Project description
The first harvest of organic European seaweed
Seaweed production is considered a great solution for future food resources, biofuels, organic fertilisers and an infinite series of sustainable products. Large sea-based farms appear in every part of the planet where the water quality and the technological conditions are favourable. The EU-funded SeaBest project will be the first initiative to close the circle from seaweed spore to a high-quality organic food product using a large-scale and cost-competitive approach in Europe. Having obtained a rich experience in offshore seaweed cultivation, SeaBest will enable low-cost, high-volume, organic seaweed to be produced in Europe, fully traceable, food-grade certified and ready for use as an ingredient on its own or contained in various products.
Objective
"The SeaBest project will be the first to close the circle from seaweed spore to a high quality organic food product using a large-scale and cost-competitive approach in Europe. The project will allow 1,000-14,000t of seaweed to be produced in Europe at up to 56% less cost compared to current practises. Our project will satisfy the high unmet demand of the global market for cultivated organic seaweed worth €9.3bn and of the European organic food market worth €30 billion in 2015. For the first time ever, we will enable low-cost high-volume organic seaweed to be produced in Europe, fully traceable, foodgrade certified and ready for use as an ingredient on its own or in a multitude of products. We are already in talks with over 15 EU food producers and we have Letters of Intent documenting demand for over 3,200t just from 5 large clients who are awaiting the ability to purchase organic European seaweed on a large-scale - so that they can pursue catering to dominant global food outlets such as IKEA and Schouten. We have performed a Phase 1 Feasibility Study funded by Innovation Norway (VIDAN - 2014/104777) that validated our pilot plant at TRL 7 and commercial viability. Over €14 million has been invested in our unique and game-changing solution since 2009 including SEAWEED-STAR Eurostars (#6027) project that verified our offshore farming technology. We are part of the H2020-BG-2016-1 project GENIALG aiming to boost the EU Blue Biotechnology Economy (BBE) by increasing the sustainable production of EU seaweed. Phase 2 funding will allow us to reach full commercial viability through technology maturation, piloting and market maturation activities. SeaBest will generate 30 new FTEs within SES and another 36 in our production partners, and we estimate an accumulated €76.5m in revenues after 5 years. By mechanising seaweed farming and reducing production costs, SeaBest will also open the way to new markets in bioenergy, biopharmaceuticals and animal nutrition."
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
7018 Trondheim
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.