AQUA 2024 plenary speakers confirmed
The speakers for the two plenary sessions at AQUA 2024, jointly hosted by the European Aquaculture Society and the World Aquaculture Society in Copenhagen this August, have been confirmed.
They are Dag Sletmo (pictured, left), Senior Vice President Seafood Division, DNB Bank, and Signe Riemer-Sørensen (right) Research Manager Analytics and AI, with the Norwegian research organisation SINTEF.
Speaking at the first plenary session on Tuesday 27 August, Dag Sletmo will address the issue of “Analysing the future”.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation says we need to increase sustainable aquaculture production by at least 75% by 2040 if we are going to limit global warming to 1.5C. Dag Sletmo will share his top-down financial perspective on what it will take to grow aquaculture production significantly. The demand drivers are in place, the challenge is increasing supply and at the same time reduce the environmental footprint. That will require new technology, better farming practises, and better regulations. As an industry depending very much on government regulations, it also needs a strong social license in order to achieve these goals. And where will the money to finance this come from? DNB Bank’s aquaculture activity is very focused on salmon, but Sletmo will also address aquaculture more generally.
DNB is the leading bank in Norway and the largest bank globally in salmon farming with clients in Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Scotland, Canada, Chile and Australia.
Prior to joining DNB, Dag Sletmo worked in Cermaq, the global salmon farmer, and ABG Sundal Collier, a Nordic investment bank. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and has studied economics and philosophy at NHH and UiB in Bergen.
Where can AI take us?
Signe Riemer-Sørensen will be speaking on Friday 30 August, the last day of the conference, just ahead of the AQUA 2024 Poster Awards.
She will be talking about “AI with knowledge”. Large language models have democratised artificial intelligence (AI). Copilots and chatbots are changing most office jobs, but despite their impact, they will not revolutionise aquaculture, Riemer-Sørensen argues. For that we need completely different types of AI.
Through examples from aquaculture and beyond, she will explain the challenges, provide intuitive insights into AI, and introduce the latest developments on industrial AI and their potential in aquaculture.
Signe Riemer-Sørensen is Senior Researcher and Research Manager for Analytics and AI in SINTEF. Her research evolves around overcoming challenges for implementing machine learning and artificial intelligence in a broad range of industrial settings where physics plays a role and data is often sparse and noisy. The solutions integrate domain knowledge into the AI, in so-called “hybrid AI”, fostering robust, explainable and trustworthy models.
All set for Copenhagen
AQUA 2024, co-organised by the European Aquaculture Society and the World Aquaculture Society, will take place from August 26-30 in Copenhagen.
The event will be hosted at Copenhagen’s Bella Centre, and will comprise a scientific conference, trade exhibition, industry forums, workshops, student events and receptions. AQUA 2024 will highlight the latest aquaculture research and innovation to underpin continued growth of this exciting food production sector.
The theme of AQUA 2024 is BLUE FOOD, GREEN SOLUTIONS.
Bella Arena – or Congress Hall D and International House in Bella Center. Copenhagen, Denmark
