AquaVision 2026: Greater resilience,  increased data sharing and collaboration needed amid global uncertainty

As a feed producer, Skretting has a special position connecting the value chain. Its parent company Nutreco is a world leader in animal nutrition, and together, both sit at the heart of the global food system with a shared purpose: Feeding the Future. What makes AquaVision unique is the way it convenes aquaculture’s top leaders from all corners of the globe, representing a diversity of producing regions and aqua species, and exploring high-level themes that affect the industry as a whole.

Against a backdrop of rising demand for seafood, geopolitical instability, feed raw material pressure, climate change and increasing use of artificial intelligence, the central question is: How can the aquaculture industry be future-proofed, and its sustainable growth ensured?

Addressing this question, the two-day conference offered a strong line-up of speakers from across the value chain, and was hosted by Sophie Ryan, CEO of Global Salmon Initiative. The first day kicked off with an appearance from Tormod Losnedal, the Mayor of Stavanger, before Bastiaan van Tilburg, CEO of Nutreco, took to the stage for the official opening.

Sharing his views on Nutreco and Skretting’s roles in contributing to food security, he said “For our food system to grow, we need a free flow of knowledge, free flow of innovation, free flow of collaboration… What we don't need is bigger walls. We need more long-term thinking and more collaboration. And I think the solution is partly in this room.”

Navigating the global political landscape

The first day focused on exploring geopolitics and its implications for aquaculture, with many great insights from the speakers.

• Addressing the leaders in the room, Rem Korteweg from Clingendael Institute said “You businesses, executives, CEOs are, in fact, on the front line. And how we interact with each other and how you shape the debate, is equally important as what is being said in the corridors of power, in the larger capitals of this world.”
• Dr. Keyu Jin, author of “The New China Playbook”, presented on how China is entering a new economic era, explored the unique paradoxes of its development, and shared her views on the country’s expected development in the coming years. “We cannot think of the old model of a Chinese company going abroad. They will now be splicing their body parts in very different ways: R&D in Europe, supply chain in China, treasuries in Dubai and Hong Kong. It’s a global reinvention, and China has been thinking ahead of the curve.”
• Besides sharing his views on how changing tariff rules are here to stay, Chile’s Former Minister of Finance Ignacio Briones also explored Latin America’s unique leverage to grow in the current global landscape. “We are not just witnessing a turning point in the economic rules of the game. This turning point will be permanent. But in this more fragmented world there is a window of opportunity for Latin America.”
• Columbia Law School professor and author of “The Brussels Effect”, Anu Bradford explored how Europe can navigate today’s geopolitical and trade challenges by becoming more autonomous, both in military capacity and technological development. Achieving this will require higher investment in security and a shift in mindset towards greater risk-taking, global talent attraction and increased investment in innovation. “We need to wake up to the idea that Europe needs to take care of its own security, that there is an existential need to rebuild competitiveness. It is a galvanizing moment for Europe. And in that uncertainty and challenge lies a tremendous opportunity.”
• In an engaging debate where Keyu Jin, Ignacio Briones and Anu Bradford represented the perspectives from China, Latin America and Europe, the panelists agreed on the overarching need for agility, diversification and collaboration, with moderator Sophie Ryan pointing out that each remains committed to their region’s unique approach.
• Hiroaki Ishimoto from Mitsui & Co. contributed the investor perspective, discussing the ‘premiumisation of food needs’ and the two business models which they adopted in thinking about entry into the aquaculture industry: Salmon and shrimp which are farmed with restriction and sold globally, or the ‘poultry model’ which applies to more affordable species that can be produced and sold locally.
• Keynote speaker and former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Rem Korteweg about how global diplomacy has become a lot more challenging. “Thirty or forty years ago, if you were Henry Kissinger or James Baker, if something happened, you got four or five foreign ministers or the president on the phone and worked something out. Now there are so many empowered stakeholders on any issue. And if you can't bring them together on takeoff, you're going to have a crash landing.”  Asked about the things that worry him, Blinken also said that business decisions and investments have become harder to make in this era of uncertainty. “It calls for building resilience. Redundancy. Different options. Hedging. And that can of course be a lot more expensive. But at the end of the day, those investments are likely to be a lot less than the failure that could come from being on the wrong side of one of these big changes.”  
• May-Helen Holme from Skretting argued that as volatility becomes the new normal in aquaculture, the industry must shift from optimising for efficiency to building resilience through more secure and diverse feed raw materials, precise nutrition, innovation and stronger long-term collaboration.
• Sandro Coglitore from Omarsa gave a presentation in which he argued that Ecuador’s shrimp industry has become highly efficient and globally competitive through genetics, feed and technology, but its future growth is increasingly threatened by protectionism, weaponised sanitary rules and poorly negotiated trade agreements rather than production capability itself.
• After exploring the ups and downs of the global salmon industry in the last few decades, Cermaq’s Steven Rafferty urged the room to collaborate in order to get sustainable growth in the salmon industry back on track.
• Taking the audience on a journey through the history of classical music, Felipe Gómez demonstrated that discipline, a spirit of service, and passion also deserve space on stage. “We are all called to be virtuosos.”

