Where it could be used, and how far each use has been confirmed.

Stage: Proven, Ship propellers (brass)

We bond a fluorine-based antifouling agent to the surface of brass propellers so barnacles and algae find it harder to take hold.

Stage: Proven, Underwater glass (windows, cameras and more)

Treating the surface of glass used in the sea, such as underwater windows and cameras, to keep fouling off it.

Stage: Being tested, Rope

Treating the surface of rope used in fishing, aquaculture and elsewhere so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily.

Stage: Concept, Ship bottoms, hulls and rudders

Using the treatment on a ship’s underwater parts, such as the bottom, the hull and the rudder.

Stage: Concept, Ocean-going ships

Using the treatment to cut the marine life that ocean-going ships carry from one sea to another.

Stage: Concept, Oyster rafts and baskets, and filters in land-based aquaculture

Using the treatment on aquaculture gear such as oyster rafts and baskets, and on the filters of land-based aquaculture. Barnacles on oyster rafts are the problem our company started from. It is the gear that would be treated, not the oysters themselves.

Stage: Concept, Water intakes and cooling lines

Using the treatment on equipment that draws in seawater: ships’ intakes and pipework, and the intake equipment of power stations and factories.

Stage: Concept, Marine equipment and infrastructure

Using the treatment on marine equipment other than ships, such as offshore wind installations, subsea cables and piers.

Stage: Concept, Working with paints

Using the treatment that holds back fouling together with existing paints.

Stage: Being tested, Underwater drone (ROV)

Our work on the other side of fouling: removing what has already settled, alongside keeping it off.

Stage: Being tested, Cleaning with collapsing bubbles (cavitation)

A way of cleaning ship bottoms that uses the force of bubbles as they collapse.

Stage: Concept, Hull cleaning with a before-and-after record

An idea for giving boat owners both a cleaned hull and a record of how it looked before and after.

Stage: Concept, A barnacle remover on rails

An idea for a device that removes barnacles from boats’ hulls at marinas.

Stage: Concept, Measuring the state of fouling

An idea for turning the state of fouling into data.

Stage: Proven, Rice husks for better soil

We treat the surface of rice husks and settle useful microbes on them, turning the husks into a soil improver for building up farm soil.

Stage: Being tested, Restoring eelgrass beds

Rope treated so that eelgrass can take root on it, with the aim of restoring eelgrass beds.

Stage: Concept, Restoring seagrass and seaweed beds in Nanao Bay (Noto)

An idea for restoring seagrass and seaweed beds in Nanao Bay, Noto, with local fishers.

Stage: Concept, Bringing abandoned farmland back into use

An idea for using treated rice husks to bring fields that are no longer farmed back into cultivation.

Stage: Concept, Restoring salt-damaged farmland (Noto and elsewhere)

An idea for using treated rice husks to restore the soil of fields damaged by salt.

Stage: Concept, Bringing seaweed back to barren coasts

An idea for giving seaweed somewhere to take hold where it has disappeared from the sea (isoyake).

Stage: Concept, Seaweed beds on structures in the sea

An idea for creating seaweed beds on structures in the sea, such as offshore wind foundations, breakwaters and seawalls.

Stage: Concept, Fishing gear that releases nutrients

An idea for answering the decline of nutrients in the Seto Inland Sea with fishing gear that releases them.

Stage: Concept, Greening (slopes, railway forests, hillsides and more)

An idea for using the surface treatment in greening work, on slopes, railway forests and elsewhere.

Stage: Proven, Finding oyster rafts in satellite imagery

We analyse satellite data to find the oyster rafts floating in the sea. Not every raft is found, so it is meant to be used alongside a lookout.

Stage: Being tested, IKAK (a beacon for oyster rafts)

A small beacon fixed to oyster rafts. It sends out only its own ID number, which the smartphones of passing boats pick up.

Stage: Being tested, Raft positions on a boat’s screen (an aid to navigation)

A prototype that shows the rafts found by satellite on a device aboard the boat.

