We are developing a concept together with good partners to restore eelgrass on Danish coasts. But we are not the only ones, and other development teams breathing down our necks.
The name ”eelgrass” may not have much pizzazz. But the plant, which grows on the sandy seabed along the coast, has a huge impact on both the wildlife in the area, coastal erosion defence and ultimately CO2 emissions.
Therefore, there is also a great societal interest in finding solutions for planting eelgrass by machine. Several organisations are already interested in providing the service of planting eelgrass for the state and municipalities, but they lack the right solution to do it effectively in practice.
We set out to find a solution in collaboration with good partners and have, among other things, secured Development funds for the project. Fortunately, we saw the potential early on and have been at the forefront. But other companies and projects have also been successful in raising funding for competing ideas, so several development programmes are now underway in parallel with ours.
Some believe in planting seeds, others in planting cuttings, and the technologies range from very low-tech to decidedly high-tech.
In other words, there's a development race going on. And how do you win it?
Focus on your own concept
If you pay too much attention to what's new in the industry, you can easily get carried away and become unsure of your own progress. Are we behind or ahead of the curve, and are we even betting on the right concept?
Fortunately, we have been through a number of similar development races already. So we know from experience that the most important thing we can do is to believe in our concept and vision - and keep our nose to the grindstone. We can't spend time worrying. Instead, we must lean into and believe in the process that we always run.
Of course, we need to continually assess whether we're moving fast enough and standing strong enough against the competition. But most of all, it's about being humble to the task: the competition will always be fierce, and if we become complacent or overconfident, we will be overtaken. We need to keep the momentum all the way to the finish line.
Focus and momentum alone don't guarantee that we'll come out winners of the race. There are a lot of coincidences, choices and partnerships that need to fall into place in the right way along the way.
When it comes to innovation venturing into uncertain territory, no one knows the answer in advance. Other concepts may simply prove to be stronger in the end. But if we don't believe in our own vision along the way, we'll never get to the right end product anyway.