The UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 is out, and SeaCras is proud to be recognised as one of only 11 featured case studies in the publication, released by the World Economic Forum on 17 March 2026.
SeaCras was selected based on its measurable and quantified nature-, social-, people- and economic-positive impact. Being among a global cohort of purpose-driven technology ventures is a meaningful milestone for our team — and a signal that the work we are doing in marine and maritime monitoring is resonating well beyond our home waters.
Read the full UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 to explore how early-stage innovation is reshaping industries and delivering real-world environmental and social outcomes.
The 2026 Report: A Year of Measurable Impact
The 2026 Annual Impact Report captures the collective progress of the UpLink Ventures network across the past year. And the numbers speak for themselves. As the report says, more than 139 UpLink ventures are now actively applying AI across their domains, illustrating how technology can drive data-driven, scalable and system-level change in critical areas including water, climate and nature, cities, health and emerging technologies.
Investment momentum has been equally impressive as UpLink ventures raised over $850 million in 2025. This is a 53% increase in capital compared to 2024, demonstrating that mission-aligned innovation is increasingly attracting serious funding at scale.
Between 2025 and 2026, the UpLink ventures network collectively delivered:
These are not projections or aspirational targets. They are verified outcomes delivered by a network of ventures operating on the front lines of some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.
The number of people (headcount) has nearly doubled over the past year — growing from eight to 15. And with this new capacity built across public relations, marketing and R&D, we’re more able to keep pace with accelerating demand. Furthermore, alongside that internal growth, we deepened our institutional footprint in Croatia, having created public-private partnerships with national bodies including the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), with a shared focus on elevating the quality and reach of national and regional monitoring systems.
In parallel, the company secured a blended €1.15 million investment round with the European Investment Band and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, further reinforcing its continued global expansion and impact.
What This Recognition Means for SeaCras
For our team, appearing as one of only 11 case studies in a report that documents the impact of hundreds of ventures worldwide is an extremely significant validation of our work. It reflects the momentum we’ve built over the past year. And not just in growth metrics, but in the depth and quality of the partnerships we have cultivated.
Moreover, our inclusion in the UpLink network has opened doors that would have been far harder to reach independently. The platform’s connections to global public and private sector leaders have been instrumental in positioning SeaCras where national-scale monitoring challenges intersect with the need for advanced, AI-powered solutions. The support of UpLink and its collaborators continues to be a genuine accelerant for our mission.
Of course, we look forward to what the next chapter brings, both for SeaCras and for the broader community of ventures working to ensure that the future of our oceans, coastlines and marine environments is one of health, resilience and transparency.
What Is UpLink — and Why Does It Matter?
UpLink is the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation engine, launched in 2020 with a clear mission. To help turn bold, purpose-driven solutions into real-world impact. Through its founding collaborators Deloitte and Salesforce, and a sprawling network of public and private sector leaders, UpLink engineers the infrastructure that ambitious entrepreneurs rarely have on their own. These are often capital, strategic partnerships and market entry pathways that allow transformative solutions to take root and scale across industries and economies.
Basically, UpLink is there to bridge a persistent gap in the innovation lifecycle — the disconnect between capital availability and market readiness that too often slows promising technologies from moving from pilot to scale. By accelerating that transition, the platform accelerates progress towards a resilient, sustainable and prosperous future where purpose and profit go hand in hand.
In conclusion, being featured in the UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 reinforces what matters most. Solutions grounded in real-world impact are the ones shaping the future of sustainable innovation.
A landmark horizon-scanning report maps the most promising emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in ocean monitoring, and charts where the scientific community should focus its energy in the years ahead. The EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has released its latest Observing the Future report, offering a comprehensive scan of the technological horizon for ocean observation.
Subtitled Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of ocean observation, the publication serves as both a roadmap and a rallying call for the research and industrial innovation community — outlining exactly where meaningful progress is within reach over the next several years.
The timing is no coincidence. The UN Ocean Decade, the international framework running from 2021 to 2030 to mobilise science for a sustainable ocean, is now entering its second half. Commitments must translate into tangible results, and fast.