Pioneering innovations shaping the future of the industry

On day two, the conversation shifted towards technology and artificial intelligence, with speakers exploring how digital tools have been used to support business growth:

• Anders Milde Gjendemsjø from McKinsey discussed how aquaculture is uniquely suited to unlock value from AI to drive growth, while highlighting that data only becomes valuable when it is shared as part of a collaborative value chain. “You already have the data. Go ahead and choose one or two major problems you want to solve. Make it real, connect the data, and build the conviction that you will create value,” he encouraged.
• Nature cannot be controlled, but there are ways to manage it, said Ole Kristian Sivertsen from AKVA Group. “Aquaculture may be one of the most unpredictable industries,” he said. “Reducing variability is critical to drive growth in our industry.”
• AI is being used to build predictive shrimp farms in Southeast Asia. “Prediction is only as valuable as the ability to make decisions and take action against them,” said Brian Nguyen from Rynan Technologies. “It's not about having more data on a screen or dashboard. It's about being able to make the right decisions at the right time – so that you can grow your shrimp and fish in the best way possible.”
• Sharing her insights from Africa, farmer and grassroots leader Suzanne Njeri was clear about the challenges and also the opportunities for the region. “By 2050, one in four people will live in Africa. We must feed a growing continent, create dignified livelihoods, and build resilient food systems. No single actor can build the future alone.”
• Presenting on raw materials, Matts Johansen and Kenneth Fredriksen from Aker QRILL gave a strong message: “Huge shortages and dramatic price increases are not a temporary issue or challenge for the industry. It's a new baseline and we need to start preparing for this.”
• The audience was transported to a trout farm in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, as Longyang Fresh’s Andi Xu showed how social media, digital tools and AI are reshaping consumers’ purchasing decisions, and how companies can capitalise on these digital interactions to make their value more visible and accessible.
• OptoScale's Sven Kolstø encouraged the audience to shift from reactive to AI-enabled predictive fish farming. Highlighting how AI can optimise operations, he said: “We need to build this industry for the generations to come. Anything less than striving for the optimum fails that ambition.”
• In his closing speech, Skretting’s Maarten Bijl used an AI-generated avatar to summarise the ideas from the past two days. An advocate for digital transformation, he shared how one thing that has struck him during farm visits is the general unwillingness to share data. “Progress depends on better and more consistent data being shared securely across the value chain. Let’s move away from thinking that we can optimise in isolation, and connect in order to accelerate sustainable growth.”  

There were several recurring messages across this year’s presentations. Shocks and disruptions have become part of the operating environment, and there is no returning to ‘normal’. Global openness has given way to a landscape where lines are being drawn and redrawn, and where relationships define access. Aquaculture has become increasingly shaped by policy; food security has become a matter of national security. More than ever, collaboration across the value chain will be essential to achieving shared goals. And no matter the industry – the businesses that have built the most resilience and made the smartest alliances will be best placed to succeed.

Maarten Bijl’s final words to the audience were an invitation to pause and reflect on their learnings over the two-day conference. “Because then we will be able to make better decisions together.”

By offering global political and economic perspectives combined with practical industry insights, AquaVision 2026 has once again reaffirmed its role as a forum that promotes strategic dialogue and decision-making across the aquaculture value chain.

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