Turning the Tide
By Kneyone Murray
The first-ever Tides of Innovation Workshop was a resounding success, effectively forging crucial partnerships across academia, government, and youth networks. This powerful convergence of stakeholders aimed to turn the regional sargassum challenge into opportunities for a Blue Economy, signaling a commitment to achieving environmental resilience and sustainable energy independence. Held in the heart of the Caribbean, this event marked an important milestone in transforming how Trinidad & Tobago and the wider region engage with one of our most pressing environmental and economic challenges: sargassum, and how we can link these solutions to renewable energy literacy.
Our workshop successfully brought together a vibrant mix of participants: academia, government officials, and youth innovation networks. This fusion of perspectives is the very essence of the Blue Planet Alliance (BPA) mission: to help islands and nations legislatively mandate a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045 by convening key stakeholders and empowering local leaders. Our work focuses on creating a world where humanity and nature live in harmony, and the Tides of Innovation Workshop is a prime example of driving this vision forward through collaboration and ingenuity.
Workshop Highlights
Looking back, I want to take a moment to walk through the major segments of our agenda. Each session was deliberately designed to move us closer to a sustainable, renewable-powered Caribbean, and I’m proud to outline how our activities are building the foundation for real-world change.
Executive Summary: Catalyzing a Blue Economy
The workshop successfully delivered hands-on learning and network-building for 19 participants across students, practitioners, and government partners. The results showed substantial knowledge gains about sargassum valorization (84% reported "Good understanding" post-workshop). This success, which helped forge new collaborations, with nearly 90% of attendees indicating new connections, served as a powerful catalyst for moving the conversation from cleanup to creating a blue economy, directly aligning with BPA's goal of energy independence and economic resilience.
Partner Presentations: The Story of Innovation
Our partners provided crucial insights, weaving together the science, policy, and entrepreneurship needed for a comprehensive solution:
Marissa Bradshaw (Blue Planet Alliance) and Mikayla Johnson (Island Innovation): Showcased the importance of global partnerships and island-specific strategies to accelerate the energy transition and foster sustainable innovation.
Khadija Stewart (EcoVybz Environmental Creatives / EcoSeas Caribbean) and Sayeed Ali (Close the Loop Caribbean): Focused on local environmental stewardship and the practical application of circular economy principles to waste management, demonstrating how sargassum can be integrated into a closed-loop system.
Marcia Tinto (Environmental Management Authority / Sargassum Task Force): Presented the governmental perspective on the sargassum crisis, detailing current management strategies and the regulatory framework needed to support innovative valorization projects.
Maëlle Hunt (Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator): Highlighted the regional necessity of adopting climate-smart practices and accelerating the shift to renewable energy through strategic investment and regional cooperation.
Special Guest Speakers: From Science to Entrepreneurship
The insights provided by our Special Guest Speakers were crucial, anchoring our innovative ideas in real-world policy and entrepreneurial strategy, ensuring the overall message of the event remained focused on scaling Caribbean-led solutions into viable, impactful actions.
Kevan Kalapnath-Maharaj (IAMovement): Shared the narrative of scaling local climate action and effectively mobilizing youth and communities to drive change from the ground up.
Racquel Moses (Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator): Discussed scaling Caribbean innovation, emphasizing the role of financing and policy in moving scientific concepts into successful commercial ventures that benefit the entire region.
Kory Hall (Climate Analytics Caribbean): Provided an energy policy analysis, underscoring how data-driven decision-making and robust policy frameworks are essential to achieve the region's 100% renewable energy goals, a core BPA focus.
Biofilm Experimentation from Seaweed
Chrystal Pereira’s presentation offered a crucial deep dive into the science of transforming marine biomass, specifically exploring the potential of sargassum seaweed as a feedstock. She focused on how sargassum could be processed into bioplastics and other biopolymers, offering a sustainable, locally sourced alternative to petroleum-based plastics. This innovative research directly demonstrates a high-value, environmentally friendly use for a pressing local resource, strongly bolstering the economic case for the green transition at the heart of the Blue Planet Alliance mission.
Biomass Valorization: Biofuel and Biochar from Seaweed
The deep exploration into Biomass Valorization yielded compelling pathways for transforming sargassum into practical, high-impact end-products: bio-fuel and biochar. This effort is vital because the resulting bio-fuel directly supports the region's renewable energy mandate, while biochar provides a sustainable, carbon-sequestering soil amendment, collectively fostering crucial steps toward both energy and food security.
LEGO® Serious Play® for Energy System Modeling
The use of LEGO® Serious Play® was an incredibly engaging tool, allowing participants to visually and physically model complex national and community energy roadmaps. This systems-thinking approach is key to BPA’s strategy, as it ensures all stakeholders see the entire system, from energy generation to waste management, helping to identify roadblocks and build collaborative solutions. The report showed participants gained an Improved Understanding from the LEGO® Innovation Lab regarding energy roadmaps.
Forging the Future: Voices of Experience for a New Generation of Climate Leaders
The final session underscored the pivotal role of youth leadership in advancing both climate action and the blue economy by intentionally fostering a dialogue between established leaders and emerging innovators. This intergenerational exchange ensures that the solutions developed are not only innovative but are also sustainable and enduring, perfectly aligning with the Blue Planet Alliance’s commitment to empowering local, youth-driven advocacy to champion the energy transition.
The workshop concluded with key recommendations to maintain momentum:
Run follow-up practical lab sessions to move from theory to application.
Implement a mentorship pairing programme to link experienced practitioners with youth innovators.
Formalize a 3- and 6-month impact tracking mechanism to translate enthusiasm into sustained entrepreneurial outcomes.
This initiative, endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade, has laid a powerful foundation. We are excited about the Partnership MOUs launching January 2026 and the continued collaboration powered by the expertise of partners like the Sargassum Task Force and Climate Analytics.
We invite your support: donations are welcome, and branded merchandise will be available soon. Together, we are shaping a future where sargassum becomes a driver of economic opportunity, environmental resilience, and technology-led growth.
Together, we turn with the tide.
Read the Tides of Innovation final report here.