The AQUA events are co-organised by the European Aquaculture Society (EAS) and the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and are held every six years. Past events were held in Nice (2000), Florence (2006), Prague (2012) and Montpellier (2018).
AQUA 2024 will take place from August 26-30 at the BELLA ARENA in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. It will comprise a scientific conference, trade exhibition, industry forums, workshops, student events and receptions. The event will highlight the latest aquaculture research and innovation to underpin continued growth of this exciting food production sector. It will be a showcase for Denmark, and its innovation leadership in several key technologies crucial for future aquaculture, but also a meeting and exchange platform for experts from around the world.
The overarching theme of AQUA 2024 is BLUE FOOD, GREEN SOLUTIONS and the scientific conference will include more than 60 sessions covering all aspects of aquaculture research.
AQUA 2024 has been organised with the support of our local partners, the Danish Export Association Fish Tech, ICES, DTU AQUA, the University of Copenhagen, EUROFISH and the Copenhagen Convention Bureau.
We are also extremely grateful for the support of our event sponsors, with GOLD SPONSOR BIOMAR, SILVER SPONSORS BIORIGIN, US SOY, UNIVERSITY OF STAVANGER and the BLUE PALNET ACADEMY and with SESSION SPONSORS AQUASOJA.
It is definitely the place to be at the end of August!
Key figures:
- Expected conference delegates: 1400
- Total expected participation: 2500
- No. of countries: 90
- Conference sessions: 60
- Special sessions, industry forums and workshops: 12
- Tradeshow booths: 240
- Tradeshow visitors: 1200
Programme highlights
The Programme Grid, showing sessions and days is now online at https://was.org/meeting/pdf/AQUA24_ProgrammeGrid.pdf
It shows the parallel abstract-based scientific sessions, as well as the forums and special sessions that will take place and specifically targeted towards operators and producers. More on these below….
Plenary speakers
To put some general highlights to the conference theme, we have two exciting plenary sessions and speakers. On Tuesday, August 27th (09h00 to 09h40), Dag Sletmo, Senior Vice President Seafood Division, DNB will give an opening plenary “Analysing the Future.”
FAO says we need to increase sustainable aquaculture production by at least 75% by 2040 if we are going to limit global warming to 1.5C. Dag will share his top-down financial perspective on what it will take to grow aquaculture production significantly. The demand drivers are in place, the challenge is increasing supply and at the same time reduce the environmental footprint. That will require new technology, better farming practises, and better regulations. As an industry depending very much on government regulations, it also needs a strong social license in order to achieve these goals. And where will the money to finance this come from? DNB Bank’s aquaculture activities is very focused on salmon, but Dag will also address aquaculture more generally.
Dag Sletmo is a Senior Vice President in the seafood division in DNB. DNB is the leading bank in Norway and the largest bank globally in salmon farming with clients in Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Scotland, Canada, Chile and Australia.
Prior to joining DNB, Dag worked in Cermaq, the global salmon farmer, and ABG Sundal Collier, a Nordic investment bank. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and has studied economics and philosophy at NHH and UiB in Bergen.
And end the end of conference, on Friday, August 30th (11h30 to 12h15), Signe Riemer-Sørensen Research Manager Analytics and AI, SINTEF will give her views on “AI with Knowledge.”
Large language models have democratized AI. Co-pilots and chat-bots are changing most office jobs, but despite their impact, they will not revolutionize aquaculture. For that we need completely different types of AI. Through examples from aquaculture and beyond, Signe will explain the challenges, provide intuitive insights into AI, and introduce the latest developments on industrial AI and their potential in aquaculture.
Signe Riemer-Sørensen is Senior Researcher and Research Manager for Analytics and AI in SINTEF. Her research evolves around overcoming challenges for implementing machine learning and artificial intelligence in a broad range of industrial settings where physics plays a role and data is often sparse and noisy. The solutions integrate domain knowledge into the AI, in so-called hybrid AI, fostering robust, explainable and trustworthy models.
