In addition to being a space to discuss topics of aquaculture innovation, the InnAqua conference also presented itself as an opportunity for suppliers to showcase their latest innovations. Exhibitors carried out a positive assessment of their participation.
Last week, the Los Lagos region hosted the third edition of the InnAqua Conference. In addition to the opening day - Tuesday September 2nd - held in Puerto Montt, the conference took place on Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th of this month in Puerto Varas.
At that event, Expo InnAqua also took place in parallel, where nearly thirty companies showed their latest advances and innovations.
Adolfo Alvial, executive director of the Aquaculture Innovation Club, emphasized the level of networking achieved, both at the Conference and at the Expo InnAqua. “At the stands there were concrete examples of innovation, with robotics, topics of Artificial Intelligence applied, metaverse and technology samples. It was highlighted that there were companies showing equipment and demonstration systems, not only with videos, but with models and scale models," said Alvial.
New solutions to measure efficiency
One of the companies that showed technological equipment at Expo InnAqua was Ideal Control, which revealed the technological solutions they have created and launched to the market. "We wanted to show the added value that our solutions can generate once implemented in our customers' facilities," said Marco Méndez, founder and general manager of the company.
According to Méndez, the company presented “oxygenation efficiency systems for freshwater, which allow to generate significant savings and reduce CO2 emissions. In seawater we also present control measurement systems, in addition to mass flow measurement injected by each of the cages, which helps to better understand the profile of each of these, delivering a totalized report of the oxygen consumption of each culture center.” Mendez said. The executive emphasized that each product has been developed by Ideal Control, so they have patent registration by invention.
At Expo InnAqua, Ideal Control also released new products, the first of which is called "Technologyd Oxygen for Fresh Water", as well as an oxygen purity analyzer for sea center. “That is, if at any center you need to measure the purity of oxygen in the module (for equipment that generates oxygen in situ), you can install this analyzer. And through a software platform, it is possible to deliver an oxygen purity curve.” Mendez added, for whom InnAqua 2025 was spectacular. “There were experts in new technologies, so I think it’s important that these kinds of events be done. As for our stand, we had many visits, with great interest from the industry to know how to efficientize the processes of oxygenation and energy efficiency,” said the founder of Ideal Control.
New brand
For its part, the company Alsur Engineering made its new brand known Navaut, through which they will market, lease and operate autonomous surface vehicles. “These vehicles are generally used for hydrographic and bathymetric studies, reducing risks and costs. In addition, we offer vehicles for shrimp feeding, although we are also seeing the technical feasibility for use in salmon companies,” said Gerardo Cárdenas, general manager of Alsur Ingeniería.
As the executive told Partnerfish, we also “have a team that can operate in emergencies and rescue operations at sea or another body of water.”
According to Cárdenas, the objective of his participation in Expo InnAqua was also to “reaffirm Alsur’s commitment to innovation – as it is his second participation – in addition to our commitment to every service we offer for the innovation and sustainability of the aquaculture industry”. As an overview of his presentation, the executive noted that “the event was very good. Always InnAqua meets our expectations, as apart from the attendees, a synergy is created between the companies that we are in the stands, with enough conversation and new ideas, which is invaluable,” he said.
Integrated oceanographic information
Another company present at Expo InnAqua was M5 Data Tech, a company recently created with the aim of putting into practice the 15 year work experience of its founder in the area of ocean and physics engineering. “I have an extensive course in teaching, institutional relations and development of engineering projects. The idea of meeting in InnAqua was to make known the Oceanum company, of New Zealand origin, with which I have been associated for several years. They are specialists in numerical modelling and have operational software and database management platform for decision-making,” said Mauricio Molina, an ocean civil engineer, who is highly recognized in the media for his publications and interpretations of events on LinkedIn.
The founder of M5 Data Tech relegated the interest of visitors to his booth in the search for solutions that could anticipate conflict situations for maritime operations, such as port closures, sampling for harmful algal blooms (FANs), and how an ANF can be propagated in the event of detection. “People came up with a number of concerns, such as how to integrate databases. Possible customers said they currently have separate platforms for different variables. And his idea is to hopefully integrate information into a single platform, which is just one of the business lines that we have together with Oceanum, with whom we seek to integrate decision-making, based on the meteorological and oceanographic information of the medium,” said the engineer, who valued InnAqua as an instance to find other people with the concern to learn and implement new solutions, from different worlds and viewpoints.
Applications for industry
Another company that participated in Expo InnAqua was GX Consultants. The software development company showed its services aimed at the southern Chilean industry, where its main letter of introduction was the application of the InnAqua Conference itself.
“Our aim was to know new realities, in order to assess what we can contribute to the industry. We already have 15 years of history and facts created applications for various productive sectors, such as dairy, retail, services, energy and aquaculture,” said Bruno Westermayer, head of projects at GX Consultores. From his perspective, the event was very good, “since, unlike other more massive instances, here There was greater exclusivity and interaction with the attendees. Our application of the event was widely downloaded by the participants, with quite a lot of interaction throughout the development of InnAqua 2025,” he said.
On-site network samples
Cittadini Chile, a company with more than 5 years present in the country, showed its innovations in the manufacture of networks of Dyneema, nylon, HDPE and polyester.
“The conference goes to a technical and objective profile that interests us, as people in positions in the area of production and operations. Therefore, we decided to be present and as exponents it was very important. We had visits every day and with good conversations with current and future customers, so new doors were opened,” said Günther Müller, general manager of the national subsidiary of the home network manufacturing company Italian.
For the executive, the aspect most valued by those who visited the booth of Cittadini Chile was “the possibility of evaluating the sampler of networks to the touch, in situ the products and review the fabric that is achieved in the loom, along with seeing nets impregnated with paint antifouling of the line Notorius”, Günther Müller added.
Solutions for the food industry
Trust Consultants, a consulting company for the food industry, was another of the exhibiting companies in InnAqua. “Our main objective was to continue to make us known and expand our network of contacts, to offer our services to the salmon industry. The balance sheet is very positive, as we achieved several contacts and approaches,” concluded Andrés Chappuzeau, managing partner and manager of Trust Consultores.
In the opinion of the executive, although today they provide services to the entire food sector, they have also done important work for clients in the salmon growers sector. “We believe that the greatest growth potential in the sector is our support in avoiding cross-contamination. In addition, in the construction of infrastructure and the design of facilities where hygiene and food safety are required,” Chappuzeau said.
