Objective
Over 50% of all wild fish landings in Europe, both in term of weight and value, is caught using trawl fishing gear. The trawler industry faces major challenges due to high cost of energy, by-catch, damaged escape fish and high carbon footprint. The biggest problem is exerted on bottom trawling (2/3 of all trawling), rightly criticised for damaging the seafloor habitat, exposing the industry to a reputation risk with potential loss of markets and a proposed EU/international ban.
The objective of the start-up company Optitog is to instigate and benefit from a paradigm shift in trawl fishing. The disruptive innovative solution, VirtualNet, replaces conventional trawl with a new type of fishing gear that herds fish using a virtual trawl-shaped net. The net is formed by projecting directed light through sea water, without touching the seafloor, leaving the benthic habitat undisturbed. The innovation reduces by-catch, leaves escape fish unharmed and dramatically reduces oil consumption.
Fuel cost in bottom trawling is responsible for 50% of the variable cost and 30% of total revenue. This amounts 0.8 litre of oil per kg edible white fish and 4 litres per kg of shrimp, contributing to global warming. Optitog’s VirtualNet offers 40% fuel savings over conventional trawls, making it a very attractive product for existing trawl fisheries. VirtualNet will pay off in less than a year, and after that greatly increase the profits of fisheries.
The outcome will be a fully integrated and controllable disruptive fishing solution, a virtual trawl, - a breakthrough in control and resource efficiency - ready for launch in 2020 into a 400 M€ European trawl fishing-gear market and later a 4.000 M€ global market.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries fisheries
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3.2.5. - Cross-cutting marine and maritime research
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H2020-EU.3.2.3. - Unlocking the potential of aquatic living resources
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H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
105 REYKJAVIK
Iceland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.