National Coral Reef Institute

What National Coral Reef Institute does

The National Coral Reef Institute is a non-profit, university-based marine research organization housed at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Campus in Hollywood, Florida. Created by congressional mandate in 1998 and reauthorized/refunded in 2023, NCRI operates an 87,000-square-foot LEED-certified facility containing 21 biological, chemical, physical, and geological marine research laboratories, an offshore coral nursery with capacity for approximately 11,000 coral fragments, and specialized propagation infrastructure including a Marine Larval Ecology and Recruitment Laboratory and a Tri-Annual Spawning Chamber Laboratory. In April 2026, NCRI was designated by NOAA as the Atlantic Reef Research Coordination Institute (ARRCI), formalizing its role as a regional coordinating body for Atlantic coral reef science spanning Southeast Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

NCRI's core outputs consist of peer-reviewed scientific research (700+ publications, including in Nature, Science, and PNAS), applied coral restoration interventions (e.g., a documented amoxicillin-based treatment protocol for stony coral tissue loss disease achieving 84% three-year survival), water-quality and ecological monitoring datasets accumulated over more than two decades, and workforce development through the Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship (85% ten-year retention). Technical capabilities include chromosomal-level genomic sequencing, machine-learning-based water-quality forecasting (explaining ~70% of observed variation), and physics-based numerical modeling.

NCRI's business model is grant- and appropriation-driven rather than commercial. Funding flows from U.S. congressional appropriations, federal grants (notably NOAA and a 2012 U.S. Department of Commerce/NIST award of approximately $15 million for a Center of Excellence), state agency cooperative agreements (Florida DEP, FWC), and academic partnerships. Customers are exclusively public-sector resource managers and partner universities; there is no disclosed commercial revenue, pricing model, or productized offering.

Name

National Coral Reef Institute

Legal name

National Coral Reef Institute

Website

https://nova-ncri.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Non-profit, university-based marine research institute at NSU conducting coral reef science, restoration, and monitoring for federal and state resource managers across the U.S. Atlantic and Caribbean.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Research and Conservation Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Aquaculture (112519), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAIAMAI

Coastal & Marine Resources Administration (Oceans, Fisheries, Shorelines)

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Environmental Protection & Natural Resources Administration

Keywords

• Coral reef research
• Marine conservation science
• Reef restoration services
• Coral propagation research
• Marine ecosystem management

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) is a university-based research institute that conducts coral reef research, restoration, training, and coordination. It operates coral propagation facilities (onshore and offshore nurseries), 21 marine research laboratories, the Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship program, and the Dick Dodge NCRI Seminar Series. Its mission is to advance science-based management of coral reef ecosystems through multidisciplinary research spanning ecology, biology, genetics, and social science.

Product overview

The National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) is a research institute at Nova Southeastern University, not a commercial product company. NCRI's offerings consist of research facilities and programs including the Coral Nursery Center (with Marine Larval Ecology and Recruitment lab, Tri-Annual Spawning Chamber lab, and outdoor raceways), the Offshore Coral Nursery (capacity for 11,000 coral fragments), and 21 research laboratories. The institute also operates the Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship program and the Dick Dodge NCRI Seminar Series. The Science Plan - Dynamics of Modern Reefs provides the unified research framework for all activities. NCRI does not offer commercial products or software.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Coral Nursery Center