Stage: Being tested, A phone alert when you near an oyster raft

A system that warns you on a smartphone running the app as your boat nears a raft fitted with IKAK.

Stage: Concept, Ground-truth data for the satellite analysis (checking against measurements, correcting offsets)

An idea for checking the satellite analysis against where the rafts actually are.

Stage: Concept, Managing oyster rafts, and keeping track of rafts and debris that drift away

An idea for using IKAK’s ID numbers to tell rafts apart, to help manage them and keep track of any that drift away.

Stage: Concept, Obstacle data for autonomous ships

An idea for putting the data we gather on rafts and other obstacles to use for autonomous ships.

Stage: Concept, Helping small boats avoid each other (the phone as a beacon)

An idea for letting small boats without AIS notice each other through their smartphones.

Stage: Concept, Extending IKAK’s range (offshore buoys, other aquaculture, port facilities)

An idea for extending IKAK’s range so it can be used beyond oyster rafts.

Stage: Concept, How it would be offered (app, data and beacons)

Our idea of how the app, the data and the beacons would be offered.

Stage: Concept, Watching over the sea (suspicious vessels and drifting objects)

An idea for using data on rafts and fishing gear whose positions are known to help keep watch over the sea.

Stage: Concept, Other aquaculture waters (pearl and fish farming in Ehime and elsewhere)

An idea for taking the raft mapping we began with oyster rafts to other aquaculture waters.

Stage: Concept, Overseas ports and national ocean data platforms

An idea for providing raft position data to overseas ports and national ocean data platforms.

Stage: Concept, Monitoring seagrass beds by satellite

An idea for keeping an eye on the extent of seagrass beds in satellite images.

Stage: Concept, Protecting metal from rust and corrosion

An idea for also using the treatment that keeps metal surfaces clean against rust and corrosion. Professor Kuroda’s research, which the technology grew out of, has also extended to protecting metals from corrosion.

Stage: Concept, Keeping glass clean (vehicle windows, sensors and more)

An idea for taking the treatment we have tried on glass under water to equipment on land, such as vehicle windows and sensors.

Stage: Concept, Bacterial film (slime) in water systems

An idea for making it harder for bacterial film (slime) to form in the pipes and tanks of food factories, hot spring facilities and the like.

Stage: Concept, Medical devices and more: surfaces bacteria find harder to settle on

An idea for giving the surfaces of medical devices, and of the equipment used to make medicines, a property that makes it harder for bacteria to settle on them.

Stage: Concept, Equipment that faces heat or needs precision (geothermal plants, semiconductor manufacturing and more)

An idea for preventing fouling and corrosion in geothermal plants, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and the like.

Stage: Concept, Fixing catalysts and other materials to a surface

An idea for holding materials that do a job, such as catalysts, on the fine footholds of a treated surface.

Stage: Concept, Getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic

An idea for getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic surfaces that normally shed coatings.

Stage: Concept, Reusing untapped resources (biomass other than rice husks and more)

An idea for extending the rice husk treatment to other untapped biomass and to urban waste.

Stage: Concept, Clothing prints and hydroponic growing sheets

An idea for everyday materials, such as prints on clothing and the sheets used in hydroponic growing.

Stage: Concept, Scissors that tape sticks to less (exhibit 01)

An exhibit that brings the keep-it-off treatment we use at sea to an everyday product.

Stage: Concept, Gold on a surface things don’t stick to (exhibit 02)

A sample that uses kraft tape and gold to show a chosen material being fixed to a surface things don’t normally stick to.

Stage: Concept, Gold beads for shoes (prototype, exhibit 03)

A prototype: small beads coated with gold, to go inside shoes.

Stage: Concept, A ceramic that gives microbes a home (exhibit 04)

An exhibit: a ceramic whose surface has been treated so that microbes settle on it.

Stage: Being tested, Joint research and field trials

We design and run sea trials together with universities, research institutes, companies and local governments.

