The Innovative Approach Singapore is Taking to Aquaculture

As investment in agrifood tech hits record-breaking levels, Singapore is helping entrepreneurs, industry, academia, and the investment community to come together and drive new possibilities in the field of aquaculture.

FREMONT, CA: A growing global population, dwindling resources, and the consequences of climate change have sparked unprecedented amounts of agri-food tech innovation, interest, and investment. According to AgFunder, global investment in the agri-food start-up sector increased from USD 6.4 billion in 2014 to USD 30.5 billion in 2020. The industry raised an additional USD 24 billion in the first half of 2021 alone.

The possibility of new digital solutions in aquaculture is a key component of this expansion. Aquaculture - the technique of producing seafood – now generates more than half of all seafood consumed globally, thanks to rising global demand, complicated ocean fishing rights, and environmental and operational issues posed by traditional fishing methods. It is presently the world's fastest-growing food-producing sector, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. According to the United Nations, Asia accounts for 90 percent of global aquaculture production, making it an attractive starting point for innovative solutions in this field. As a result, despite its limited size and labor pool, Singapore has pushed to put itself at the forefront of aquaculture innovation, leveraging both existing industry and a burgeoning tech startup ecosystem.

Domestic seafood production, which includes more than 100 sea-based and land-based fish farms, will play a vital role in the city-'30 by 30' strategy, which aims to increase the share of domestically supplied nutritional needs from 10 to 30 percent by 2030. These farms are also being used as a testing ground for cutting-edge research and development (R&D) and corporate collaborations. Solutions for scaling up production in a sustainable and climate-resilient manner to reach the 30 by 30 targets have the potential to be exported well beyond Singapore's borders. The Singapore Food Agency's (SFA) Marine Aquaculture Centre (MAC) plays a crucial role in facilitating cross-discipline collaboration and driving R&D in tropical aquaculture initiatives, with an increasingly vibrant ecosystem of universities, research institutes, tech start-ups, and global nutrition and health players leading the charge.