PORTLAND, Maine — Did you know there’s $1,600 of value stored in the guts of a cod?
It’s not readily apparent, but one Icelandic company that got its start in a special business incubator is extracting digestive enzymes from the fish for use in cosmetic products. The amount produced from one fish sells for about $1,600.
Why that all mattered to an audience of Maine entrepreneurs, politicians and lawyers is because a Portland entrepreneur is launching a similar business incubator on the city’s waterfront.
“What if we had a product worth $1,600 from one lobster?” said Patrick Arnold, president and CEO of Soli DG Inc., which manages traffic at Portland’s International Marine Terminal. “That changes things.”
That’s still a distant hope, but Arnold has already shipped loads of crushed lobster shells to the Iceland cluster to jump start research into new uses. And he’s hopeful the initiative will generate other innovations, starting with the low-cost waste products from fisheries already landing their catch here and extending to industries such as logistics and shipping that support those industries.
Arnold said the New England Ocean Cluster is seeking a 30,000-square-foot space, with some adjacent room to grow, to start the New England Ocean Cluster House. So far, he said, eight ocean product businesses have expressed interest in being tenants. After the public unveiling of the project on Thursday, he said the hope is to bring on 20 businesses to start.
The model would involve tenants paying a lease and possibly an annual fee to be part of the cluster. And the incentive for taking part in the cluster are connections not only to possible financing for a new company but to others in the industry with similar goals, Arnold said.
“[As an entrepreneur], you start to look for others whether it’s mentors or people working in the same field,” Arnold said.
The announcement Thursday, with comments from Gov. Paul LePage and state economic development officials, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and others, came before the New England Cluster has found a space.
Arnold said the group considered whether to lock down a space before making an announcement but decided to hold the news conference on Thursday because his collaborator in Iceland, Thor Sigfusson, was in Boston this week with a group of Icelandic companies seeking investors.
“It was an opportunity to have them all here,” Arnold said, referring to companies such as Zymetech that presented Thursday on how their companies boosted the value of waste product from cod and other marine resources.
Sigfusson illustrated the economic potential for adding value to existing marine resources, saying that revenue generated from the cod fishery has dropped by half since the early 1980s, but the revenue generated from the fishery has doubled in the same time.
Sigfusson started the Iceland Ocean Cluster in 2011, which has about 70 members and 40 companies located in the Iceland Ocean Cluster House.
Arnold said that Icelandic shipper Eimskip’s presence on Portland’s waterfront also will benefit both business incubators by allowing for Maine and the island nation of about 325,000 people to exchange raw materials for products.
Brennan said the city is in active negotiations with the company about possible locations.