Eight Areas Where Innovation Can Make a Real Difference
The JRC report identifies eight priority technology areas that hold the greatest potential for transforming how scientists and policymakers observe, understand, and protect the world’s oceans:
autonomous eDNA and eRNA samplers;
lab-on-chip systems;
cost-effective and modular sensors;
data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements;
The research examines a mucilage event in the Adriatic Sea, a phenomenon in which large aggregates of organic matter accumulate in the water column, disrupting marine ecosystems, using high-frequency observational methods to capture the phytoplankton community’s response with unprecedented resolution. The findings shed new light on how these communities adapt to acute environmental stress events.
Of critical importance is that the study draws directly on three of the EU Joint Research Centre’s highlighted priority areas:
data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements,
deep learning-enabled imaging,
and flow cytometry and particle-based high-frequency observations of plankton
These cutting/edge technologies and the integrating approach demonstrated the path from technological promise to scientific application is already well underway.
EU’s Joint Research Centre Report Contributors and Acknowledgements
The report authors acknowledge the valuable contribution of Michela Bergamini, Marcelina Grabowska and Olivier Eulaerts (EC – DG JRC, Text and Data Mining Unit), together with Emily Djock and Fabian Reck (Itonics), for their support in gathering the signals used in the report.
They also express their appreciation to the workshop participants, whose time, expertise and input helped shape the work, including Mario Špadina, CEO and co-founder of SeaCras:
Abed El Rahman Hassoun (GEOMAR), Alexander Phillips (NOC), Alfredo Martins (INESCTEC), Andrew King (NIVA), Catarina Lemos (CEiiA), Catherine Dreanno (IFREMER), Cyril Germineaud (ODATIS & CNES), Christina Pavloudi (EMBRC-ERIC), Encarni Medina-Lopez (University of Edinburgh), Eva Chatzinikolaou (HCMR), Fiona Regan (Dublin City University), Gabriele Pieri (ISTI-CNR), Gonçalo Faria (Forum Oceano), Inga Lips (L4M Consulting), Jean-Francois Berthon (EC – DG JRC), Johannes Singer (FUGRO), Klaas Deneudt (VLIZ), Laurent Mortier (ENSTA IP Paris), Louis Demargne (FUGRO), Lumi Haraguchi (SYKE Finland), Mario Špadina (SeaCras), Martha Valiadi (IMBB-FORTH), Michela Martinelli (IRBIM-CNR), Nicolas Pade (EMBRC ERIC), Patrick Gorringe (SMHI), Patrizio Mariani (TU Denmark), Paul Trautendorfer (JPI Oceans), Philippe Blondel (University of Bath), Rodrigo Ataide Dias (EC – DG MARE), Sari Giering (NOC), Sheila Heymans (European Marine Board), Sophie Clayton (NOC) and Victoire Rérolle (Fluidion).
DOI: 10.2760/3939356 (online)
Citation: FARINHA, J., NAGY, O., BAILEY, G. and POLVORA, A., Observing the Future – Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of ocean observation, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2026, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/3939356, JRC144401.
What Are the Goals and Purpose of the Joint Research Centre?
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. Through independent, evidence-based scientific advice grounded in its research, the JRC provides scientific and technical support for the development of EU policies.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Water and the newly established, regional Adriatic-Ionian Co-Location Centre (CLC South) have officially kicked off!
Bringing together policymakers, innovators, researchers, and industry leaders, the event turned regional challenges into shared priorities — spotlighting practical solutions and cross-border collaboration to protect the Adriatic and accelerate water innovation across Europe.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has selected the consortium Allwaters, consisting of 50 partners from 24 countries, that will lead EIT Water — a new Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) dedicated to responding to Europe’s key water, marine, and maritime challenges. Blue economy in full scope!
The main focus areas are, according to the EIT:
water scarcity, drought and floods
marine and freshwater ecosystem degradation
the development of a circular and sustainable blue economy
SeaCras is extremely proud to be an official associated partner of EIT Water and member of the Adriatic-Ionian Co-Location (CLC South). Being part of the winning consortium matters. But this is bigger than us — it’s also a call for others to join, build, and scale impact together.
