Accelerating algae product developments in Baltic and North Sea

Project Information

AlgaePro BANOS

Grant agreement ID: 101112943

DOI

10.3030/101112943

EC signature date 21 May 2023

Start date 1 April 2023

End date 31 March 2027

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 12 027 291,25

EU contribution

€ 10 939 104,65

Coordinated by

SUBMARINER NETWORK FOR BLUE GROWTH EWIV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AlgaePro BANOS (Accelerating algae product developments in Baltic and North Sea)

Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2026-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The AlgaeProBANOS project addresses a challenge in the Baltic and North Sea (BANOS) area: how to harmonise economic development with social and environmental goals in line with the Mission Ocean. The project brings together 26 expert and industry partners from the BANOS area and beyond, to accelerate product development and market access of sustainable algae solutions.

There is a rising demand for green healthy natural consumer and bio-based products, and algae can become the biomass resource of the future, without using fresh water, arable land, or added fertilisers and or pesticides. Both the Baltic and North sea engulf the necessary conditions to scale up production and produce both commodity and sophisticated algae- based products. Spanning four years and with a budget of over €12 million, of which around €1 million is to be contributed by SMEs, AlgaeProBANOS will focus on leveraging the unique properties of algae to create new, high-value products and services for a variety of applications.

Through the project, the 26 partners and affiliated entities of the AlgaeProBANOS consortium will build acceleration networks and digital solutions to support algae businesses, while running six business pilots across the Baltic and North Sea region, making use of both micro- and macroalgae for applications in food, feed, nutraceuticals, textiles, cosmetics and plant biostimulants. The project will bring eight innovative algae-based products to market, helping to meet the growing demand for ecologically friendly, high quality circular bio-based goods. To ensure the social, environmental and economic sustainability and circularity of the algae sector, partners will develop a framework, while working directly with consumers to raise awareness and ensure new products meet end-user demands and trends.

At a meta level, the Algae Accelerator develops new and aggregates existing knowledge, and develops a portfolio of solutions, guidelines and a collaboration and training platform, to benefit the entire algae industry and nourish it into a thriving industry by 2050. The legacy of AlgaeProBANOS will be deposited to the Ocean Mission BANOS and the EU4Algae.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

At the end of the second reporting period, tangible progress has been made across the value chain.
On supply, partners have published recommendations for the sustainable wild harvesting of macroalgae and the collection of beach-cast biomass in the region, drawing on national practice in Estonia, Denmark, France and Norway. A novel sea-based cultivation method for the drifting form of bladderwrack has been validated over two consecutive seasons at two Baltic sites, opening a route to small and medium algae farms locally; and the first reference genome for the Baltic-native red seaweed Furcellaria lumbricalis has been assembled. For microalgae, the cultivation medium at one of the project's main pilots has been re-engineered to use significantly less phosphorus, manganese and iron, with cobalt removed altogether; closed-loop cultivation now recycles up to ninety per cent of water and nutrients at pilot scale.
Across the six business pilots, second-generation prototypes of the project's eight algae-based products are now being evaluated by end-users. Several are approaching commercial readiness, with industrial partnerships in development.
The project has also built a multi-dimensional sustainability assessment framework combining environmental limits with performance indicators across environmental, economic, social and governance dimensions, and the first phase of Life Cycle Assessments is complete for all pilots.
The Algae Accelerator has run two open calls, providing voucher-funded expert mentoring to twenty external start-ups and small businesses. Sustainable circular business models have been completed for the pilot companies, and market strategies prepared for six product sectors. A suite of digital tools is now publicly available on the project website: a techno-economic screening tool, an interactive dashboard, and an AI-powered knowledge base on algae.
Consumer engagement has continued through co-creation workshops, and a large-scale public survey on the social acceptability of seaweed farming is being prepared across seven European countries. Commercialisation strategies and industry blueprints are in development for the food, feed, nutraceutical and biostimulant value chains.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has shown that the region's algae can be sustainably cultivated and harvested; that they can be processed into a credible range of consumer and bio-based products; that environmental, economic and social trade-offs can be assessed within a coherent framework; and that a structured mentoring programme can extend these benefits to algae businesses well beyond the consortium.
If the approaches piloted are taken up at scale, the region could see new small to medium algae farms by 2030, providing local jobs and a domestic alternative to imported biomass; consumers will gain access to products from a renewable marine resource that needs no fresh water, arable land or added fertilisers; and industries from food and aquaculture to textiles and personal care will benefit from circular, lower-footprint ingredients.
Realising this impact in full will require attention to several needs. Some technical questions need further research and demonstration, including scaled cultivation of native red seaweed species and validated approaches for managing iodine and other naturally occurring trace elements in kelp-based foods. Scaling the production of high-value bioactive compounds will require sustained technical and financial backing, including support for protecting and commercialising new intellectual property.
Algae businesses moving from advanced prototype to commercial-scale production face a financing gap that current European instruments only partially address. Clearer routes to follow-on investment, complementing Blue Invest with blended finance and public procurement, would strengthen the sector's prospects. Forthcoming European rules on iodine and trace-element levels in seaweed-based foods will require continued dialogue with regulators, and certification pathways must be fully operationalised. Sustained engagement with industrial and retail buyers will be essential to translate technical readiness into commercial uptake.