





Chile's Aquaculture Innovation Club seeks international partners to further innovate aquaculture

Chile's Aquaculture Innovation Club is looking to establish an international alliance with countries that have a strong fish-farming tradition in an attempt to drive global innovation in aquaculture.



"We believe there are valuable experiences to share between Norway, Scotland, Ecuador, Spain and other countries," Aquaculture Innovation Club founder and executive director Adolfo Alvial told SeafoodSource. "There are a number of international organisations that we've invited, and we will be presenting a draft for the adherence to this initiative with contributions from each organisation so that we can launch this in a simple, non-bureaucratic way and begin to work together."

Alvial said the move to incorporate more worldwide players into its efforts stems from the desire to open doors with academia, international research and international ocean conservation experts while also positioning Chilean innovation services on a global level.



"This is the most important R&D&I (research, development, and innovation) aquaculture ecosystem in the Southern Hemisphere," he said, noting that a collaborative environment can help to address industry challenges, such as environmental, climate change and research issues.



Since its founding over three years ago, the club has sought to generate a culture of innovation among partner companies, promoting learning and collaboration while also aligning the needs of those partners with the larger aquaculture innovation ecosystem. It is not a trade organisation but rather a collaborative organisation seeking to form connections between companies around scientific-technological foundations, Alvial said.



The organisation is composed of firms ranging from small companies such as consultancies to large corporations such as MSD and Merck. All of them have the same weighting in the club, which has associated members – those that provide financing and are eligible for holding positions in the organisation – as well as collaborating members that simply contribute expertise.



"All of us are suppliers, and we want to maintain that nucleus of suppliers; there are no salmon-producing firms," Alvial added. "We have a permanent relationship with producers, and many of us are former producers. But, our institutional reasoning is that the innovation has [traditionally] been driven basically by the suppliers."

- SeafoodSource