THE GREAT BUBBLE BARRIER B.V.

Their core work

The Great Bubble Barrier develops and deploys a physical river plastic interception system: a perforated tube on the riverbed releases pressurized air bubbles that form a curtain, guiding floating plastic waste to a riverbank collection point before it reaches the sea. They began as a product startup validating commercial viability through an SME Phase 1 feasibility grant, then graduated to a multi-partner Innovation Action where their barrier technology became the physical capture layer within a broader AI-assisted marine litter management system. Their unique value is that they are a technology operator, not a research group — they build and deploy real infrastructure that municipalities, port authorities, and waterway managers can install. This positions them as a bridge between environmental research consortia and on-the-ground plastic removal outcomes.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their 2019 SME Phase 1 project carried no technical keywords — it was a straight commercial validation exercise: does the bubble barrier work, and can it be sold? The 2021–2024 MAELSTROM project introduced an entirely different conceptual layer: AI, automated solutions, marine ecosystem assessment, community engagement, and circular economy. This shift signals a move from single-product startup to systems partner — their barrier is now one component inside a larger smart infrastructure. The direction is clear: they are scaling from "proven technology" to "integrated platform," bringing their physical solution into digitally-augmented, policy-aligned environmental management frameworks.

They are moving from standalone product to ecosystem-integrated solution — future partnerships will likely expect them to contribute both the physical barrier and compatibility with AI monitoring and circular economy workflows.

How they like to work

They have acted as coordinator once (leading their own SME Phase 1 feasibility study) and as a technology contributor in a larger Innovation Action, showing they are comfortable in both roles. With 13 distinct partners across 8 countries from only 2 projects, they operate in moderately large, internationally diverse consortia — unusually broad for an SME of this size. Their collaboration profile suggests they are brought in as the technology demonstration node: the consortium supplies the science and policy architecture while The Great Bubble Barrier supplies the deployable hardware.

13 unique consortium partners across 8 countries from just 2 projects, indicating strong European network density for a small SME. Their partnerships span multiple national contexts, consistent with their technology being deployable across different European waterway systems.

What sets them apart

The Great Bubble Barrier holds a position almost no other H2020 participant holds: they own and operate a proprietary, physically deployable plastic capture technology rather than studying the problem from a distance. Most environmental research organizations in this space model, monitor, or advise — this company installs equipment in rivers. For consortium builders, this is the difference between a work package that produces a report and one that produces a working installation. Any project needing a real-world technology demonstration site for plastic removal in freshwater or coastal environments has very few alternatives in Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Great Bubble Barrier
  Their founding EU project — as coordinator — that validated the commercial case for the bubble barrier concept and launched their trajectory into larger EU-funded initiatives.
• MAELSTROM
  Their largest project by far (€503,825 EC contribution), integrating their physical technology into a multi-country smart marine litter management system with AI and circular economy components.