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A Venture Competition for Ocean Regeneration
Applications are now open. Submit your idea or venture now.
Collaboration for a Cause

TONOMUS, a world-leading technology enterprise powering the world’s first ecosystem of cognitive technologies at NEOM, is partnering with WAVE to offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity for purpose-driven entrepreneurs—and our oceans.

Water covers 71% of our planet and is a vital resource for all forms of life. In a world threatened by rising sea levels and disappearing shorelines, we want your help to pioneer innovative solutions that harness technology to restore, rebalance, and regenerate our oceans for generations to come.

Submit idea or venture
Building Ventures for the Blue Economy

Big challenges create even bigger opportunities. Overfishing, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction have debilitated our oceans and their regenerative ability. But through technology, we can develop solutions that help revive damaged marine environments and their communities, protect them from future harm—and even discover new ocean-based business models that catalyze economic growth.

Whether you’re an aspiring or established entrepreneur, an early-stage startup, or a researcher, we invite you to apply to our venture competition. Winning teams will be invited to join the TONOMUS Venture Studio, where you’ll receive resources and support from Silicon Valley experts as you launch your new venture—and also gain the chance to test your idea with TONOMUS.

Submit idea or venture
Our Goals

To help promote global ocean regeneration, we’re focusing on five key impact goals that closely align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for marine resources. The most competitive venture submissions will apply to one or more of the following priorities:

  • Restore Marine Life

    Accelerating conservation, restoration, and rewilding of coastal ecosystems and species.

  • Catalyze the Blue Economy

    Deploying and accelerating adoption of regenerative ocean-based solutions for food, energy, climate, tourism, transport, logistics, health and wellbeing, and more.

  • Alleviate Ocean Pressures

    Addressing ocean pressures—pollution of all forms, climate change, and more—and enhancing the capacity of humans and nature to withstand and recover from related stressors.

  • Mobilize Collective Action

    Raising awareness, building ocean empathy, and mobilizing diverse stakeholders to collectively take action and advocate for ocean regeneration.

  • Reimagine Markets and Governance

    Inspiring regenerative business practices and reimagining finance and governance systems with ocean regeneration at the heart of decision making.

How Tech Can Drive Transformative Change

It’s too late for incremental change. Ocean-dependent industries need to deploy innovative, scalable technologies that completely transform our relationship with the Earth’s oceans. We’re seeking bold, ambitious solutions that leverage the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, data analytics, and other cognitive technologies to regenerate and restore the ocean’s full life-sustaining potential.

Challenge Statements

There are many pathways to achieve our impact goals, but we’re focusing on areas with the most potential for change. Explore the competition challenge statements below to jumpstart your inspiration.

Regenerative Fishing
How might we launch technologies that promote regenerative fishing practices to restore marine populations, optimize output, and rebalance coastal ecosystems?
Regenerative Aquaculture & Seafood Production
How might we leverage technology that boosts the health and quality of farmed seafood, increases feed conversion efficiency, enhances biodiversity, and reduces the environmental impact of on- and off-shore aquaculture farms?
Regenerative Tourism and Recreation
How might we build digital platforms that inspire the responsible travel and recreation of coastal destinations; engage eco-tourists in ocean regeneration initiatives; and improve the local land, oceans, communities, and economies that these invaluable marine environments support?
Tackling Ocean Pollution
How might we integrate technology to reduce the amount of plastics, chemicals, fertilizers, and other pollution entering our oceans; remove the waste that is already present; and ensure cleaner oceans for future generations?
Ocean Intelligence
How might we harness ocean data, analytics, and other cognitive elements, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to monitor ocean changes, and then manage, track, and improve ocean-regeneration efforts so we can restore our seas to their natural state?
Regenerative Blue Economy
How might we accelerate technology-based ventures that provide new tools and enablers to disrupt current ocean-depleting practices, support regenerative fishing and aquaculture, spark local and regional economic growth, catalyze investments, and create quality jobs across multiple sectors in order to rebalance our ocean ecosystems?
What Makes This Competition Unique?

Many entrepreneurs talk about changing the world but often lack the skills and know-how. This is the chance to actually do it. Joining our Venture Studio will provide you and your team with invaluable resources that can help bring your venture to life and accelerate it by several years.

We are providing participants with learning sessions—from exploring current trends of the blue economy to determining your market size—to help share this opportunity with those who may be new to venture building. As you progress through the competition, you will gain more access to training resources, including seminars to strengthen your application, experienced mentors to push your ideas further, and networking opportunities with startup leaders and subject matter experts.

Select finalists will have the opportunity to participate in a final pitch event in front of TONOMUS and WAVE.

Submit idea or venture
The Tonomus Venture Studio

If you gain acceptance into our Venture Studio, you’ll have an experience unlike any you’ve had before. Competition winners will be invited to join the TONOMUS Venture Studio for an immersive series of sprints that feature Silicon Valley–influenced methodology and guidance, where you’ll focus on both concept and customer development, as well as refining your business plan. Other benefits include:

Technology

You’ll develop your idea in a state-of-the-art digital environment with a focus on design thinking, research, and prototyping.

Methodology

Our design-focused process consists of finding customer pain points, determining the right product/service, designing the business, and prototype testing.

Expertise

Our experts will guide you through early sprints and acceleration approaches.

Recruitment

We’ll help hire any additional team members and experts you need to complete the Venture Studio program.

Prototyping

Our team will provide hands-on support with digital prototype development.

Business Design

Anticipating go-to-market, we’ll work with you to design the right business model and strategy for revenue generation.

Branding

We’ll help brand your business, including initial naming and logo development.

About Wave

WAVE is a collective action platform striving towards the ambitious but essential goal of achieving ocean regeneration within a human generation. Led by HRH Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud and powered by the Future Investment Initiative (FII), WAVE’s mission is to engage diverse stakeholders across geographies, industries, and sectors—and harness their collective energy to drive a global wave of regenerative ocean action. WAVE activates unique and diverse partnerships and provides access to resources that help generate actionable ocean insights, spark global awareness and engagement, catalyze blue innovation, and advance thought leadership.

The finalist teams will be integrated into WAVE’s ocean innovation community, ensuring access to a unique support network that straddles diverse industries, sectors, and geographies.

     
Mentorship Seed Funding Recognition

Get feedback and advice from knowledgeable experts across the company.

Winning teams receive funding for continued development and experimentation.

Top teams will have the opportunity to present before the Senior Leadership Team.

Meet the Judges

       
John Albright Jane Nguyen Diana Russo Carl Collins
VP of Product Chief Strategy Officer VP of Technology VP of Sales

Investment Criteria

     
Fulfills the Mission Valuable Solution Managable Risk
Ensure your proposal is aligned with the sponsor's mission and meets all criteria Fulfill a costly need in the target market and showcase your product differentation Thoroughly research the risks and provide details on how they might be addressed

Resources

Leverage the following resources for building your Proposals and Pitch presentations:

 

 

For Proposal Submissions

Business Model Canvas

Value Proposition Canvas

Business Environment Canvas

 

 

For Pitch Presentations

Pitch Deck Template

Contact Us

Have questions? Contact the Initiative Manager

example@example.com