Marine Bioproducts CRC Partners and collaborators came together in Nipaluna Hobart for Marine BioConnect 2026, celebrating the innovation, collaboration and progress shaping Australia’s emerging marine bioproducts industry. The event brought together researchers, businesses, government representatives, Scholars and industry leaders to share ideas, explore new opportunities and build connections across the sector.
Held on 25–26 August at Hotel Grand Chancellor, Marine BioConnect 2026 was hosted by the Marine Bioproducts CRC under the theme From Opportunity to Impact. The event showcased the growing potential of Australia’s marine resources to create new products, businesses and jobs, while contributing to sustainable solutions for some of the challenges facing our environment and economy.
Reflecting on the event, Marine Bioproducts CRC Interim CEO, Dr Steve Lapidge, said the discussions highlighted both the significant opportunities ahead and the need for the sector to work together to realise them.
“The conversations at Marine BioConnect showed that we have the expertise and ambition to build this industry. The opportunity is to connect that expertise and work together on the challenges that no single organisation can solve alone”, Steve said.
Steve captured the key messages from the event in his top 10 takeaways:
- The right partners compress time, the wrong ones cost it. Choosing the right collaborators can make a significant difference to progress and outcomes.
- Look for the intersections. Bringing different disciplines and areas of expertise into projects early can create new opportunities and strengthen outcomes.
- Fix the ‘legs and regs’. The sector needs to tackle fragmented legislation and regulation affecting seaweed, microalgae and marine bioproducts, including opportunities for national harmonisation.
- Think beyond individual products and companies. There is an opportunity to develop industry-good initiatives around clusters of common interests, or potentially a peak industry body.
- Build genuine First Nations relationships. Successful engagement requires time, trust, respect and patience, supporting meaningful, community-led economic participation.
- Support SMEs across the ‘valley of death’. Small and medium businesses need support to progress from promising innovation to commercial scale, particularly during biomass scale-up.
- Progress microalgae demonstration facilities. There is a clear desire across the sector to move forward with production demonstration facilities.
- Work together as a sector. The industry needs to avoid swimming in opposite directions and instead collaborate around shared priorities.
- Support collectively. AusKelp has asked for collective support to make kelp farming a reality, with more information on how the sector can assist to come.
- Build outcomes together. Individuals dream, but teams build outcomes. The opportunity now is to turn the connections and ideas from BioConnect into action.
Caption: Dr Steve Lapidge (L), Interim CEO of Marine Bioproducts CRC, reflected on Marine BioConnect 2026 and the event’s theme From Opportunity to Impact with 10 key takeaways.
The discussions at Marine BioConnect 2026 demonstrated the breadth of expertise and ambition across Australia’s marine bioproducts sector, while also identifying some of the practical challenges that need to be addressed as the industry grows.
From navigating regulation and developing infrastructure for emerging industries such as microalgae and kelp, to strengthening First Nations engagement, supporting SMEs through commercialisation and identifying opportunities for industry-wide collaboration, the conversations pointed to the importance of working together to build the foundations for a strong and sustainable marine bioproducts industry.
The message from Hobart was clear: Australia has significant marine bioproducts opportunities, but turning those opportunities into lasting impact will require the sector to work together.
On behalf of Marine Bioproducts CRC, thank you to the speakers, facilitators, and delegates who dedicated their time and effort to this year’s Marine BioConnect.
Marine BioConnect 2026 was proudly sponsored by Business Events Tasmania, Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (University of Tasmania), CSIRO, and Ocean2Earth.
For more information, visit www.mbcrc.com/marine-bioconnect26.
Relive Marine BioConnect 2026 “From Opportunity to Impact” here!
