Winner of Blue Maritime Innovation Award 2026: Squarehead Technology

Squarehead Technology, with their Acoustic Asset Management at Sea system, grabbed the Blue Innovation Award 2026 in tough competition with the other finalists: Metizoft with their Powersave solution, and Maritime Partner's Alusafe 2200 DRV Design.

The prize was handed out by last year's winner, DIPAI, represented by co-founder and CFO Øystein Nordli. Squarehead Technology shows that the member base of the cluster is represented throughout Norway, underlining the cluster's strong capabilities for technology transfer.

The jury's explnation:

This year's winner is a great example of how several companies and technologies must work together to keep driving innovation forward in the cluster. The company shows how cross-disciplinary collaboration across segments and industries can lift new solutions into forward-looking projects that strengthen the cluster's international position.

The solution is a great example of how technology developed for one industry can give the entire maritime cluster a head start in a completely different one.

The winner has developed a solution that "hears" things the human ear cannot pick up, and alerts the crew and shore organization long before a deviation develops into a serious problem. That makes it not only an innovation that can enable predictive maintenance, but also a tool that can pave the way for the remotely operated and autonomous ships of the future, where fewer people on board place even stricter demands on systems being able to detect on their own what previously required a trained ear.

The solution has been tested in operation on ferries along the Norwegian coast, and will be put into use on the four new autonomous ferries on the Sognefjord over the course of the autumn.

It is therefore a great pleasure to be able to announce that the winner of the Blue Maritime Innovation Award 2026 is... Squarehead Technology!

We congratulate Squarehead Technology!