Mario Špadina, SeaCras’ CEO, giving a statement to the press during the EIT Water and CLC South Event
For Croatia, and especially the Adriatic regions, establishing the CLC South on our coast creates a real platform to turn European vision into regional value:
attracting high-value jobs in engineering, data science, environmental services, and technology transfer, rooted in our universities and research institutes
The Croatian national broadcaster, HRT, featured SeaCras in a TV news segment on the show More (Croatian for ‘sea’), which regularly brings current topics related to the life, nature, and economy of the Croatian coast every Sunday. In the segment aired on January 11, 2026, our CEO, Dr. Mario Špadina, spoke about how SeaCras uses satellites and artificial intelligence to monitor the state of the sea and detect pollution, and further explained everything the company does. The interview also provided better insight into how technology can specifically help in protecting the Adriatic.
And that vision is to use technology to make the sea safer, cleaner, and better protected, today and for generations to come.
In the More show, Mario also touched upon our SeaCras App, which uses satellite data and AI to display sea quality in real-time and helps detect changes harmful to the marine environment. The national CAPRI initiative is especially highlighted, which we are implementing with the Croatian Institute of Public Health, educational and county institutes, and other institutions in the Republic of Croatia.
SeaCras App in Zadar Cruise Port
SeaCras App is already being used in various sectors, from maritime traffic to coastal tourism, such as in Zadar Cruise Port and in natural gems like Zavratnica Bay. The latter is a project created in cooperation with Velebit Nature Park and the Rewilding Velebit association. In the bays of Zavratnica and nearby Jablanac, visitors can instantly get information about the sea condition by scanning a QR code.
Coverage Of The Adriatic And Water Resources From Multiple Environmental Impact Aspects
With this TV segment on the show, which is more than important for our Adriatic, Mario presented how the entire Adriatic Sea, along with all coastal areas in Croatia, is constantly monitored and analyzed under the vigilant eye of SeaCras. Transparently for sustainability and inclusivity.
What didn’t ‘fit’ into the TV segment, and what we are also actively working on throughout the Adriatic is:
implementation of the SeaCras App for tourism with the J. J. Strossmayer Institute for Water (initiative leader), where we provided data for the entire Adriatic, together with DHMZ (Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service), the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, and the Croatian Institute of Public Health. This unique story involved the jurisdiction of multiple ministries and 13 providers of environmental data, with data ownership held by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition of the Republic of Croatia.
biochemistry of water systems, which includes rivers, lakes, water reservoirs, and anthropogenic water bodies such as fish farms, accumulation lakes, etc.
public health sector – within the national project CAPRI – Coastal Anthropogenic Pollution Risk Identification, for which SeaCras is responsible, the public health monitoring system on Croatian beaches is being improved. The project brings benefits to various sectors, especially coastal tourism, while also preventatively acting to reduce the risk of illness for bathers, especially children.
Protecting The Adriatic First, Through The Prism Of International Recognition
Croatia is rightly counted among the countries with the cleanest sea in Europe. However, the Adriatic Sea is not immune to the numerous challenges of today.
That is why, at SeaCras, we developed and trained the system on historical data and connected it to satellite sources so that it can recognize what is happening in the environment – primarily in the marine ecosystem – in real-time, explained Špadina.
To be able to deliver on our mission, our company gathers a team of experts with various profiles, from biologists, chemists, and physicists to IT engineers.
And our work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum, which included our technology among the top five in the world in the field of blue economy, while the EU Commission, through the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS) and the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), included us in the most promising companies in the space sector and marine surveillance technologies, and we also make part of the prestigious Cassini Business Accelerator.
A good part of SeaCras’s activities is dedicated to helping communities that lack the resources for advanced management supported by adequate supervision and monitoring, so we actively maintain our Planet First page where we report on the state of the sea, but in a way that provides real data, not opinion – transparently and for the public good.
Being part of this legendary show, which has been airing stories about our most valuable resource, the sea, for more than 40 years, is a huge honor and an additional boost for SeaCras. And for that, we thank the HRT team for recognizing our work.
We will continue to protect all water resources, and especially our sea. Because protecting the Adriatic means protecting our future.
The 3-Space 2025 event, hosted in London by Rothschild & Co in collaboration with UpLink – World Economic Forum, brought together leading innovators, investors, and impact-driven businesses from around the world.
Now in its third edition, the event is becoming one of Europe’s most relevant gathering points for organisations focused on nature-positive solutions and new funding models for sustainability.
With a strong emphasis on practical innovation, cross-sector partnerships, and the future of impact financing, London 3-Space 2025 highlighted how data, technology, and capital can work together to support healthier ecosystems and stronger communities.
