seaweed
industry
vertical
lead
mike blakeley
Seagreen Insights
Mike is the co-founder/director of Seagreen Insights, a San Francisco-based non-profit promoting seaweed as an industrial biomass. Mike has held executive leadership roles in nonprofit and for-profit organizations and has managed multi-year sustainable development programs for organizations such as the World Bank and U.S. government. Early in his career, he founded a global trading company that specialized in seafood and agricultural commodities.
For SF Blue Tech, Mike shares information about climate solution options that are possible from the seaweed sector, including use as a low-carbon alternative for biomaterials, food products and industrial ingredients.
A native of Marin County and an ocean lover, Mike is curious about ocean-themed tech that is emerging in the Bay Area, and sees the region as a natural location for blue economy businesses.
seaweed articles
sf blue tech team
why have a seaweed industry vertical lead?
While seaweed cultivation by coastal communities has existed for centuries, commercial use is increasing with the growth of new farming regions, including in the U.S. and Europe, along the traditional regions in Asia.
New growth is driven by increased knowledge and applications of different seaweed species, and the low footprint and ease of growing seaweed relative to land-based crops. Innovation and investment into seaweed derived products is increasing at a rapid rate, and potential for it to emerge as a preferred industrial feedstock is very high.
Seaweed is known to sequester carbon at a higher rate relative to trees, so the interest to increase the scale of farming as a climate solution is high.