Ocean Community Challenge
Empowering Ocean Solutions
Are you an innovator, founder or early stage start up with a concept or prototype and a strong vision? Join the Ocean Community Challenge, our global open innovation initiative.
The ocean urgently needs sustainable solutions to survive and thrive. We’re seeking market-ready innovations that address critical ocean challenges or harness ocean resources responsibly. This challenge aims to foster a healthy, sustainable ocean economy and society.
Our support will help you further develop, refine and validate your solution and business model to rapidly move towards market and impact your solution. We partner with leading experts in the global Blue Economy and blue-entrepreneur ecosystem, equipping you with the resources and networks to deliver high-impact, transformative solutions for the ocean.
The next OCC submission window opens Feb 1st 2025!
Why participate
The experience
By joining the Challenge, you gain access to a global community of ocean entrepreneurs, experts and potential investors. This presents a chance to connect, learn and innovate with like-minded people passionate about addressing ocean challenges and opportunities. Submission is open to ocean relevant solutions, across all blue innovation categories described here.
We welcome teams from all maturity levels to apply, and ensure that support will be tailored to the current stage of your venture journey.
The JOURNEY
After the submission window closes, we carefully assess all applications before selecting the finalists. These will be invited to join the mentorship program, which includes personalised sessions with the OC Innovate Team and external mentors. The mentorship will focus on refining the finalist business models as well as pitch presentations, helping accelerate their ideas towards more viable, market-ready, impactful solutions.
The award
Finalists will pitch their solutions to the jury in June 2025, based on which a selected number of awarded teams will be invited to join our 4 month Award Accelerator Program launching this fall.
Our program is designed to guide through complex entrepreneurial stages, add structure, and help teams take important steps on their venture journey. The program includes:
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Mentoring
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Advisory
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Networking
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Resourcing
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Funding opportunities
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Innovation- and Entrepreneurial training
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Pitch-training and practice
Meet Teams from past Challenges
"OCC provided a platform for us to grow as entrepreneurs; By providing an excellent business coach as well as a panel of angel investors, to which we had never pitched to before, we were able to refine our business model and pitch tailored towards investment.”
ReShore, 1st prize winners OCC 2020
ChiNet, finalists OCC 2021
"Thank you for making these meetings happen. They were very valuable and I am sure we will be able to leverage those connections in the future. Thank you for guiding the discussions, it was very thoughtful of you"
AlgoBio, 1st prize winners OCC 2021
"One of the things I love about OCC is their dedication and that they are committed to support their participants."
SOSO Care, 2nd prize winners, OCC 2020
As Lead of the OC Challenge, I am beyond excited to follow and support teams with innovative solutions that not yet have caught investors´ attention. This is where our community makes a difference, providing the opportunity for promising solutions to thrive!
I encourage early-stage entrepreneurs from diverse ocean sectors to join in and be a part of our community."
Karen R. Østgaard,
OC Challenge Lead, 2024.
University of Oslo, Norway and Nova SBE, Portugal