Thinking outside the box: what’s next for Carlos Alberto Espinal after Landing Aquaculture 

After more than a decade sharing the helm of aquaculture engineering firm Landing Aquaculture, Carlos Alberto Espinal is embarking on the next chapter in his professional journey. Known in the industry for co-founding Landing alongside Rob van de Ven, Espinal has launched a new venture, ChimanaTech. What motivated him to take this step?  

"As Landing reached its 10-year mark, Rob and I started thinking about what was next for the company. Over time, we realized we had different visions. Rob wanted to keep growing, taking on larger projects, while I missed the early startup days when the company was smaller and more agile,” Carlos explains. 

“Chimana grew out of one of my favourite parts of working at Landing: collaborating with entrepreneurs and companies that had great ideas but didn’t know how to move forward," he explains. 

When we spoke with him last year, Carlos shared his appreciation for the “wacky” projects – and his satisfaction in helping bring those to life. And, while Carlos continues to collaborate with Landing as a sales agent, starting his new venture now gives him the possibility to pursue a wide variety of projects not only from the aquaculture engineering side, but also contributing to business development, fundraising and marketing – including bringing in innovations from completely unrelated sectors. 

“I wanted to focus on helping clients, often from outside the aquaculture industry, who have innovative products or project ideas but lack the knowledge to enter this sector." 

“My role is to help them develop strategies, go to market, and execute those plans. It’s exciting because sometimes we come across unusual, even fringe ideas, and figuring out how they can be applied to aquaculture really forces you to think outside the box,” Carlos smiles.  

“For example, I help clients apply for EU projects and public funding, talk to investors, and position themselves as thought leaders in the industry. I’m starting that process with Chimana itself, but my goal is to help these innovative companies do the same.” 

“Cross-pollination between industries is where real innovation happens. Aquaculture has reached a plateau in some areas. To move forward, we need to bring in ideas from other industries," he says.

One of his first projects is with Dutch company Processus, which has developed its product, AquaSnow, using industrial food technology to create a diet for fish larvae. 

“It’s a liquid containing micron-sized particles, similar in size to rotifers or artemia. At first, some researchers were sceptical - it seemed too unconventional. I told them, 'I’ll work with you if you can show me just one larva eating this.' They went to the University of Ghent, ran a small trial, and sent me videos of sea bass larvae eating it. That convinced me!” 

Carlos is working with them to develop a commercialisation roadmap and coordinate grant applications, and the company will be presenting their work at Aquaculture Europe. “The latest trials in Cádiz are showing great results - the larvae are eating and digesting the product, and survival rates are strong.” 

Another project Carlos is currently working with is with Titanium Technology, a Spanish company that has developed a polarized titanium surface solution to avoid biofouling. “By applying an electric signal, they create conditions that prevent bacteria from attaching. This means you have a metal that doesn’t foul - perfect for aquaculture. The applications are huge: hatchery tanks, RAS components, nets for cages, heat exchangers, even submerged sensor bases,” he explains. 

“We created a roadmap prioritizing which products to take to market first. Hatchery tanks are relatively quick to commercialize – even by Landing Aquaculture themselves. Nets will take longer. We’re also talking to investors and applying for subsidies to test different aspects of the technology." 

These are two very different projects, one from food technology and the other from materials science, but what they have in common is bringing in innovations from outside aquaculture which could be game changers in the sector, Carlos explains. 

What are his aspirations for Chimana? “In the short term, I want Chimana to become an accelerator for companies moving from early-stage development - what we call "technology readiness level” three or four - to TRLs seven or eight.” 

Longer term, Carlos points out a greater challenge. “Europe is excellent at innovation and piloting, but scaling up is hard,” he says, firstly due to fragmented legislation across EU countries that makes rapid expansion difficult, and secondly due to the limited market size within Europe. 

“Many companies develop products for the European market, only to hit a growth ceiling. Instead, they need to think globally from day one,” Carlos argues. “For instance, if you’re developing a product, plan from the start to sell in markets like China, Ecuador or Vietnam. Too often, companies only consider international expansion once they’ve already spent years focused on Europe, and by then, they need to completely rethink their strategy.” 

“A further challenge is that while European aquaculture is technically advanced, it’s still small. Asia, for example, represents a much larger market, but those markets are used to lower-cost, lower-capex solutions. It can be tough to convince them to adopt high-cost European innovations,” he says, noting that he is aiming to build strong connections in Asia over time.

For now, Carlos intends for Chimana to stay small and agile – and is also open to having what he calls “skin in the game”, as a minority shareholder as well as a consultant. “Startups and SMEs are often the ones bringing bold, innovative ideas. But I also aim to work with larger companies that develop new products. Even a company with 300 employees and €100 million in revenue can face challenges when launching something new. Sometimes they just need external support to move faster.”