Five Marine Restoration Start-ups to Pitch at WAVEMAKER Award in Berlin

• September 4, 2026

Five marine protection and restoration start-ups will take the stage in Berlin on 16 September 2026 to pitch their ventures at the WAVEMAKER Marine Conservation Start-up Award. The event brings together industry leaders, researchers and public authorities from across the blue economy to spotlight business ideas that make marine conservation and nature restoration more efficient and effective.

The award is hosted by SUBMARINER Network and funded by EIT Water, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s newest Knowledge and Innovation Community for water, marine and maritime innovation. It is supported by the Poul Due Jensen Foundation, also known as the Grundfos Foundation.

From applications to the Berlin stage

Applications for the 2026 WAVEMAKER Marine Conservation Start-up Award opened earlier this summer and closed on 20 August 2026. Finalists were notified by the end of August and are now preparing for the live pitch event in Berlin.

The five selected start-ups and spin-offs represent a cross-section of European marine innovation. Each has been chosen for its potential to deliver measurable environmental outcomes while building a viable, scalable business. The focus is on solutions that can move beyond pilot projects and contribute to real marine protection and restoration at scale.

The Berlin ceremony will take place at Mitosis LAB, a space dedicated to innovation and collaboration. It follows the kick-off of SPHERE, an EU Mission Ocean project on marine protection coordinated by s.Pro Sustainable Projects. SPHERE is a co-organiser of the event and will bring together more than 15 restoration partners from nine countries across Europe.

What is at stake

Three of the five finalists will win a one-year EIT Water membership. This membership opens access to funding opportunities, business support and partners across Europe’s water and marine innovation ecosystem. It is designed to help young companies accelerate development, find new collaborators and position themselves for growth.

The overall winner will advance to the European WAVEMAKER final at the EIT Water Launch Event in Málaga on 15 October 2026. There, regional winners from across the continent will compete for the European title and a €5,000 prize. This two-stage structure ensures that promising ventures gain visibility first at a regional level and then, if successful, at a European stage.

All five finalists receive expert mentoring ahead of the Berlin event and a contribution towards travel costs. This support is intended to help teams refine their pitches, clarify their value propositions and prepare for questions from an experienced jury.

Why this matters for the blue economy

The WAVEMAKER Marine Conservation Start-up Award sits within a broader push to strengthen Europe’s blue economy through innovation. Marine ecosystems face multiple pressures, including biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change and unsustainable resource use. At the same time, new technologies, business models and governance approaches are emerging that can help reverse this trend.

Start-ups and spin-offs are often closest to these innovations. They can move quickly, test new ideas in real environments and build business models around environmental outcomes. Yet many struggle to access the right networks, funding and market opportunities to scale. WAVEMAKER aims to reduce this gap by connecting promising ventures with established players in the marine and water sectors.

The award’s emphasis on measurable impact is deliberate. Judges will look for clear evidence of environmental benefits, such as improved water quality, restored habitats, reduced pollution or enhanced biodiversity. They will also consider how these outcomes are measured, reported and verified. This reflects a wider shift in the blue economy towards solutions that can demonstrate tangible results, not just intentions.

Links to EU Mission Ocean

WAVEMAKER aligns closely with the objectives of the EU Mission to Restore our Ocean and Waters. This mission aims to protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems, prevent pollution and build a sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular blue economy. Projects such as SPHERE, PHAROS and others are already working to deliver on these goals through research, demonstration sites and stakeholder engagement.

By bringing start-ups into this ecosystem, WAVEMAKER helps bridge the gap between research-driven projects and market-ready solutions. Start-ups can benefit from the knowledge, infrastructure and networks built by EU-funded projects. At the same time, larger consortia can discover new technologies, services and approaches that could enhance their own work.

This interaction is particularly important for marine restoration. Many restoration approaches require long-term commitment, local partnerships and adaptive management. Start-ups that can offer tools for monitoring, data analysis, community engagement or nature-based interventions can help make these efforts more effective and scalable.

The Berlin audience

The WAVEMAKER event is not only a competition. It is also a networking opportunity for Europe’s marine restoration community. Attendees include representatives from industry, research institutions, public authorities and civil society. Many are involved in Marine Protected Areas, coastal management, aquaculture, ocean observation or marine policy.

Participants will have the chance to meet the five finalist ventures, ask questions and explore potential collaborations. For start-ups, this exposure can be as valuable as the award itself. It can lead to pilot projects, partnerships with larger companies, interest from investors or connections to public procurement opportunities.

The presence of SPHERE partners and the MPA-Community Network further strengthens this dimension. SPHERE is an EU Mission Ocean project focused on marine protection. The MPA-Community Network brings together practitioners and experts working on Marine Protected Area management across Europe. Their involvement ensures that the event is grounded in real-world conservation and restoration needs.

What makes a strong WAVEMAKER venture

While the five finalists are already selected, the criteria behind WAVEMAKER offer useful guidance for any marine-focused start-up. Strong applications typically show:

• A clear problem definition linked to marine protection or restoration. This could involve biodiversity loss, invasive species, nutrient pollution, marine litter, habitat degradation or climate impacts.
• An innovative solution that differs from existing approaches. Judges look for technical novelty, new business models or novel ways of combining existing technologies.
• Measurable environmental outcomes. Ventures should be able to explain what change they expect to deliver, how they will quantify it and how they will track progress over time.
• A viable and scalable business model. Environmental impact must be paired with economic sustainability. This includes a clear path to market, revenue streams and an understanding of customers and partners.
• A capable team with relevant expertise. This may include marine science, engineering, business development, policy or community engagement. Early progress, such as pilots, partnerships or initial customers, strengthens the case.

These criteria reflect the reality of the blue economy. Good ideas are necessary but not sufficient. Ventures must also show how they will reach users, generate revenue and sustain their operations while delivering environmental benefits.

Beyond Berlin and Málaga

The WAVEMAKER Marine Conservation Start-up Award is part of a wider series of EIT Water initiatives supporting water and marine innovation. Similar competitions exist for water sustainability, climate resilience and port innovation in different regions. Together, they form a pipeline of opportunities for start-ups at different stages of development.

For ventures that do not win, the process can still be valuable. Preparing a strong application forces teams to clarify their value proposition, impact metrics and business model. Engaging with mentors and judges can reveal blind spots and open new doors. Many start-ups use such competitions as stepping stones towards larger funding rounds or strategic partnerships.

For the marine restoration community, events like WAVEMAKER help maintain momentum around the EU Mission Ocean agenda. They keep innovation visible, connect different actors and create a shared narrative around what a sustainable blue economy can look like in practice.

PHAROS and the wider ecosystem

PHAROS, as an EU Mission Ocean project, shares WAVEMAKER’s focus on practical, scalable solutions for marine restoration. PHAROS works across the Atlantic and Arctic basins to test nature-based solutions, improve monitoring and engage citizens and coastal stakeholders through Living Labs.

While PHAROS is not directly involved in organising WAVEMAKER, the two initiatives operate in the same ecosystem. Both aim to move from research and pilots to real-world impact. Both recognise that technology, policy and community engagement must work together. And both see the blue economy as a space where environmental restoration and economic opportunity can reinforce each other.

As the five finalists prepare for Berlin, the broader message is clear. Europe has the ideas, the talent and the policy frameworks to restore its oceans and waters. What is needed now is sustained investment, stronger market signals and continued collaboration between research, business and public authorities. WAVEMAKER is one piece of this puzzle. It helps promising ventures cross the threshold from concept to market, and from local success to European scale.