This final plenary will be followed by the AQUA 2024 Poster Awards, overseen by the AQUA 2024 Programme co-chairs, Luisa Valente (CIIMAR, Portugal), Lorenzo Juarez (WAS, USA), Kjell Maroni (FHF? Norway) and Anne Cooper (ICES, Denmark).
Industry and Innovation Forums
A regular feature of EAS events is the Industry Forum and the Innovation Forum and these will take place during AQUA 2024.
The Industry Forum will be held all day on Tuesday, August 27 and will address the main event theme, with key questions about the status and future of the sector with regards, to adaptation to climate change, mitigation of its effects, circular approaches and other externalities.
It will be divided into several panel discussions, overseen by our master of ceremony for the day, Lise Walbom, CEO, Food Nation Denmark.
The AQUA 2024 Innovation Forum is being co-organised by EAS, EATiP (European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform) and the European Commission.
It will be held all day on Wednesday, August 28th and will take the tile “Exploring Inter-Regional Collaboration & Innovation Transfer vehicles for Aquaculture.”
The Forum will explore inter-regional collaboration for innovation transfer through the lens of EU policy and initiatives, but also at the global level. It comprises four sessions with a lix of presentation and interactive discussion to address key questions.
- Session 1: European Aspirations for Inter-Regional Innovation transfer
To address: Developing a Sustainable European Aquaculture to 2030. - Session 2: Inter-Regional Innovation Landscape in Practice: case studies on how innovation transfer vehicles promote advances in aquaculture :
To address: Session 1 considered policy intentions and aspirations. But how is this actually being delivered on the ground and in reality? Examples will be presented. - Session 3: Innovation transfer within the aquaculture research community
To address: Academic and research networks lend themselves intrinsically to international innovation transfer, with existing well networked stakeholders and organisations operating at the European and international level. - Session 4 – Facilitation, Funding models and future calls for inter-regional innovation transfer.
To address: Innovation transfer works well as a concept, but how do we fund and facilitate this work? Resourcing is challenging, but funding options do exist.
Examples such as the Mentoring and Accelerator Programme for Blue Grown, along with initiatives supported by the ECBF and BlueBio Alliance, demonstrate the innovation transfer infrastructures supporting the sector.
The detailed programmes for both forums are currently being finalised and will be online at the events website in early July. https://www.aquaeas.org/
Special sessions
We also have several special sessions at AQUA 2024, bridging the gap between science and industry:
- Quantitative Atlantic Salmon Health Assessment
- EUROshrimp Forum
- Aquaculture Stewardship Council workshop on “Future aquafeed supply chains in a transitioning industry and a changing climate“.
- Host Resistance to Sea Lice
- Light and Fish – And Light and other organisms
- IMTA and low-trophic aquaculture.
As above, the detailed programmes of these sessions will be online at the events website in July. https://www.aquaeas.org/
Exhibition
The AQUA 2024 exhibition is just about sold out, with more than 240 booths from suppliers and operators covering all aspects of aquaculture production at the global level. All coffee breaks and happy hours will be held in the exhibition hall to maximise interaction and some 1400 trade show visitors are expected.
Tours
On the Monday preceding the event, we have organised several tours.
- AQ24 A_DTU: Tour high-tech facilities at the Danish Technical University (DTU) National Food Institute – side streams and research into new ingredients from marine raw materials. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 30 persons.
- AQ24 B_OXYGUARD: Visit OxyGuard International’s Danish Headquarters. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 30 persons.
- AQ24 C_MAREL: A visit to the MAREL Progress Point global Demo Center, to see cutting-edge solutions and software for fish processing. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 50 persons.
- AQ24 D_AQUARIUM: A behind the scenes tour of the Danish National Aquarium (Den Blå Planet) – Northern Europe’s largest aquarium. Monday, August 26. Afternoon. Cost: €60 per person. Maximum 50 persons.
Factsheets on all tours are available on the “Travel” top menu of https://www.aquaeas.org/ and registrants can sign up for them during the registration process.
Registration link
Early Bird registration for AQUA 2024 is at https://www.aquaeas.org/Registration/Submit/AQUA24E
But hurry, the deadline for the cheapest registration rates is July 1.
EAS and WAS both look forward very much to welcoming you to AQUA 2024!
