“We saw a need for market support for the development of blue technologies in Europe. We realised that we need to do something that goes beyond our usual approach, something that we had never done before.”
Rene Hansen spent over 20 years working in industries from snowboarding to renewable energy, helping companies around the world grow and innovate. After his global ventures, he felt the need to anchor himself closer to his native Norway. The opportunity came when Konrad Bergström approached him with a vision – electric boats.
“I wanted to focus my efforts on a company that genuinely valued sustainability,” Hansen says. “When Konrad reached out to me, it felt like the perfect opportunity to align my work with my values and make a real impact.”
Based in Sweden, the company that Bergström founded wants to revolutionise the boating industry by looking for ways to make their boats greener. X Shore combines glass and carbon fibre to optimise weight, performance, and environmental impact. The result: its boats emit four times less CO2 than a traditional gasoline-powered boat, and they are also quieter. “Boating should be at one with nature,” says Hansen. “Our boats are lightweight and energy-efficient, making a significant impact on both environmental sustainability and production costs.”
X Shore's electric boats show that the boating industry can embrace sustainability. Receiving awards such as the European Powerboat of the Year, and Best of Boats Award, X Shore is gaining increased recognition in the industry. The company stands out today as the only leisure boat manufacturer in the world with the Cicero Green sustainability stamp.
That is why it is one of the companies selected for the 20 EU Blue Champions Programme, an initiative of the European Investment Bank and the European Commission that provides free advisory support to companies with best-in-class blue technologies and solutions that tackle the challenges of the blue economy. It aims to boost their competitiveness and prepare them for potential funding by investors or the European Investment Bank through the venture debt instrument.
Launched in May 2024, the Blue Champions selected companies from all over Europe, from underwater robotics, green shipping solutions, biorefineries to satellite data applications and wind energy. Inclusion in the programme recognises that these companies are pioneers, transforming the sector and driving it towards a greener future. The initiative aims to promote a sustainable blue economy and highlight the need for action to protect and restore the oceans for future generations.
Sailing ahead
X Shore is transforming the boating industry. So far, the company has introduced two electric boats, the X Shore Pro and X Shore 1, to offer green alternatives in a diesel-dependent sector. These models could replace over 200 gasoline engines, potentially reducing CO2 emissions by 6 500 tonnes and preventing 6 000 gallons of petroleum from entering European waters—equivalent to the impact of driving a car six times around the equator.
The next step for X Shore is to develop bigger boats to make coastal city transport cleaner. With this advisory support from the European Investment Bank, the company plans to deliver at least
2 000 new boats across Europe to serve port administration, water taxis and fishery marine transport sectors.
With advisory support from the European Investment Bank, the company plans to become an essential part of the electric boating industry, helping the industry move away from traditional engines.
Each of the 20 Blue Champions has received tailor-made advisory support from the InvestEU Advisory Hub, a programme that helps project promoters and intermediaries access expert advice and technical support to advance investment projects across the European Union.
“Each company has a specific technological trajectory for scale up. We discuss with sector and financial experts how to structure their project's growth path effectively,” says Calvia-Götz, who is a principal advisor in the Innovation and Competitiveness Department of the European Investment Bank. “We provide them with advisory support that helps them finalise an investor pitch and prepare them for fundraising from future investors, including the Bank.”
Feeding the ocean
As Hansen was figuring a better way to speed across the sea, Véronique Raoul found herself drawn to the tiny lifeforms below its surface.
Raoul always had a deep love for the ocean. “On one side, I come from a family deeply rooted in agriculture, and on the other, my father served in the Marines,” she says. Raoul initially aspired to become an oceanographer, but her career took her through media, innovation, and marketing. Over time, she felt a growing desire to become a part of something impactful. This led her to back to her first love — the ocean.
She moved to Nice, in southern France. There, she came across Inalve, a company that cultivates marine microalgae and transforms it into a sustainable ingredient for animal feed. This opportunity was exactly what she was looking for, and she soon became their chief executive officer.
Microalgae are tiny, photosynthetic organisms crucial for aquatic ecosystems and sustainable product development. What sets Inalve apart is the way it produces its microalgae. “We grow microalgae as a biofilm, which is cultivated on a rotating conveyor that from time to time goes into the water,” says Raoul. “This way we maximize access to light, and we gently harvest a biomass that is naturally concentrated. As a result, we use 80% less water than other systems and reduce our contribution to climate change by 60%.”
This technique yields a biomass rich in live microalgae and exopolysaccharides, known for boosting immunity. "During the nursery phase, where larvae transform into young fish or shrimp, producers need live microalgae, like in the ocean," says Raoul. "We're providing a solution that not only helps the larvae grow into adults more resistant to pathogens but also speeds their growth, simplifies and secures the logistics, increases survival rates."
This has great implications for aquaculture, a sector growing in importance due to the rising demand for fishmeal. It also helps to make the sector more sustainable – each kilo of algae produced absorbs two kilos of atmospheric CO2. The more productive aquaculture is, the less we need to spoil natural ocean resources. With the EU Blue Champions advisory support, the company plans to expand its facilities across Europe and increase its production.
- Read more about an Austrian company fighting carbon emissions by ploughing big money into green energy and high-tech research.
