Sea Vegetable Company receives 'FabCafe Global Prize' and 6 jury awards at global award “crQlr Awards 2023”
ー About the ’crQlr Awards’
The crQlr Awards, widely recognized as the Circular Awards, stand as a global accolade uniting players from around the world committed to advancing a circular society. Functioning as a catalyst for collaborative efforts, this global award seeks to propel and support initiatives dedicated to realizing a resilient, equitable, and regenerative future. Embracing a diverse array of projects spanning circular design in products, services, art, education, system design, and urban planning, the awards serve as a platform where innovators and visionaries converge. Through transcending national and industrial boundaries, the crQlr Awards foster collaborations that challenge societal and business norms, striving towards the actualization of a future characterized by resilience and fairness.
Evaluation criteria
–for People : Is the work creative? Does it show an insightful understanding of circular economy or novel collaborative relationships?
– for Planet : Does it have an overall positive and measurable impact on the environment?
—for Profit : Does the work provide solutions to the challenges faced by society and business for activating a circular economy?
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【crQlr Awards 2023】
Application period: 19 September -13 November, 2023
Total number of entries: 140 entries/ 43 countries
Jury Awards: 28 services
Special Awards: 3 services
Results announcement site: https://crqlr.com/ja/crqlr-awards/2023/results
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ー Judge’s Comment
In this award, our company received six jury awards. The panel of judges included professionals with diverse expertise in fields such as innovation, design, AI, art, mobility, architecture, community, technology, and biology such as Guillaume Charny-Brunet, Co-founder of Denmark's Innovation Lab "SPACE10," Yo Irie, Manager of the Digital Business Unit at East Japan Railway Company's Innovation Strategy Division, and architect Yuri Naruse. These experienced individuals from diverse domains have kindly shared comments about our initiatives.
Guillaume Charny-Brunet
（SPACE 10 Co-founder & Strategy Director）
[Big Blue Loop Prize]
The holistic approach of the Sea Vegetable Company commands both admiration and praises. By developing unique technology and know-how for land-based cultivation of seaweed, the company is able to ensure a steady production, and foster a natural repopulation, of delicious species that are otherwise threatened by rising sea temperatures and changes in their natural habitat. By bringing together a great variety of people, from scientists, to fishermen, to local elders, and chefs, the Sea Vegetable Company is creating a productive, inspiring and restorative ecosystem that will benefit both biodiversity and local communities, but also stimulate creativity and taste buds far beyond. It is finally their great sense of aesthetics and ability to share their stories and recipes that make it contagious. Far all this, and for all that is coming next, the Sea Vegetable Company deserves a Big Blue Loop Prize.
Darlene Damm
（President, Singularity University, and Minister of Community and Impact）
[Illumination Prize]
Sea Vegetable is illuminating and helping our world understand the value of something overlooked - the 1500 types of edible seaweed in the ocean of which only 100 are known. Seaweed is a nutritious vegetable also important to the environment and Japan’s culture. Sea Vegetable is also helping people see something else overlooked - the value of aging workers, disabled workers and abandoned communities in growing this industry. The knowledge Sea Vegetable captures from documenting and studying these seaweeds will be valuable to both human health and the environmental ecosystem. If they have not already done so, I would love to see Sea Vegetable create a “Seaweed” dictionary or open a database of all the different seaweeds, their properties, health and environmental benefits, what they look like, recipes and more so more people can learn and collaborate.
Hiroshi Irie
( Manager, Digital Business Unit, Innovation Strategy Headquarters, East Japan Railway Company, Secretariat Chief of Mobility Transformation Consortium）
[Sea-People Storytelling Prize]
The outstanding aspect in this business is the exceptional collaboration and partnerships formed with the local community. Sea Vegetable not only focuses on seaweed research but goes beyond the realm of involving individuals with disabilities, fishermen, working women, and chefs; all passing the baton to recreate a thriving sea, which leads me to realize the potential of a circular economy. The comment from a fisherman stating, 'Even the seemingly valueless sea can create productivity. Through these activities, people who previously had no interest in seaweeds can gradually become more engaged,' left a lasting impression on me. The way how Sea Vegetable finds new potential in seaweed while keeping the local community vitale, is truly an appealing aspect of this project. I hope this project creates a ripple effect for local food education and children.
ー crQlr Awards Exhibition: Co-Founder, Yuichi Tomohiro, takes the Stage at 'crQlr Summit 2024 TOKYO’
“crQlr Awards Exhibition 2024” to showcase Award-Winning Projects at FabCafe Tokyo from March 1st to 24th, featuring diverse programs including 'crQlr Summit 2024 TOKYO' and 'crQlr Awards Exhibition Tours.' Explore our initiatives in special displays and Yuichi Tomohiro will take a stage on the topic 'Designing New Relationships' – An event not to be missed for those Interested in the Circular Economy!