Can AI save lives at sea? Born from a real Mayday call.
A voice crackles over the radio. Panic. A fire onboard. No location. No number of people. Silence.Now imagine if AI could step in, capture the message, fill in the gaps, call for help, save lives.In this episode, we explore how a distress call during a sailing trip became the starting point of a deeptech journey aiming to transform VHF, ย the โwalkie-talkie of the oceanโ, ย into a real-time intelligent safety assistant powered by AI.From hackathon to mission-critical deployment with the French Coast Guard (CROSS), discover how maritime safety may be on the verge of a leapfrog moment.Hereโs what youโll learn in this episode:ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย The origin story: a real Mayday call that sparked an innovation journeyยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Ocean Hackathon โ prototype: 48 hours together, pure focus, and nonstop feedback loopsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Why it was hard at first: Big Tech overlooked maritime, no relevant data to train modelsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Why VHF fails under stress (no replay, accents, missing info) and how AI helps operators capture the essentialsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย From B2C to B2B/B2G: co-developing with CROSS for mission-critical use, on-site immersion in operationsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย The smartphone effect at sea: โrent a boat with an appโ โ more people, less trained VHF users โ too many distress callsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย The tech, simply: speech-to-text with domain models, call classification, searchable logs, supervisor overviewยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Data, not hype: why general AI fails at sea and why annotated maritime data (from CROSS) winsยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Dual-use angles: from safety to security, piracy comms, multilingual signals, and situational awarenessยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Data protection done right: on-prem vs EU cloud, GDPR, certifications & sovereign choicesยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Go-to-market reality: competitors, differentiation, and value-based licensing.ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย Founder lessons: team fit, funding via contests, patience, and momentumย Key question:How do you turn noisy VHF distress calls into life-saving decisions without overwhelming operators or compromising data security?Thank you for listening to BlueTech Around the World! ๐โจ๐ LinkedIn: Vaiata Dynamics ๐ Guest: รdouard Vallet๐ก Resources and Links:Follow us on LinkedIn: BlueTech PodcastConnect with us on Instagram: @bluetechpodcastWatch our episodes on YouTube: BlueTech Around the WorldVisit our Website: https://www.bluetech-podcast.com/Donโt forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share your favorite episodes to help us spotlight the incredible innovations shaping our oceans. ๐Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and cutting-edge blue technologies!Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.