What is the BlueInvest Project Pipeline?
See our showcase of innovative projects and entrepreneurs who are shaping the Blue Economy.
Projects consist of innovative, scalable and sustainable business ventures from traditional and emerging sectors of the maritime economy.
The graphs below provide an overview of the country distribution, sector, and TRL of projects currently listed in the BlueInvest Project Pipeline.
Selection Criteria:
Your company is EU-based or from an eligible sea basin region (Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Mauritania, United Kingdom, or Norway)
Your project TRL is 4 or higher
Your project sector is in one of the 10 blue economy sectors identified for this initiative
Your solution has a clear sustainable impact on the blue economy
Your project is looking for investment
Project Country
Country in which the project is being developed and / or implemented.
Project Sector
Main blue economy sector the project relates to.
Project TRL
Current technology readiness level of the project.
Econowind BV
Developer and founder of eConowind Frank Nieuwenhuis created name as a mechanical engineer with the development, production and scaling up of innovations in various sectors in a short period of time. The most famous innovation of his hand is the blind spot mirror for trucks with a production of 200.000 per year, reducing the number of deaths by accidents with 60%. Co-developer Guus van der Bles has made his mark in the maritime sector as professor Ship Propulsion at TU Delft and as Director development at the progressive Dutch design company Conoship International.
The Econowind VentiFoils are so-called suction wings that owe their superior performance to a lift coefficient that is between four and five times greater when compared to an equivalent sized conventional sail. Thanks to this superior lift, these sails can be compacted and modularized, which makes them easier to deploy on all kinds of (freight) vessels compared to conventional sails.
Econowind's VentiFoil sails neutralize the adverse sub-optimal airflow of conventional sails by preventing the disruption of the laminar airflow. Despite both sails achieving a similar effect, the technology used is slightly different and as a consequence both sails each have their pros and cons. In general, however, turbo-sail technology has already achieved a high product maturity thanks to the work of Fondation Cousteau (Charrier B. et al., ) and now also the further refinement by Econowind.
Econowind excels competition because: 1. The best technical concepts The suction wing (Jacques Cousteau called this Turbo Sail). This has very high power / m2 (Lift factor Cl = 4 5, a normal sail Cl = 1,2-1,5). Then, it also has built-in safety and runs fully automatic. We studied the work of Jacques Cousteau and found some solutions for his remaining problems. We patented one of those solutions. The other was making the systems foldable, which is practical. 2. Network We are connected to a ship design bureau Conoship, operating since 1952. Together with Conoship we are well connected to research institutions like MARIN and TU Delft. Then, we are within a large industrial capacity as supply chain, with over 150 suppliers we have been working with over the past 30 years in the different companies our employees worked for. 3. Philosophy: We realise that Time-to-market is essential to get into the market and then quality and service the follow-up. We have experience in these proce