Where adaptation meets scale with Project CoralFactory
Since 2009, 14% of the world’s coral has been lost
Since 2009, 14% of the world's coral has been lost. A global network of 160 scientists warns that warm-water reefs are among the first ecosystems to reach a major climate tipping point. Replanting coral alone will not reverse this. Reefs need to survive in a warmer ocean, not just be rebuilt as they were.
Coral Factory is where we develop and test our solution
At our innovation hub in the Netherlands, we combine coral adaptation research with automated, land-based cultivation technology. This is where we conduct further research into heat-tolerant algae and build the systems needed to grow it at scale, before applying this approach internationally.
Scalable Innvoation
By embracing innovation, we design a scalable system that evolves with emerging technologies in coral cultivation.
Heat-Resilience Lab
We develop an automated bleaching system to test and strengthen corals against heat stress using the latest cultivation technologies.
Adapting the algae
Building on Professor Madeleine van Oppen's research, we study how coral becomes more heat-tolerant through resilient algae. We use a brooding coral species that passes its symbionts directly to its offspring.
Our Journey: Key Milestones and Future Aspirations
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Our marine biologist Danielle will begin her PhD research under the supervision of lead scientist Ronald Osinga. Building on Professor Madeleine van Oppen’s work, we will apply this method to the Caribbean coral Favia fragum, a species known for passing its algae on to its offspring.
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The results of our experiments will undergo a series of stress tests to determine whether the corals retain their heat-tolerant algae over time. This process will lead to the creation of new generations of corals, designed to thrive in the warmer oceans of the future.
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Together with BRANCH Applications, we test automated water quality monitoring within our cultivation systems. This technology tracks key parameters in real time, helping us create the most stable conditions for coral and algae to thrive.
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Data is central to our approach. Every coral nursery we scale to will be connected through the BRANCH Data Network, sharing knowledge and results in real time to accelerate coral adaptation worldwide. This network forms the backbone of our international scale-up through Project BRANCHing Out.
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Frequently asked questions about CoralFactory
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The corals in our pilot facility in Utrecht come from Wageningen University and Research (WUR). WUR grows coral for scientific studies and sometimes ends up with more coral than they need for their experiments. Instead of letting these surplus corals go unused, we are allowed to receive them. This gives the corals a new purpose and allows us to test and improve our Coral Factory systems.
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Our location in The Netherlands is the heart of our organization. It is our technical development hub, research facility and a showroom for education and awareness. The corals we grow here are used exclusively for research, system optimization and educational purposes. They are not shipped abroad or returned to the ocean.
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Most restoration efforts focus on growing and replanting coral itself, a process that is slow and has to be repeated for every species. We focus on the algae living inside coral instead. Because these algae reproduce in days rather than years, and a small number of algae types support many coral species, improving them lets us strengthen multiple species at once, faster and at greater scale than traditional restoration.
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Our PhD trajectory uses Favia fragum, a Caribbean coral species that passes its symbiotic algae directly to its offspring. This makes it possible to study whether heat-tolerant algae remain stable across generations, a key question for long-term reef resilience. Conducting this research in a controlled facility in the Netherlands allows us to closely monitor results before applying our findings internationally.
By combining large scale production with scientific innovation, we aim to give future reefs a real chance to adapt and thrive in a warming world.
If your question is not listed, feel free to get in touch.
Help us give coral reefs a colorful future by supporting project CoralFactory
Your donation supports our research into heat-tolerant algae and helps us scale the technology needed to apply it worldwide, from our CoralFacotry in the Netherlands to new facilities through TheArc. Together, we can create a brighter future for our oceans.