Stage: Being tested, Taking part in Hiroshima University’s COI-NEXT centre

Since October 2025, we have taken part in Hiroshima University’s JST COI-NEXT centre for a marine cultural city built on ocean remote-sensing technology.

Stage: Concept, Processing and part testing

An idea in which our engineers bring the equipment to you and treat the parts or materials you use. We also welcome enquiries from anyone who would like to start by trying it on a part.

Stage: Concept, Technology licensing

An idea for licensing the performance of the treatment to the manufacturers and contractors who handle mass production and installation.

Stage: Concept, Licensing the rice husk treatment equipment

An idea in which equipment makers build and run the machines that treat rice husks.

Stage: Concept, Treated materials for restoring seagrass beds

An idea for selling treated materials, such as rope, for restoring seagrass beds.

Stage: Concept, Blue carbon credits

An idea for turning the carbon taken up by restored seagrass beds into credits.

Talking through a material or a problem (commissioned research and technical consulting)

From trying a surface treatment on your material (metal, ceramic or polymer) to designing how it would be used, we work it out with you. We also take enquiries about helping things take hold, such as getting a particular microbe to settle, and help sort out problems at sea that have not yet been solved. The first consultation is free.

How we take enquiries

We take enquiries on the contact page about any use — keeping things off, taking them off, helping them take hold, ocean data or beyond the sea — about processing, licensing, joint research and other ways of working, and from investors and the press. You do not need to have settled on a material or a place yet. If you have photos, please send them by email once we have replied.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Keep it off

Treating the surface of the floats and buoys used in fishing and aquaculture so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily. The evidence comes from a float tested in the sea in Professor Kuroda’s research.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Keep it off

Treating the surface of fishing and aquaculture nets so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily. The evidence comes from research by Professor Kuroda and Professor Terakado on rope used for nori nets.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Help it take hold

Making the surface of rope or cord hydrophilic and fixing proteins or ions to it, so that spores and larvae drifting in the sea have a place to settle and grow naturally. The results come from Professor Kuroda’s KAKEN-funded research.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Help it take hold

Fixing protein to the rope of nori and other seaweed farming nets, so that nori spores drifting in the sea settle and grow on it naturally. The evidence comes from research by Professor Kuroda and Professor Terakado on rope used for nori nets.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Sea trials of rope and floats (KAKEN grant 22K04725)

Sea trials in research led by Professor Kuroda, our technical supervisor, which put treated rope and floats in the sea to see how marine life settled on them.

Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Antifouling with silver, copper or zinc ions, or precious metals (tried, and not used)

Methods tried in the research of Professor Kuroda, our technical supervisor (KAKEN grant 22K04725), and not taken up.

It began with research on dental implant surfaces

The technology grew out of research on surface treatments for dental implants that Kensuke Kuroda (Representative, Nagoya Surface Technology; Specially Appointed Professor, Institute of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University) has pursued since 2003. That research was extended to protecting metals from corrosion, and from there to the sea and to farming. Kuroda supervises the technology in a personal capacity.

How the treatment works: conditioning the surface and fixing the right agent to it

We condition the material’s surface with plasma or electrochemical treatment and build a very fine scaffold on it. Where life should stay off, we fix a fluorine-based agent that is also used in dental care. Where it should take hold, we fix things that help it root and settle, such as nutrients or useful microbes. We use no copper, silver or other biocides.

KAKEN grant 22K04725: research that tried both directions at sea

KAKEN grant 22K04725, led by Professor Kuroda, our technical supervisor, tested both kinds of treatment in the sea: one that makes it harder for marine life to settle, and one that makes it easier. The research ran from fiscal 2022 to 2024, with Professor Osamu Terakado as co-investigator.

The idea of control: designing what sticks and what doesn’t

At the heart of the technology is control over what settles: keeping things off where they are not wanted, and actively helping them take hold where they are welcome. Our ocean data business (OceanMap) takes the same idea into ocean information, and uses no surface treatment.