Sustainable macroalgae systems for innovative, added-value applications: cultivation and optimised production systems

Whether exploiting its biomass or genetic potential, the aquatic environment may play a major role in a sustainable bioeconomy. It may help reduce pressure on land and contribute in a sustainable and more diverse manner with the supply of sustainable biomass for food, feed and other industry applications. Design and engineering principles for marine biorefining are less developed compared to biorefineries for terrestrial crops. The development of sustainable, stable and scalable cultivation technologies, as well as addressing sustainable and cost-efficient harvesting, product extraction and biorefinery processes, represent the main challenges of algal biotechnology for production of high-value or bulk products. At the same time, care must be taken to avoid any detrimental effect on marine ecosystems and biodiversity from macroalgae cultivation (especially when carried out in open environments), even contributing to their regeneration.

Proposals under this topic should:

• Select and optimise macroalgal feedstock[[Within this topic, macroalgae, seaweed and marine plants, such as seagrass, are in scope.]] (both naturally occurring and modified varieties are in scope), focusing on applications with high market potential. Capitalise on existing data, infrastructures, and knowledge. In line with the EU Algae Initiative, harvesting macroalgae from the wild is excluded, as the topic focuses on cultivation.
• Demonstrate cultivation in suitable and scalable sustainable systems, aiming at high biomass yield, optimised production parameters (e.g. light, O₂, CO₂, nutrients, pH, temperature, seasonal variations). Cultivation in open environment and/or in closed systems are both in scope. Multitrophic and mixed cultivation approaches (e.g. multiple algae species, algae and fish/shellfish farming etc) are also in scope, as well as algae-mediated remediation and the use of nature-based solutions.
• Demonstrate further sustainable biomass processing and conversion steps into added value bio-based product(s).
• Maximize the resource / energy efficiency across the value chain. Integration with renewable energy sources can be considered.

In addition to the specific requirements applicable for the type of action, as described in section 2.2.3.1 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2025[[https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents]] proposals under this topic should:

• Ensure environmental safety and avoidance of environmental risks, including monitoring and mitigation measures during the project. In particular, the environmental assessment must also include aspects such as biodiversity protection and possible enhancement, avoidance of invasiveness, and toxicity, carbon sequestration and nutrients loads.
• Include a task to assess public perception and acceptance of the demonstrated value chains, related, e.g. to (potential) impact of large-scale macroalgae production on land and marine ecosystems.
• As part of the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA), include relevant local/regional authorities, to address coastal governance aspects, as well as end-users and consumers, when targeting B2C products.
• Ensure complementarities with past and ongoing R&I projects addressing similar challenges, including projects funded under Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe and BBI JU / CBE JU projects.[[For example, BBI/CBE projects ALEHOOP, BIOSEA, MACRO CASCADE, PROTEUS, PROMISEANG and Horizon Europe projects AlgaePro BANOS, LOCALITY - The list is not exhaustive.]]
• Establish synergies with the European Algae Stakeholder Platform (EU4Algae) and capitalise on its EU Algae projects database.