Quantifiable outcome

• 70% of water quality variation can be predicted using machine learning models with new data
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship/core, core and minor.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)flagship/coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2026NOAA established NCRI as the Atlantic Reef Research Coordination Institute through a cooperative agreement, providing increased federal funding for coral reef research and designating NCRI as the central coordinating hub for research and restoration projects across Florida, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. NCRI assists in implementing the National Coral Reef Resilience Strategy and reef action plans.
• U.S. Department of Interior Office of Insular AffairscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship program, providing support for coral reef capacity building across U.S. territories and jurisdictions.
• U.S. Coral Reef All Islands CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the National Coral Reef Management Fellowship program to address capacity gaps in U.S. coral reef jurisdictions including American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner in octocoral population research, utilizing data from long-term monitoring programs CREMP and SECREMP. Joint research on coral reef ecology and monitoring.
• Florida Department of Environmental ProtectioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner in water quality research and inland water connections to Florida's Coral Reef. Research provides scientific basis for management of land-based sources of coastal pollution and water quality criteria regulations.
• Broward Reef Discovery CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner in PHA straw degradation research, investigating biodegradable alternatives to plastic straws and their potential applications in coral reef restoration.
• University of South FloridaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration through the Dick Dodge NCRI Seminar Series featuring Dr. John Parkinson's research on acroporid restoration and coral heat tolerance.
• University of California, Santa CruzminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration through seminar series with Dr. Curt Storlazzi's research on coral reef coastal hazard risk reduction and physics-based modeling.
• International Coral Reef SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional society partnership; NCRI researchers serve on ICRS student and early careers committee; Chair of Student and Early Career Chapter based at NSU.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science (University of Miami): Major U.S. academic marine research unit covering coral reef ecology, oceanography, and atmospheric science with NOAA-funded cooperative institutes. Compares directly on coral reef R&D, federal cooperative agreement funding, and Florida geographic focus, though with significantly larger graduate degree-granting program.
• Perry Institute for Marine Science: Florida-based non-profit marine research organization conducting Caribbean coral reef monitoring, restoration, and conservation science. Comparable as a Florida/Caribbean regional research non-profit with reef R&D focus, though smaller in headcount and infrastructure than NCRI.
• Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium: Independent marine research institution based in Sarasota, Florida, conducting coral reef ecology, restoration (including its in-patent assisted evolution work), disease, and ocean acidification research. Most direct functional peer given its parallel Florida footprint, university-affiliated research style, and comparable federal/non-federal funding mix.
• Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (FAU): Florida Atlantic University's oceanographic institute, conducting marine science research including coral reef and sponge biology, genomics, and coastal oceanography. Closely comparable as a Florida-based university-housed marine research institute with shared personnel/advisor overlap and federal grant funding model.

Broad incumbents

• Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS): Australia's national tropical marine research agency with extensive coral reef monitoring, restoration, and reef resilience science on the Great Barrier Reef. Functionally comparable on coral R&D, reef restoration, and long-term monitoring, but operates as a statutory authority with annual appropriations rather than a university research institute.
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Premier U.S. independent ocean research organization with coral reef and coastal oceanography programs. Comparable as a non-university-affiliated marine R&D institution funded through federal grants and philanthropy, but vastly larger in scope and budget.
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography: One of the largest and oldest U.S. oceanographic research institutions with deep coral reef and ocean chemistry programs. Overlaps NCRI on coral reef and climate research scope but operates at much larger scale across a broader portfolio including seismic, atmospheric, and polar research.

Emerging players

• Coral Restoration Foundation: Non-profit based in the Florida Keys focused on large-scale coral restoration, primarily through sexual reproduction and larval propagation. Narrower mission than NCRI but closely comparable on Florida reef restoration outputs and stakeholder engagement; differs as a hands-on restoration operator vs. NCRI's research-institute posture.
• SECORE International: Non-profit focused on sexual coral reproduction, larval propagation techniques, and reef restoration science training. Closely comparable to NCRI on larval culture and coral spawning methodologies (NCRI's tri-annual spawning chamber), and active in the Caribbean; smaller and more mission-narrow than NCRI but technically aligned.

Regional players

• NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory: NOAA federal research lab in Miami conducting coral reef monitoring, climate-ocean science, and oceanographic research. Direct comparator on reef science capacity but operates as a federal agency rather than a university institute, and partners closely with NCRI through cooperative agreements and the broader CRCP network.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Coral Reef Institute