Denmark has lost approximately 90% of its historical eelgrass beds, leading to a significant loss of biodiversity and the degradation of vital coastal ecosystems. While restoration efforts exist, the current reliance on manual planting by divers is prohibitively expensive and cannot achieve the scale required for national impact.
We invite you to join DTU, AAU, SDU, KU, Rohde Nielsen and the Aage V. Jensen Naturfond for a project conference dedicated to the upscaling of marine recovery. Our goal is to move beyond "boutique" restoration by supporting the development of large-scale automated planting solutions that can significantly reduce cost and accelerate planting speed. This event focuses on recent advancements in technology development, as well as adjacent relevant topics such as business models and regulatory requirements.
We are looking forward to sharing and discussing best practices and experiences on accelerating prototyping activities and sharing best practices – regarding technologies, business models and regulatory challenges.
Topics we are looking forward to address during the day are:
Date and Location:
May 7th 2026, 10:00 – 15:00
Rohde Nielsen Headquarters, Amager Strandvej 403, 2770 Kastrup
M2 Kastrup St. (2 minute walk)
Preliminary Program:
| 10.00 | Arrival and registration |
| 10:15 | Welcome & Industry Perspective on Eelgrass Restoration (Esther Sim, Rohde Nielsen) |
| 10:30 | The LASER Project: Technology, Regulation and Business Model alignment for Large-Scale Eelgrass Restoration (Josef Oehmen, DTU) |
| 10:50 | BlueHorizon Partnership: From Marine Research to Scalable Climate Solution (Peter Skou & Ole Teglgaard, BlueHorizon) |
| 11:15 | INDUGRÆS Project - Developing a Combined Germination and Planting Solution for Large-Scale Eelgrass Restoration (Andreas Lolle, Lolle & Nielsen Inventions) |
| 11:40 | Workshop & Panel Discussion 1: Technology, Regulation, Business – Challenges and Opportunities |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | Technology Benchmarking for Large-Scale Eelgrass Restoration (Jannic Schurmann Larsen & Simon Pedersen, Aalborg University) |
| 13:25 | From Eelgrass Nurseries to Eelgrass Planting – An Integrated Perspective on Technology Challenges and Opportunities for Large-Scale Restoration (Stijn den Haan & Hendrik Staarink, The Fieldwork Company) |
| 13:50 | Successes and Challenges with Automatic Seeding of Eelgrass (Joe Ralphs, RobOcean) |
| 14:15 | Workshop & Panel Discussion 2: Cooperation Opportunities for Scaling Seagrass Restoration |
| 14:40 | The WhEelgrass System – A Technical Concept for Large-Scale Eelgrass Restoration (Andrea Di Lorenzo, Yaqub Aris Prabowo, Matteo Fumagalli, Roberto Galeazzi, DTU) |
| 15:00 | Thank you & Goodbye |