Meet Our 2020 Finalists: Safety Net Technologies

Safety Net Technologies is a state-of-the-art light-emitting solution to enable the fisherman to catch more sustainably. They are 1 of our 12 Finalist Teams who will compete in the upcoming FoodTech Challenge Awards Ceremony. Read more about them below.

What makes your team excited about your idea and food technology?:

Currently, about 1 out of every 5 fish caught in the wrong fish, leading to 27m+ tons of fish wasted every year globally and 20% wasted space on vessels. This leads to great environmental, economic, and ecological costs as oceans are being depleted, coastal communities suffer, and the demand in the food supply is not being met. SafetyNet Technologies uses light-emitting devices to help fishermen catch the right fish, lowering bycatch by up to 90% and improving fishing revenues by 25% – saving more fish, helping fishermen, and protecting an increasingly essential food source now and for the future.

What is the biggest source of motivation for your team to work on this project?:

We dream of living in a world where oceans and people thrive together. As a team, we can develop and scale trusted and valued solutions that enable sustainable practices in the fishing industry.

Could you tell us something unique about your team that makes you a strong contender to be in the Top 4 winners?

As we’ve grown the team, we have been keen to empower everyone to find solutions to the problems that need solving. We’re driven by purpose and our technology is human-centered, to make sure that we are building solutions with fishermen for fishermen. Using a very human-centered design approach, our team can adapt to the needs of the end-users and operate in a lean way to come up with solutions that work best for the industry to ensure the best adoption.

Lastly, if you are selected as one of the four winners, how does your team plan to use the prize money?

As we are starting to enter the market and replicating our existing successful scientific trials in the commercial fishing industry, we would like to do more trials on other crucial species that are causing the biggest issues to food security around the world, so we can replicate those successes in the industry as well. The fishing industry is quite conservative and trust-based and wants to see these validated trials before using the technology themselves. The prize money would go towards furthering these scientific trials.