Martin Søreide

Martin Søreide is the CTO at ScaleAQ Seabased, where he holds responsibility for the company’s seabased structures. He holds a Master’s degree in Marine Engineering from NTNU and has built a solid career since 2002, including senior roles in structural safety at Equinor. In 2014, Martin took on the role of CTO at Aqualine, where he established and developed the company’s engineering division, Marine Engineering. Martin has always been deeply committed to his field and continues to teach several courses at NTNU in Trondheim and Ålesund. Through extensive technical work, he has contributed significantly to building trust in current structures, production methods and Standards within the aquaculture industry.

Silje Forbord

Silje Forbord is the Research Manager for the Seaweed Technology group at SINTEF Ocean, and has 17 years’ seaweed cultivation experience from land-based nursery and sea cultivation. She is also the project leader for The Norwegian Seaweed Centre, a national dedicated research infrastructure that promotes research and facilitates the development of new technologies for industrial cultivation and use of kelp. She holds a PhD in cultivation of sugar kelp with focus on nitrogen uptake kinetics, growth characteristics and chemical composition.

Dr. Alejandro Buschmann

Dr. Alejandro H. Buschmann is a Full Professor at i-mar Research Centre (www.i-mar.cl) at the Universidad de Los Lagos, obtaining his PhD at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. At present, he is also a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering (www.cebib.cl) and Senior Research Advisor of the Marine Agronomy Seaweed Holobiont program (www.mileniomash.cl). With over 200 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in aspects of coastal ecology and seaweed aquaculture, the focus is on the role of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) towards sustainable aquaculture development. Due to his scientific achievements, he received the “Silver Jubilee Award” from The International Foundation for Science (IFS), the “Honor in Scientia Marina” by the Chilean Marine Science Association and was elected as a Number Member of the Chilean Academy of Science.

Currently, he is part of editorial committees of scientific journals like Aquaculture, Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Reviews in Fisheries Science and Aquaculture, Associate Editor of the Journal of Phycology, Journal of Applied Phycology and Chief Editor of Algal Research. He was the Director of Research and Graduate School at the Universidad de Los Lagos and head of the i-mar Research Centre. He has been designated to different scientific panels of the Chilean Science Agency and the national commissions for graduate program quality certification (CNA). As a scientific consultant, he has supported seaweed culture developments within the industry and promoted sustainable environmental technologies for aquaculture with different world stakeholders.

Hans Bjelland

Hans Bjelland is the Research Director of Aquaculture at SINTEF Ocean, a core division of SINTEF—one of Europe’s leading independent research organizations. He leads a multidisciplinary team with access to world-class research infrastructure, bridging fundamental science with applied innovation for industry and public stakeholders. With a strong network across the aquaculture sector, Bjelland initiates and leads collaborative research with fish farmers, technology providers, and academic institutions. He previously served as Centre Director for the Centre for Research-Based Innovation in Exposed Aquaculture Operations, and in 2021, was appointed to the Norwegian government committee that authored the 2023 Official Norwegian Report on sustainable aquaculture development.

Christian Torgersen

Been working on the Andfjord Project since August 2020. Been a part of the Industry since the late 90`s , background from both seabased and Landbased farming.

Ellen Marie Kvamme

Ellen Marie Kvamme works with digitalization in the aquaculture segment at Lerøy, where she collaborates closely with production staff, suppliers, developers, and designers to create maximum business value through digital solutions. She is passionate about cross-disciplinary collaboration, a strong sharing culture, and the power of user-centered design. Ellen has led several of Lerøy’s innovative development projects.

Before joining Lerøy nearly two years ago, she worked as a product manager in the e-health sector, delivering digital solutions to municipal healthcare services. Ellen is educated as both a nurse and an economist — proving that you don’t need to be a technologist to work in digitalization!

Hogne Andersen

Hogne Andersen is a Project and Innovation Manager at DNV who is passionate about building tomorrow’s aquaculture solutions. He focuses on how AI and other digital technologies can transform the industry, and support fish farmers in their daily operations with both efficiency and control.

Prior to joining DNV, Hogne was the Founder and CEO of Dynaspace, a Norwegian startup that improves the way the aquaculture industry makes decisions and monitor environmental impact by using satellite images. Hogne is an aquaculture enthusiast located in Norway’s Silicon Valley of the Sea – Bergen, he believes technology is key to provide healthy, clean, and safe food for future generations. He has experience with cod and salmon farming in Norway, and international experience with farming of tropical shrimp and tilapia in South America and South-East Asia

Petter Gjørvad

Petter Gjørvad has been with DNV for 14 years, leading initiatives aimed at helping DNV’s customers and DNV itself benefit and create value from digitalization. This includes the digitalization of certification processes, such as the Future of Assurance project, and risk management.

Petter holds a degree in Material Science and Industrial Engineering from NTNU. He has experience working for companies like SINTEF, Accenture, Oracle, and Scatec, where he has combined digital competence with technical expertise to maximize the value from investments in digital solutions.

Petter M. Johannessen

Petter M. Johannessen has been heading IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation, since 2018. He is passionate about seeing the contribution of marine ingredients to global food production recognised while supporting continuous improvement and responsible practices. IFFO actively engages in and initiates collaborative efforts, considering them a cornerstone of its operations. Johannessen is notably recognised as a founding member of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients alongside the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. Before his current role, Johannessen held industry executive positions, including Global Business Director for Risk Management and Sourcing at Cargil Aqua Nutrition, as well as Supply Chain Director and Global Sourcing and Purchasing Lead at EWOS Group.

Ole J. Marvik

Ole J. Marvik is the CEO of Gas2Feed AS, a pioneer in gas fermentation. The company is developing a scalable process to produce protein for feed or food from simple gaseous compounds such as CO₂, hydrogen and oxygen. This is an example of industrial recycling of carbon to reduce the global pressure on agriculture, an important aspect of sustainability highlighted in a recent OECD publication, co-authored by Marvik.For several years, Marvik was leading Innovation Norway’s healthcare team, and more recently he was responsible for their activities to stimulate biorefining and the bioeconomy. Marvik holds a PhD in molecular biology and has a broad management and entrepreneurial background from several companies in the biomedical sector.

Gunvor Øie

Gunvor Øie is a research manager for the group Low Trophic Aquaculture in SINTEF Ocean. She has been working in SINTEF for more than 25 years, and is one of the company promotors behind CFEED. Cultivation of low trophic species for food and feed has been her main research area for several years, together with first-feeding of different marine fish species. Her Dr. thesis was about cultivation of turbot. Gunvor Øie is leader for The Norwegian Center for Plankton Technology located in SINTEF SeaLab.

Eldar Lien

Eldar Lien, CEO of Searas AS will present how OptiRAS™ reduces risk and improves fish health through high water circulation, gentle handling, and real-time control. Insights from production demonstrate the potential for sustainable growth in land-based aquacultur.

Tonje Steigedal

Tonje Steigedal is the CEO and co-founder of Lybe Scientific based in Trondheim, Norway. Lybe Scientific is a biotechnology company developing high quality nanoparticle-based solutions for life science, diagnostic and aquaculture purposes. The company has recently launched a product tailor-made for accurate and efficient fish health monitoring and aquaculture diagnostics: NAxtra 2.0 Aquaculture.

Steigedal holds a MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Medical Technology and has extensive experience from research, commercialization as well as technology and business development both for the public and private sector.