ERA-NET Cofund on the Blue Bioeconomy
The ERA-NET Cofund on the Blue Bioeconomy is the result of a collaboration between JPI Oceans and the former ERA-NETS COFASP and ERA MBT and consists of 27 partners from 16 countries, including Malta.
The main objective of this Cofund is to establish a coordinated R&D funding scheme that will strengthen Europe’s position in the blue bioeconomy. The first co-funded call was launched on 17th December 2018 with a total budget of 30 million euros.
The goal is to identify new and improve existing ways of bringing bio-based products and services to the market and find new ways of creating value from in the blue bioeconomy. Next to the co-funded call, the COFUND plans to contribute to the national priorities as well as to the strategic research agenda of JPI Oceans, and the ERA-NETs COFASP and MBT.
The main areas addressed include:
- developing innovative uses of underutilised and waste material from fisheries and aquaculture
- using biotechnology and ICT to develop smart, efficient, traceable food systems and create synergies between aquaculture and fisheries (genetic assessment and digitalisation)
- unlock potential of microbiomes to support growth in aquaculture, fisheries and food processing and biotechnology; apply the latest developments in ICT (IoT, machine learning, big data) to the Blue Bioeconomy
- creating predictive tools to improve the identification and targeting of biodiversity “hot-spots” in the oceans (omics based technologies)
- exploring synergies with land-based production in areas such as food and feed production and processing, biorefining, bioenergy, biomaterials, chemicals and nutrients and maximise the use of aquatic bioresources in terrestrial value chains
- improving aquaculture and wild harvesting of stocks by support for the creation of innovative feeds, improved brood stocks, by introducing new species, defining stock baselines, and assessing stocks and by encouraging the adoption of novel production technologies
For more information on the BlueBio Cofund, please visit the website.
For more information on open calls please visit the funding page.
Please visit the funding page for our latest calls, rules and regulations for participation.
Regulations:
Project Coordinator: Giorgos Markou
Consortium Partners:
BMRS – Bantry Marine Research Station, Ireland
G-FISH, Greece
NA – Istituto Sperimentale Italiano Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italy
ATB – Leibniz Institute for Agricultural, Quality and Safety of Food and Feed, Germany
NA – Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland
UAL – University of Almeria, Spain
UoM – University of Malta, Malta
NAGREF – National Agricultural Research Foundation, Greece
Project Abstract
The aim of AquaTech4Feed is to formulate novel fish feed from alternative proteinaceous biomass sources, such as algae, duckweed, insects and microbiomes (bioflocs) in order to improve fish production and product quality. AquaTech4Feed will develop a novel sustainable aquaculture production process based on the production of proteinaceous feed utilizing aquaculture wastewater and wastes. The production process will consist of a closed recirculation system for recycling of nutrients and water for improved biosafety. New technologies and methods will be applied in order to ensure that the novel feeds are safe to be utilized in the feeding process. The project includes feeding trials with lumpfish, salmon and sea bream in order to assess fish production and to define production and quality benchmarks.
Project Start: 15th May 2020
Duration: 36 months
Project Budget: € 1,493,636
PROFIUS is a three-year ERA-NET Project unlocking the potential of aquatic bioresources. It is a cooperation between Denmark, Malta, Norway and Iceland to address challenges in the supply chain related to lumpfish (roe and carcass) and tuna side-streams by developing preservation solutions for maintaining quality and improving utilization of the entire biomass. The consortium involves different institutes such as Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Akureyri (UNAK) working along with industries including Royal Greenland (RG), AquaBioTech (ABT), BIOPOL (BP) and the aquaculture industry in Norway and Malta.
The aim of PROFIUS is to address challenges in the supply chain related to lumpfish (roe and carcass) and tuna side-streams by developing preservation solutions for maintaining quality and improving utilization of the entire biomass. Improved preservation methods will be developed to enhance quality and shelf life of lumpfish roe and thereby reduce waste. A major bottleneck for success of further utilization of the side-stream from tuna is their short shelf life. PROFIUS will study the processes responsible for the chemical and microbial deterioration of these side-streams and develop strategies to prevent them. Furthermore, PROFIUS will look into new applications of lumpfish and tuna side-streams including logistics and development of gelatin extraction processes for lumpfish and development of fish feed based on tuna side-streams.
BlueBioChain will develop (TRL2) and apply (TRL5) a holistic biorefinery platform bridging the gap along the blue bioeconomy value chain, from biomass to products and markets and consumers. The project will last 24 months and will provide an intelligent wastewater valorization system using microalgae for the pilot production of 3 categories of high market value products, namely a) cosmeceuticals (skin cream), b) food additives (food coloring agents for novel, convenient meat, and dairy analogues ) and c) zero-waste aquaculture farms (aquafeed for fish/arthropods feed); thus, addressing three major global challenges of the future; sustainable waste management, tackling water scarcity and lack of food for the growing global population. Without any doubt, one of this project’s great strengths lies in its consortium. BlueBioChain consortium is made up of 8 partners from 5 geographically distributed EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, and Malta) covering 3 Universities (Technical University of Denmark, KU Leuven, Malta University), 3 Research centers (Hellenic Agricultural Organisation- DEMETER, Center of Research and Technology-Hellas, Matís), 1 SME (EcoResources) and 1 Industry (KMC). It unites the necessary multidisciplinary knowledge, expertise, skills, and resources to constitute a complete value chain of actors for capitalizing on the opportunities of developing novel biorefinery platforms for wastewater valorization and production of high market value bio-based products using microalgal biomass creating ultimate synergies for developing circular bioeconomy concepts.
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This article was last updated on: January 20, 2022