution for marine life. Ebbing Tides works on precision kelp farming, bridging seaweed aquaculture with offshore energy. Redoxa uses bioelectrochemical technology to restore degraded seabed sediment, preparing the ground for seagrass and macroalgae to return.
blueOASIS Takes the Berlin Title
blueOASIS took first prize and now advances to the European WAVEMAKER final at the EIT Water Launch Event in Málaga on 15 October 2026, where it will compete against regional winners from across the continent for the overall WAVEMAKER title and a €5,000 growth award.
Ocean Ecostructures and Oyster Heaven placed second and third respectively, and both were awarded one-year EIT Water membership alongside blueOASIS, opening access to funding, business support and partners across Europe. All five finalists, including Redoxa and Ebbing Tides, were also given SUBMARINER Network membership.
The jury, Cecilie Petersen, Javier García Sanabria, Marco Herbst, Max Hempel, Anne Engel and Saba Baskir, brought perspectives from across the blue economy to the final decision.
For SUBMARINER, hosting the Berlin round is part of a broader role supporting the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters, matching commercial innovation with the network’s reach across the Baltic Sea Region and beyond.
