The Ocean Startup Project has accepted 23 teams for its 2026 Ocean Idea Challenge, including 11 from Atlantic Canada.

The Idea Challenge is the OSP’s entry-level competition, in which novice oceantech entrepreneurs can conduct customer discovery and get an idea of whether their idea could lead to a viable business. Successful teams can graduate to the Ocean Startup Challenge, for teams developing a business.

Participating teams in the Idea Challenge will take part in a “customer discovery sprint”, interact with the OSP team and industry experts, and receive up to $8,000 in funding to support early validation, said the organization.

“The strength of this year’s applicant pool says something important about the momentum building in Canada’s ocean startup ecosystem,” said Natasha Legay, Ocean Challenge Director at the Ocean Startup Project. “More people are recognizing that ocean entrepreneurship is within reach.”

The statement said the organization received 83 applications (almost one-fifth more than last year) and that the selected teams are exploring a wide range of opportunities, such as aquaculture, marine safety, ocean data, coastal resilience, and renewable energy.

To date, 54 teams have completed the program, with 22 going on to the Ocean Startup Challenge — meaning more than 40 per cent of Ocean Idea Challenge teams have continued building through OSP’s later-stage programming.

The 2026 Ocean Idea Challenge participants from Atlantic Canada are:

● AquaPath AI (PEI): Developing AI-assisted diagnostic support software for aquaculture histopathology that helps pathologists identify suspicious regions faster and reduce backlog during disease outbreaks.

● Belon Autonomous Inc. (NS): Developing a versatile autonomous marine platform and ecosystem for persistent Arctic missions, utilizing moving-mass architecture to ensure tactical stealth and mechanical resilience.

● Kasis Clean Water Inc.  (BC / NB): Developing a redox-active material derived from chitosan that can be used in redox-flow batteries.

● Marine Critical Parts Supply Inc. (NL): Streamlining inventory analysis and procurement processes for vessel and offshore asset operators through an integrated platform that reduces downtime, delays and operational inefficiencies.

● Naavi Marine Intelligence (NS): Developing an edge AI system for small vessels that reduces cognitive overload and improves offshore safety by integrating with onboard instruments to deliver proactive intelligence, voice interaction and automated voyage logging.

● Nazara AI (NL): Building an AI-driven system for automated metocean data quality control that uses physics-informed machine learning to improve data accuracy in extreme offshore environments.

● Ochre Subsurface Inc. (NL): Improving fault identification in seismic data through an AI-assisted solution that helps offshore energy and carbon storage teams reduce subsurface risk and improve decision-making.

● SafeFish (NL): Helping small-scale fisheries improve safety at sea through an ocean intelligence platform that integrates satellite data, weather information and fisher knowledge to identify safer fishing areas and avoid environmental hazards.

● SeaGreen Solutions (NB): Producing seaweed-derived biochar and ocean-based bioproducts that permanently remove carbon while enhancing soil health, stormwater systems and low-carbon infrastructure.

● SentiShell (PEI): Enabling real-time risk detection for aquaculture lines with a self-powered tensile-tension sensor that provides alerts and predictive notifications for potential line failure from crop load and storm conditions.

● Zaab SeaMethanol (NL): Building modular, solar-powered systems that use photocatalysts to convert dissolved CO₂ in seawater into green methanol and hydrogen as a lower-carbon fuel alternative for shipping and industrial use.

The participants from Central and Western Canada are:

● Aquadrone (QC): Delivering precise and safe dredging in challenging environments through an ROV-operated sediment suction system that enables targeted sediment removal beyond the reach of traditional equipment.

● Aqua Sentry (BC): Developing a low-cost smart buoy system that acts as a check engine light for marine environments, using AI-driven analytics to enable accessible, real-time monitoring and anomaly detection.

● Argo (QC): Enabling real-time ship draft measurement through an automated solution.

● BioBoom (QC): Developing a deployable bioreactor boom that biologically degrades oil autonomously, enabling offshore cleanup in weather conditions that prevent traditional response operations.

● CB Imaging (BC): Developing an AI-assisted system to automate measurement of ships’ infrared signatures, enhancing detection, monitoring and maritime security.

● CoastWise (BC): Developing a smartphone-based change detection application for coastal and riverine erosion monitoring, enabling non-experts in remote communities to conduct repeat surveys using a smartphone and reducing reliance on costly survey teams and specialized equipment.

● Inbridge AI (BC / QC): Transforming complex maritime regulations and operational procedures into real-time decision support and automated workflows through an AI-native platform that enhances safety, efficiency and environmental responsibility in shipping.

● Retide Labs (BC / ON): Improving global ocean cleanup efforts through AI and satellite fusion that maps plastic pollution and delivers audit-proof verification of plastic credits for a more accountable blue economy.

● Sentry Labs (QC): Providing real-time detection of water pollutants and harmful algal blooms in aquaculture environments through deployable molecular sensing systems.

● Sulys (QC): Combining environmental DNA analysis and artificial intelligence to optimize aquaculture production and reduce mortality.

● Waefa (ON): Providing real-time trust verification for Arctic navigation, communications and power systems through an edge-deployed cyber-physical assurance platform that fuses multi-constellation signals with environmental context under extreme conditions and hybrid threats.

● WaveGen Technologies Inc. (ON): Delivering continuous renewable power to coastal and remote microgrids through ocean wave energy infrastructure that uses adaptive offshore systems to maximize energy yield.