Saving Nature Through Technology

Having been born and raised in Hong Kong, where nature and city are intertwined, formed both Virko’s view of the world and her future: “I grew up in the countryside, my childhood in the New Territories – going for hikes with my dad shaped me; I knew that development and nature can co-exist.”

While doing a PhD at HKU’s School of Biological Sciences, looking for answers to the restoration of coral reefs, Vriko Yu and her supervisor Professor David Baker came across a winning solution – planting coral fragments on specially-designed 3D printed terracotta tiles whose texture and structure allow coral to anchor and grow.

Coral reefs account for a quarter of the world’s entire marine biodiversity and support the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, but global warming is predicted to destroy 90% of the planet’s coral reefs by 2050. Vriko wanted to put her discovery to the service of humanity.

In 2020, she co-founded Archireef, providing services to restore corals and monitor their recovery. The start-up proved a success, enlisting top corporate clients in Hong Kong and making the Forbes Asia 100 To Watch List. Archireef then went global after the investment from the Abu Dhabi government, allowing it to expand production and launch coral restoration projects in the Arabian Gulf. Archireef is now extending its reach into more countries and is in the process of adding restoration of other threatened marine ecosystems, such as mangroves and oyster beds, to their portfolio.

Vriko believes that, in order to save our marine biodiversity and counter climate change, the private sector, and not just academia must be involved. Archireef, she says, provides the link between the two: “The field of biodiversity has been restricted to academics and conservationists. Archireef translates science and biodiversity to the private sector, in a commercially understandable way.”

She admits that going from a PhD student working in a university laboratory to a company CEO speaking at Davos World Economic Forum involved a steep learning curve. But Vriko says that self-belief and adaptability can overcome anything:

“Embrace the idea of not limiting yourself with labels and restrictions because personal growth is an ongoing journey. When I started Archireef, I had limited knowledge of the business world. If I feel a task is important, I keep trying until I get results, even if I know there’s still room for improvement. I’m not overly worried about the prospect of failure, and I’ve taken risks along the way in building Archireef.”