On 23 January, at DoubleTree by Hilton in Jakarta, Indonesia, Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal, Solidaridad Indonesia, Fresh Studio and IPB, will kick off the Aquaculture Innovation Challenge (AIC) Indonesia, sponsored by The GAA, Hatch Blue and Walton Family Foundation.
The AIC mission is to find bright minds, with great ideas for creating positive environmental and social impact on the aquaculture industry, and help them achieve their ambitions. AIC connects its finalists to knowledge, networks, finance and capital and exposes them to the critical (and helpful) eye of a multi-disciplinary team of industry professionals. This team, made up of Indonesian and foreign individuals from financial institutions, shrimp related businesses, knowledge partners, government institutions and NGO’s, will oversee the process and act as proposal judges and boot camp coaches.
AIC Indonesia will focus on shrimp and, just like last year’s challenge in Vietnam, participants can submit proposals at three different levels: Design (Early Stage), Innovation is in the idea stage and partially developed but not yet fully conceptualized; Demonstration (Middle Stage), Innovation is fully conceptualized, and all components of a business plan have already or partially been developed or Upscaling (Late Stage):, Innovation has demonstrated to be technically and financially feasible and has a positive social and environmental impact record.
This allows not only start-up companies to participate, but also other brilliant innovations that have passed the start-up phase but still need support in demonstrating the proof of concept or scaling up their business. This year, however, participants will be invited to apply in one of two tracks:
Production innovation: In this track, all innovations that are related to shrimp farming itself (inputs, tech, management etc.) can be submitted;
Consumer value: This track is more oriented towards innovations related to traceability, the blockchain, trade platforms, shelf life, marketing/branding of shrimp etc.
Participants can come from around the world, but all applications must be aimed towards creating a more sustainable shrimp industry in Indonesia. Indonesia has a diverse shrimp industry; it includes extensive shrimp ponds in Kalimantan and East and West Java, polyculture ponds in Sumatra and semi-intensive and intensive shrimp ponds around the country. Innovations can apply to all of the above but must have a positive social and environmental impact.
The AIC finalists will receive a finals-travel-package to help get them to the site of the boot camp, where they will benefit from a three-day intensive workshop. There, business plan coaches and pitch gurus will guide finalists, supporting them to fine-tune their business models and to develop and prepare a (virtual) pitch, providing these entrepreneurs with an invaluable experience. The final round will consist of a pitching event where participants present their innovation to a panel of judges, relevant industry professionals and potential investors (both on-site and remote), providing these entrepreneurs with invaluable exposure.
All finalists will also receive a year’s STIP bronze membership, which includes access to the price portal, the knowledge library and a subscription to ShrimpTails.
The winner of the Production Innovation category will be awarded $50,000 and admission to Hatch Blue’s three-month aquaculture accelerator programme and given access to their global network of industry professionals and investors, adding up to a cash and in-kind prize worth $100,000, in exchange for a small equity stake.
In partnership with the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), the AIC offers the winner in the Consumer Value category a cash price of $10,000 and a member of each winning team will receive a travel package to participate and deliver a presentation at one of the world’s leading annual aquaculture conferences: the GOAL 2019 conference in Chennai, India.
More information and registration for the kick-off event.
