Page 42: of Marine Technology Magazine (October 2015)

Clean Oceans

Shipping’s Stake in an Ocean

Clean-Up

The Nor-Shipping 2015 Young Entrepreneur

Winner shows the way forward.

By William Stoichevski rawn from the palace for the event, the King of Nor- tracted 15,400 visitors in 2015. The prize was juried in part by way looks more solemn than many are used to seeing U.S.-based, clean-shipping protagonist, Carbon War Room.

D him, as he walks the catwalk to bestow honors and the Nor-Shipping Young Entrepreneur prize on a young Dutch Innovation citizen. The 21-year-old Boyan Slat and his Netherlands- Slat’s invention is an “ocean curtain” that drapes for miles to based Ocean Clean-up impress not just King Harald and the trap plastic bags, six-pack rings and other garbage tossed by

Nor-Shipping awards committee, but a mixed audience of 800 humans or carried by the wind into the sea. His technology from the worldwide shipping community and Norwegian of- targets “the removal of half the (trash in the so-called) great ? cialdom. Paci? c garbage patch.” The “patch,” by various accounts and

The Young Entrepreneur Award honors a person under the estimations, is a continent-sized swirl of refuse circulating in age of 40, “a professional who has founded a successful com- perpetuity off the Western U.S. pany to address maritime challenges in an innovative and new “If you told me four years ago (during a summer school ex- way.” The prize injects a bit of youthful appeal and wildcard change) that next time I’d be back here accepting an award relevance to a Nor-Shipping conference and tradeshow that at- from the King of Norway I wouldn’t have believed it,” the

October 2015 42

MTR

MTR #8 (34-49).indd 42 9/29/2015 2:54:42 PM