Press release: Three companies selected to join accelerator to tackle maritime nearshore challenges

Awake.AI, LifeFinder and Seadronix have been selected to join Waypoint, a maritime acceleration programme by Safetytech Accelerator, the world’s first technology accelerator focused on safety, risk and resilience in industrial sectors.

Waypoint accelerates cutting edge technology companies in the maritime market. Waypoint 4: Nearshore is the fourth iteration, specifically set up to address safety and risk challenges in shipping during nearshore operations.

This acceleration programme was established to focus on tech which could solve nearshore challenges such as helping minimise human error, supporting safer navigation, reducing turnaround time and preventing accidents in nearshore settings.

More than 100 companies were considered for entry into Waypoint 4. Finalists were invited to pitch in front of a judging panel made up of senior executives from Safetytech Accelerator and Lloyd’s Register.

The judges made their selection based on three main criteria: commercial readiness, innovativeness of the solution and the potential impact they could make in maritime risk.

Awake.AI based in Finland, has an AI-driven Smart Port and Shipping Platform developed to bring together all maritime actors at sea, ports and land. They make port operations more efficient, safe and sustainable. For terminal operators they optimise port calls with AI insights, for port authorities they maximise the use of existing port capacity, for ship operators they enable just-in-time arrival and faster turnaround times and for cargo owners they bring full transparency to cargo flow in sea-port-land.

Karno Tenovuo, CEO at Awake.AI had this to say about their selection: “We are honoured to be selected to Waypoint to tackle maritime nearshore challenges. The program feels like a perfect match to the kind of go-to-market support we have been looking for.” 

LifeFinder based in Sweden has an intelligent alert system which enables life-saving solutions that integrate seamlessly into workers’ everyday safety routines. By proactively detecting and alerting to danger and life-threatening situations, further injuries and potential death can be avoided even in the most remote and hazardous locations.

Anders Schening, CEO at LifeFinder had this to say about their selection, “We are pleased to have been selected by Safetytech Accelerator for Waypoint 4. We are convinced that taking part in this programme will help us accelerate our market development towards success in the safetytech market for our life saving solutions making work life safer for professionals in hazardous environments.”  

Seadronix from South Korea innovates in the areas of marine navigation with state-of-the-art AI technology. They develop AI solutions for a safe and efficient maritime navigation environment especially in complex ports and narrow channels. Seadronix’s ship navigation assistance and port monitoring system provides real-time 360-views as well as situational information on surrounding environments eliminating blind spots of a ship.

Kyongsoo Noh, COO at Seadronix had this to say about their selection, “We are delighted to be selected for Waypoint 4. We look forward to developing our AI-powered smart navigation and monitoring offering further for the maritime market through our work with Safetytech Accelerator.” 

Next steps 

Over the next few months the Safetytech Accelerator team will work closely with the companies to develop opportunities for piloting their technologies to improve safety and risk issues in nearshore maritime operations.

The winners will benefit from support in refining their value proposition and go through a market access sprint while being mentored by industry experts. They will also receive funding to pilot their technology with clients.

Nadia Echchihab, Safetytech Accelerator Head of Innovation Programmes at Safetytech Accelerator commented, “In Waypoint 4  we chose to focus on nearshore challenges, an area where we know risk exposure and crew fatigue levels are increased. Awake.AI, Life Finder and Seadronix have exciting tech solutions not only to  mitigate risks but also  with significant commercial impact. We are thrilled to accompany these companies on their Waypoint journey: starting with boosting their value propositions alongside an ever-increasing pool of mentors, then helping them to pitch to customers to generate pilot opportunities and new  proof points   for the maritime industry”. 

Find out more about the Waypoint programme here.

Join a webinar with the three companies soon – check back for details soon!

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About Safetytech Accelerator  

Safetytech Accelerator is a non-profit established by Lloyd’s Register. It is the first fully dedicated technology accelerator focused on safety and risk in industrial sectors. Our mission is to make the world safer and more sustainable through wider adoption of safetytech.