The Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award is a non-dilutive funding competition for student teams developing solutions for ocean health and the blue economy, run by Ocean Exchange and open to collegiate innovators working on ideas like ROV design, ocean data, aquaculture and related fields. Teams that are selected compete for cash awards and the chance to present live at Ocean Exchange's annual event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Founding Blue helps Florida student teams prepare their applications, though it does not run, judge or guarantee the award.
What is the Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award?
Ocean Exchange describes the Collegiate Award as part of its annual Call for Solutions, alongside the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award for later-stage ventures. The Collegiate track is aimed specifically at student teams — undergraduate or graduate — building technology or concepts that address ocean health, resilient coastlines or the sustainable blue economy. Ocean Exchange's own site lists categories that have included alternative materials, CO2 reduction and sequestration, data and robotics, digitalization, energy, fisheries and marine habitat, vessel and port operations, and water treatment. Selected teams present their solutions to a live audience of delegates at the Ocean Exchange event in Fort Lauderdale, which Ocean Exchange holds each October.
Non-dilutive means the funding does not require giving up equity or ownership in a company or project — the team keeps full control of whatever they build. This matters for student teams especially, since it lets them test an idea without negotiating a valuation or a cap table before they have a company at all.
Who runs it, and what is Founding Blue's role?
Ocean Exchange runs, judges and funds the Collegiate Award and the Neptune Award. Founding Blue is not affiliated with running or judging either competition. What Founding Blue offers is preparation: helping Florida founders and student teams sharpen the application itself, the pitch, and the supporting narrative before it goes to Ocean Exchange. That distinction matters for teams deciding where to spend their limited prep time — Founding Blue is a resource for getting ready, not a gatekeeper for getting selected.
This kind of preparation support sits inside Founding Blue's broader startup mentorship and fundraising support, which includes pitch deck reviews and application feedback for founders across the blue economy, not only student applicants.
Why would a Florida student team apply?
For a student team with a working prototype or a well-defined research problem, a non-dilutive award offers a way to fund next steps — more testing, a better prototype, travel to present the work — without needing to incorporate, raise from investors, or give away equity before the idea is proven. It also creates a public moment: presenting live to Ocean Exchange delegates puts a student project in front of people who work across ocean technology, investment and industry, which can lead to introductions even when a team does not place as a finalist.
For teams still working out of a university lab, the harder problem often comes first: turning a research finding into something that can be described as a defined commercial problem, which is what an award application actually has to communicate. Founding Blue's university panels — held at institutions including Nova Southeastern University and the University of Florida — are built around exactly that gap, connecting ocean science students and researchers with founders who have already made that jump.
How does the Collegiate Award fit into a longer funding path?
Founding Blue frames early Florida blue economy funding as a sequence rather than a single decision, using what it calls the capital staircase. In that framework, a non-dilutive award like the Collegiate Award or the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award sits early — after a team has moved from raw research to a defined commercial problem and some proof of concept, but generally before accelerators, seed funding or a Series A round. Applying for an award before that groundwork is in place tends to produce a weaker application, since award reviewers are typically looking for evidence the idea works, not just that it is interesting.
Understanding where an award sits in that order can help a team decide what to build before they apply, rather than treating the application as the first step. Founding Blue's guidance on the capital staircase lays out that full sequence for founders trying to plan further ahead than a single award cycle.
What does Founding Blue actually help with?
For teams preparing an Ocean Exchange application, Founding Blue's support centers on the application and pitch itself rather than the underlying science: reviewing how the problem and solution are described, testing whether the business or research narrative is clear to someone outside the field, and running through the kind of questions a panel might ask. This is preparation support, separate from and not a substitute for whatever Ocean Exchange's own review process requires.
Frequently asked questions
Does Founding Blue judge or select Collegiate Award winners?
No. Ocean Exchange runs and judges the Collegiate Award and decides who is selected as a finalist or winner. Founding Blue helps teams prepare their applications and pitches but has no role in reviewing or selecting entries.
Is the Collegiate Award only for marine science majors?
Ocean Exchange's stated categories span a range of fields — alternative materials, data and robotics, energy, water treatment, fisheries and habitat, and vessel and port operations, among others — so teams from engineering, data science, materials science and business backgrounds can be as relevant as marine science students, depending on the problem their project addresses.
What is the difference between the Collegiate Award and the Neptune Award?
The Collegiate Award is aimed at student teams, while the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award is aimed at later-stage ventures further along in building a company. Both are non-dilutive and both are decided through Ocean Exchange's own Call for Solutions and review process.
Do we need a company to apply?
Ocean Exchange's Collegiate track is built for student teams, which is different from requiring an incorporated business. Teams should review Ocean Exchange's own eligibility details for the current cycle, since Founding Blue does not set or confirm eligibility rules.
How can a team get application help before submitting?
Teams can reach out through Founding Blue's contact page to ask about application support, High Tide events or partnerships, or explore its advisory offerings for pitch and application review ahead of an Ocean Exchange deadline.