Industry builder Lingalaks ignite digital innovation in aquaculture with Clarify

In short - turning industrial data into improvement and innovation

Aquaculture companies generate gigabytes of valuable data, every day. But how do you go from raw data to actual value for both operations and innovation?

In aquaculture, the amount or variety of data is not what's limiting digital improvement or innovation. The industry already holds vast amounts of data from a wide variety of systems, and with a steep increase in new technology that generates exponentially more, the main challenge to solve is - who will turn data into better decisions and new value?

Read on to learn more about how Lingalaks use Clarify to gather streaming operational data into one easy-to-use platform, where teams can come together around data to share knowledge and turn data into action. And how the same data foundation that Lingalaks use for improved internal decision-making helps startups, researchers, and academia innovate and do more with real-life data streams.

Lingalaks is one of the pioneers in Norwegian and global aquaculture. Founded in 1978, and still a family-owned company, Lingalaks has taken an active part in shaping the industry from humble beginnings to the global success we see today.

With a history of igniting innovation in the industry, Lingalaks was among the first to use algae oil as a more sustainable feed-ingredient, as well as spearheading new innovative production units such as the "Stadion Basin" - a closed containment concept built in reinforced concrete.

Lingalaks has been using Clarify since 2019 as a core part of their modern data infrastructure for streaming industrial data, and to empower everyone in the organization to use data as a natural everyday tool.

The Challenge - Making data streams available, understandable, and useful for better decisions and more innovation

Modern aquaculture generates gigabytes of data every day. Data that can be used by in-house experts to make better decisions, but also help startups, researchers, and academia give data new life through new tools, analysis, and so on.

But data is spread across systems and formats and bringing it all together demands deep technical expertise to both get and stay in control of data. For most companies and R&D personnel, this task is too complex and time-consuming, leading to data going to waste and valuable innovation/research efforts that could benefit the industry as a whole are stranding.

Typically companies work around this by doing ad-hoc and one-off integrations between systems, but these make it very hard to keep track of who has access to what for data owners and can potentially lead to multiple security vulnerabilities from both an information and an infrastructure perspective. In aquaculture, a typical use case is the need to give various stakeholders access to data from selected sources and for a selected period of time. To achieve this across underlying systems is not trivial and few companies have the infrastructure to do this in place.

All in all, the lack of infrastructure that enables safe and easy access to quality data effectively limits innovation in aquaculture, as well as in other similar industries.

‍The solution - Combining modern technology with a drive to improve

Lingalaks is an early mover and has invested in high-tech equipment and infrastructure on all of their farms, ranging from environmental sensors, industrial control systems, as well as cameras and hydroacoustic systems. All these systems generate valuable data, that are even more valuable when combined with in-house sources as well as external data sources.

Step 1: Collect all the data

The Clarify team, working together with in-house experts and the different system providers, has helped Lingalaks digitalize all of their farms. Real-time data is streaming directly to the Clarify platform, giving one point of easy and secure access to high-resolution time-series data across systems, sites, etc.

Step 2: Make data easily available for domain experts, alone and together

All data is made available through the Clarify web and mobile interfaces, giving people easy access to search and find the information they need, organize it the way it makes sense for them, as well as intuitively visualize and explore data to understand more.

By adding comments and leading discussions in Clarify, Lingalaks gets one common place for both data and human insight, building out the data story with context and knowledge that improves both human decision-making and machine learning. Over time building unique annotated data sets for training and improving machine learning/artificial intelligence.

Step 3: Lower the threshold for data-driven innovation

In addition, Lingalaks uses the Clarify API to enable other companies to get access to selected data sources for secure and easy usage in specific tools and for specific use cases.

The collaboration with software startup Manolin is a great example of how companies can come together to do more with data, faster. The Manolin team extracts data from the Clarify API and combines it with other relevant sources, freeing up more time and resources for them to focus on building tools and machine learning models that actually work for the farmers, not spend too much time on managing integrations, etc.

Another example is how Lingalaks, together with Eide Fjordbruk and Bolaks, are contributing with live operational data for selected Master students at NTNU, to enable students to build machine learning models, digital twins, and analyze real-world data as part of their master thesis or other project work.

The combination of a modern data infrastructure, investing in data generating systems, and a willingness to share data is what enables data-driven innovation that ultimately will benefit the industry as a whole.

The impact - new competitive advantages and improved production

By investing in new technology, data infrastructure, and by adapting their organization to the future of work, industrial pioneers like Lingalaks are taking the lead in digitalization and industry 4.0. Ultimately leading to more sustainable operations, from both an environmental and economical viewpoint. With a willingness to share data to startups and academia, Lingalaks contributes to digital innovation that benefits the whole ecosystem of stakeholders in the industry.

• Combining streaming data with human insights on one platform gives a great foundation to solve problems, improve, and innovate faster
• Gathering data on a modern streaming infrastructure lowers the threshold and makes it easier for startups and established tech companies to focus on building quality tools and solutions - igniting much needed digital innovation in the industry
• Sharing operational data with academia and R&D institutions gives a better chance to solve hard problems and increases visibility for the industry as a whole