SEA.AI wins Innovation Award at Cannes Yachting Festival

SEA.AI wins Innovation Award at Cannes Yachting Festival © SEA.AI

SEA.AI, the global leader in advanced marine vision systems, has been awarded the Innovation Route Award at the Cannes Yachting Festival in the category "Solutions that improve the navigation experience".

The Innovation Route Award recognizes the most forward-thinking companies in the marine sector whose technologies enhance safety, comfort, and performance on the water. The jury selected SEA.AI's new Watchkeeper system from more than 120 entries because it makes advanced collision avoidance accessible to every boater.

Collisions are the most common trigger in serious marine accidents, especially those resulting in injury or death. And they don't just involve other boats. Floating debris, unlit buoys, marine mammals, and even people in the water (MOB) are often missed by radar or AIS. Nighttime makes it worse. Coming into harbor late, with low visibility and buoys blending into dark water, can turn a routine arrival into a nerve-racking game of guesswork. Watchkeeper combines ultra-wide 4K optics, optional thermal imaging, and artificial intelligence trained on millions of marine objects, to detect and classify hazards, calculate risk and alert crews to urgent dangers.

"Winning the Innovation Route Award is a huge honor, not just for the tech, but for the team and community behind it," said Marcus Warrelmann, CEO of SEA.AI. "We've been pushing the boundaries of maritime AI since 2018, back when SEA.AI was still known as OSCAR to our early adopters. Our offshore racing partners created the very first training dataset, braving brutal 24-hour conditions to teach our AI to detect floating hazards that other systems, or even the human eye, can miss. Our first customer, Mr. Schambach, believed in our mission to save lives at sea with AI so deeply, he became a long-term investor."

"Our earliest users were pioneers; their feedback shaped the product at every stage. And today, thanks to our distribution partners, that technology is reaching crews all over the world. This award is proof: real innovation isn't built in a lab. It's built on trust, grit, and a shared drive to make the sea safer for everyone," Warrelmann continued.

The Watchkeeper lineup starts at just 4,990€ ($4,990 USD) for the entry-level dawn-to-dusk model, with seven configurations designed to fit a wide range of vessels and navigation styles from sailing yachts to high-speed motorboats, and from low-light optical setups to full thermal imaging for around-the-clock coverage.

Installation is straightforward, and the system is designed for easy integration with onboard electronics and handheld devices. The clean, modern hardware is available in black or white to complement any vessel's look, whether mounted on electronics arches or mastheads. The user interface is simple and intuitive, with clear alerts and minimal training required. With LTE connectivity, Watchkeeper will stay up to date with automatic updates to the AI and software, remote diagnostics, and real-time support, so it keeps getting smarter, long after installation.

Early users are already impressed: "I chose Watchkeeper because it offers true AI innovation in a form that's accessible and practical. As an owner, I value technology that enhances safety without adding complexity, and Watchkeeper delivers exactly that," said yacht owner Marco Bocchieri.

"Even with limited use so far, Watchkeeper impressed me. The AI instantly picks up and classifies objects, and the system is straightforward to operate — advanced technology made remarkably easy to use," agreed Capt. Riccardo Spatolisano - Azimut 26 Grande - MY BK

At Cannes, SEA.AI is showcasing this award-winning innovation Watchkeeper at its stand in Vieux Port - PAN 345.