Wageningen breakwater wins audience prize 4TU Impact Challenge

‘I am truly baffled by the spin-off from the 4TU Impact Challenge. This was already the case on the road to the finals, but, now that we have won the audience prize, we are flooded with publicity’, says an enthusiastic Mitchell Williams (26). With his fellow student Frej Gustafson (23) he makes up the ReShore team, that competed against seven other teams from the Dutch technical universities last Thursday.

Team ZED of the TU Delft won the jury prize. This team will join the Dutch trade mission to the Dubai World Expo (postponed until October 2021 due to corona). ZED develops chordless and battery-less devices for businesses. Something completely different from the living breakwater ReShore designed, but in keeping with the central theme of sustainability, says Mitchell. ‘I think this is also the reason our idea appeals to the public.’ The ‘living’ breakwater protects not only the coast, but also the marine ecosystem beneath it, and it provides a habitat for oysters, mussels and seaweed. Mitchell: ‘Our idea is tangible, easy to envision, especially as we have provided images.’

These artist impressions show how the floating breakwaters, that bear a striking resemblance to space satellites of 15 metres each, are linked together off the coast. Underwater, some cages facilitate the growth of crustaceans and seaweed: they form the basis of a flourishing ecosystem and can also serve as food.

The first living breakwater will be deployed in the Oosterschelde for a pilot next year, say the two, who have just graduated in the field of Aquaculture & Marine Resource Management. They are currently entirely focussed on their innovation. The 4TU audience prize makes them even more convinced that ReShore will be deployed globally within two to five years. Mitchell: ‘The fact that our idea is taking off like this is super cool. Apparently, we struck the right chord.’