How SeaCras Created Positive Impact at the National and Regional Levels in 2025
Our CEO, Mario Špadina, was invited to present how SeaCras is transforming marine area management by replacing subjective, often biased decision-making with satellite-driven and data-driven intelligence.
His presentation showed that impact-oriented companies can successfully protect the environment while still generating sustainable revenue and long-term economic value for different players in the value chain:
Regional management of marine protected areas: SeaCras’ Coastal Intelligence system implementation revealed how leisure nautic tourism by yachts and charter boats affects marine protected areas with seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows. These meadows are under great threat caused by uncontrolled anchoring. Coastal Intelligence detected hundreds of thousands of illegal anchoring cases in protected marine areas in Croatia’s Adriatic sea coastline. Based on the results, clear data-driven measures were proposed for new infrastructure upgrades of coastal zones as well as establishing new concessions, monitoring and surveillance, thus boosting economy, while bringing order to sustainably and regeneratively manage marine protected areas.
Deployment of SeaCras App in the cruise port in Zadar and in the breathtaking Zavratnica beach, and providing it transparently to these destinations’ guests, as well as to the local citizens, increased customer satisfaction and helped to derisk pollution detection for the port operator and the port authority, and brought nothing but positive opinions among the local community.
Upgrade of the national-level monitoring of public health at beaches in Croatia as a part of the national Coastal Anthropogenic Pollution Risk Identification project that SeaCras is in charge of. The project not only has a horizontal benefit to different industries, especially coastal tourism, but preventively aims to lower the illnesses in swimmers, especially children.
These real-world cases and current projects demonstrate SeaCras’ impact across environmental management, economic growth, and public health. The results of these projects are reproducible to help communities around the world.
And this is a shift in paradigm that needs to be understood. Impact investments generate income for the entire communities, rather than benefiting individual businesses only.
Key-Takeaway Home Messages From London 3-Space 2025
In addition to showcasing impressive solutions from fellow UpLink Innovators, the central discussion at London 3-Space 2025 focused on finding new and more effective ways of funding impact initiatives. This year’s conversations underscored several key messages:
Capital is available, and dedicated people across sectors are working to redirect that capital toward solutions that benefit both people and nature.
A crucial goal is to accelerate the movement of capital away from areas where it creates little or delayed value, especially where resources stagnate without real impact. Europe has the capacity, resilience, and openness to take a leading role in shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.
As for SeaCras, we continue our work. How exactly? By exploring new markets, building innovative tools, and navigating toward what we believe are exciting and meaningful opportunities.
Looking forward to the next edition of 3-Space 2026!
SeaCras has been showcased at Dani regionalnog razvoja i EU fondova (Regional Development & EU Funds Days) organised annually by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia and HAMAG-BICRO, the Croatian agency for SMEs, innovations and investments.
SeaCras has received a series of supports through various support schemes and programmes of Croatian ministries and the EU Commission.
In particular, from the aforementioned Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia and HAMAG-BICRO, three key R&D and technology deployment projects were funded:
Why was SeaCras showcased among only a few companies?
Because all the projects resulted in successful commercialised products that are now used at three different continents, while the entire Croatian Adriatic part of the sea is covered by our monitoring products. No national or EU funds were spent ineffectively. A 100% success rate led to this big recognition on a national level as one of the Croatian companies supported by the ministry
The event in Šibenik spanned three days, and SeaCras was invited to take part with our own dedicated booth. Held from December 2nd to 4th, it brought together an engaged audience and offered a great opportunity to demonstrate our work.
The event was a unique opportunity for us to showcase our success throughout 2025 directly to the Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, ministers Nataša Mikuš Žigman and Marija Vučković, state secretaries, and representatives of governmental bodies and agencies. What we did was demonstrate the direct positive Seacras impact that our technology has on Croatian ground, in our regioon, and beyond.
SeaCras displayed how the entire Adriatic sea, including complete coastal zones in Croatia are being continuously monitored for:
MARPOL pollutions
public health
marine biochemistry for oceanography,
illegal maritime operations including anchoring at Posidonia meadows,
monitoring infrastructure operations influence on marine monitoring,
illegal devastation of coastline
Our company serves as an example that financial instruments supporting innovation are not costs. They are investments that generate value, not only long-term ones but those short-term as well.
