What started as a simple sketch led Austrian inventors and business men Klaus Feichtinger and Manfred Hackl to reshape plastic recycling. Their patented Counter Current technology means that a wider variety of plastic waste can now be turned into pellets, ready for industrial reuse and indistinguishable from new plastics.

Spanish inventors Antonio Corredor Molguero and Carlos Fermin Menéndez didn’t break the mould – they totally reinvented it. Their unique method of producing specially shaped concrete blocks to protect harbours can reduce breakwater construction costs by between 15% and 45% - and offers coastal areas better protection.

Nature was the inspiration for Dutch inventor Rik Breur’s anti-fouling wrap. Like a sea urchin’s prickly surface, this environmentally friendly alternative to toxic paint prevents the growth of algae, barnacles and mussels on boat hulls, and improves fuel efficiency by up to 40%.

Sea lice severely impact salmon farm populations across the globe. To put an end to this parasitic problem, self-taught inventor, Esben Beck, has developed an underwater robot capable of repelling the threat using image recognition, artificial intelligence and lasers. Over 250 of his patented units are keeping watch over Norwegian fisheries, autonomously locating parasites, zapping them and safeguarding fish without using chemicals.

For US entrepreneurs Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, the plastic crisis presented a challenge to create a sustainable, high-performance and economically viable packaging alternative. Having seen how mushroom mycelia binds organic waste in nature, they invented a new class of degradable biomaterial that can be moulded into almost any shape.