Project description
Sustainable aquaculture farms
The demand for fish is increasing in the EU and worldwide. Aquaculture therefore represents an optimal solution to meet the current market need. The EU-funded SilGen project is developing an aquaculture system that will ensure mass production of premium-quality fish, thanks to a sustainable technology. In this scope, three pilot farms will be established featuring tech standardisation, operational protocols for different environmental conditions, business management, advanced feed formulation and species optimisation as well as marketing and commercial preparatory actions. Eventually, the project will help the EU to significantly reduce its environmental footprint.
Objective
There is a large and constantly growing consumer demand for fish in the EU and worldwide, yet natural waters are on the edge of overfishing and capture fisheries cannot satisfy market need. Aquaculture production is the only way to go, but EU is characterised by a fragmented approach and is thus not able to compete well with global competitors, covering more than half of its consumption from imports.
SilGen offers a complete system of highly efficient aquaculture for mass production of premium quality fish that is guaranteed free of contaminants. The technology is highly sustainable, can be operated under any geographical and climatic conditions, and offers 200% productivity vs traditional methods.
SilGen builds on the novel opportunity offered by the comprehensive package of a newly domesticated predatory species of the native European catfish, scientifically formulated feed, and an elaborate production technology that has been perfected over a decade, now ready for deployment.
However, marketing a complex novel package is a bold, disruptive step, translating to risk for initial adopters. Therefore 3 demonstrator farms will be piloted, establishing technology reference, market replication, and commercial bridgehead position.
The real-life piloting will feature tech standardisation, operational protocols for different environmental conditions, business management, advanced feed formulation and species optimisation, as well as marketing and commercial preparatory actions.
SilGen will be commercialised under a franchise brand, ensuring investment-light fast growth and strong scalability, to be executed by a joint venture of consortium members in ‘SilGen International’.
Beyond the economic gains and global perspective, the transformative technology has the power to resolve structural limits of the European fish supply sector and drive consumer habits towards high quality, healthy, local produce, alleviating EU reliance on imports and environmental footprint.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
1052 BUDAPEST
Hungary