Serial tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery has revealed his next – and likely final – start-up: a research centre that will use artificial intelligence and underwater robots to try to build 1 million square metres of new reef in a decade.

Mr Slattery, who grew up in Rockhampton, Queensland, exploring the Great Barrier Reef in The Keppels island group, said a start-up mentality is required to accelerate the restoration and conservation of marine species and their habitats.