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IDB Lab Announces the Results of the Sargassum Innovation Quest to Build Resilient Coastal Ecosystems

The selected proposals come from Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its innovation laboratory, IDB Lab, have announced the results of their Sargassum Innovation Quest: Building Resilient Coastal Ecosystems. This initiative was launched to identify and support solutions that leverage advanced technologies and innovative practices to harness the potential of sargassum biomass and enhance the resilience of coastal communities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This effort, developed in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is a response to the challenges faced by the region due to the increasing influx of sargassum, which has been progressively affecting tourism, fishing, and coastal ecosystems since 2011.

The selected projects aim to harness the potential of sargassum as a resource for various industries and mitigate the environmental and economic impact of sargassum influx in the most sensitive geographic regions. The initiatives eligible for financial support are:

  • Caribbean Chemicals (Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago): This project focuses on developing safe products for food and ornamental crops by leveraging technologies that significantly reduce arsenic and heavy metal levels in sargassum biomass. Embracing a circular economy approach, the initiative aims to minimize waste and utilize renewable energy for drying the sargassum.
  • Waste Recycling Environment Network (Belize): This project seeks to implement and promote the SPICE (Static Pile Inoculated Compost Extension) composting process in coastal communities of Belize (including training and employment of local residents) to sustainably manage solid waste, including sargassum, and produce high-quality compost and liquid fertilizers.
  • C-combinator (Mexico): This project aims to produce effective agricultural extracts through a cold extraction process that preserves the bioactivity of sargassum and developing a bio-leather material with commercial durability standards. This is achieved while implementing controls to reduce microbiological contamination during the processing of raw materials.
  • SOS Carbon (Dominican Republic): This project proposes efficient and sustainable sargassum collection using the Littoral Collection Module (LCM), a patented system that converts local vessels into high capacity sargassum collectors. It also includes transforming sargassum into biostimulants for crops, developing products under research such as animal feed and cosmetics, and incorporating a carbon offset mechanism.
  • Origin by Ocean (Dominican Republic): This proposal aims to extract multiple valuable chemicals for various industries and produce arsenic-free animal feed from sargassum and other invasive brown seaweeds, all in a single process using a patented biorefinery system.

The preselected organizations will undergo a due diligence process. Upon successful completion, they will proceed to design their projects and become candidates to receive funding from IDB Lab and USAID to develop their innovative models in the specified countries. All candidates will also join the IDB’s global innovators network to address the sargassum management needs and the conservation of coastal-marine ecosystems across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The call for proposals received 72 submissions from 13 countries across the region. Startups, SMEs, non-profit organizations, academia, social corporations, public innovation agencies, and accelerators presented models ready for implementation. A panel of experts from the IDB, IDB Invest, IDB Lab, and USAID evaluated the applicants based on criteria such as innovation, environmental impact, scalability potential, financial sustainability, technical capacity of the organization, and the feasibility of executing the proposals.

About the IDB 

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is devoted to improving lives across Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 1959, the IDB works with the region’s public sector to design and enable impactful, innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive development. Leveraging financing, technical expertise and knowledge, it promotes growth and well-being in 26 countries. Visit our website www.iadb.org/en.

About IDB Lab 

IDB Lab is the innovation and venture capital arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. We discover new ways to drive social inclusion, environmental action, and productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean. IDB Lab leverages financing, knowledge, and connections to support early-stage entrepreneurship, foster new technologies, activate innovative markets, and catalyze existing sectors. www.idblab.org.  

About USAID 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) leads international development and humanitarian efforts that save lives, reduce poverty and promote human progress. In the Dominican Republic, USAID works to promote a more secure, resilient and prosperous Dominican Republic. Since 1962, USAID, in close partnership with the people and government of the Dominican Republic, has invested approximately $1.9 billion dollars in the development of people living in the Dominican Republic, with select programs targeting neighboring Caribbean countries. Currently, our efforts support key sectors of collaboration: Citizen Security, Anti-Corruption, Education, Climate Resilience, Energy, Biodiversity, Food Security, Health, Vulnerable Populations, and Human Rights. 

Contacts

Manzano Guillen,Maria De Gador

Manzano Guillen,Maria De Gador
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