International Cooperation

BlueBio Cofund – ERA-NET Cofund on the Blue Bioeconomy (2018-2023)

The BlueBio Cofund is the result of a collaboration between JPI Oceans and the former ERA-NET COFASP and ERA MBT and consists of 26 partners from 16 countries, with the following mission:

Using biotechnology and ICT to develop smart, efficient, traceable food systems and create synergies between aquaculture and fisheries (genetic assessment and digitalisation);
Unlock the potential of microbiomes to support growth in aquaculture, fisheries, and food processing and biotechnology;
Apply the latest developments in ICT (IoT, machine learning, big data) to the Blue Bioeconomy;
Developing innovative uses of underutilized and waste material from fisheries and aquaculture to achieve zero waste.

The main objective of the BlueBio Cofund is to establish a coordinated R&D funding scheme that will strengthen Europe’s position in the blue bioeconomy. The first co-funded call will launch 17 December 2018. The cofund partners have committed EUR 23,5 million, which will make up a maximum total budget of EUR 30 million including up to EUR 6.5 million co-funding from the European Commission.

For more information, please check the BlueBio Cofund website. You can also subscribe to the newsletter here.

Results and funding granted

Cofund Call – 2018: From biomass |to products | to markets |to consumers

FCT participated in the first BlueBio Cofund transnational call supported by 16 countries with a total budget of 29,25 million Euro, expected to explore innovative, yet sustainable and climate-friendly utilization of aquatic biomass at different trophic levels, as well as sustainable harvesting, and novel aquaculture production systems targeting a range of existing or new markets. The aim of the JTC was to create, test, upscale and bring to the market new knowledge-intensive products and services derived from a diversity of aquatic biomass from either marine or freshwater origin.

Priority areas:

Priority area 1: Exploring new resources
Priority area 2: Exploring improvements in fisheries and aquaculture
Priority area 3: Exploring synergies across sectors
Priority area 4: Exploring Biotechnology and ICT

Funding agencies from the following countries participated in this JTC: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.

Funded projects with Portuguese researchers:

Title of the project: BlueCC – Commercial exploitation of marine collagen and chitin from marine sources
Participating countries: Norway, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal
Coordination: Runar Gjerp, Solstad Nofima Marine biotechnology, Tromsø, Norway
Portuguese researcher: Ana Isabel Lillebø Batista, University of Aveiro (UA)
Financing granted by FCT: €99.873,00 (ninety-nine thousand, eight hundred and seventy-three euros)
Project budget: €1.940.882,00
Title of the project: DIGIRAS – Optimizing land-based fish production in next generation digital recirculating
Participating countries: Norway, Germany, Finland, Portugal
Coordination: Roman Netzer, SINTEF Ocean Environment and New Resources, Trondheim, Norway
Portuguese researcher: Begoña Espiña Barbeitos, INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL)
Financing granted by FCT: €99.568,00 (ninety-nine thousand, five hundred and sixty-eight euros)
Project budget: €1.679.465,00
Title of the project: BIOSHELL – Recycling crustaceans shell wastes for developing biodegradable wastewater cleaning composites
Participating countries: Romania, Portugal, Norway
Coordination: Anita-Laura Radu, The National Institute for Research & Development in Chemistry and Petrochemistry-ICECHIM, Bucharest, Romania
Portuguese researcher: Artur José Monteiro Valente, University of Coimbra (UC)
Financing granted by FCT: €59.431,00 (fifty-nine thousand, four hundred and thirty-one euros)
Project budget: €838.431,00
Title of the project: SIDESTREAM – Secondary bio-production of low trophic organisms utilizing side streams from the Blue and Green sectors to produce novel feed ingredients for European aquaculture
Participating countries: Norway, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal
Coordination: Arne Malzahn, Norway, Sintef Ocean Environment & New Resources, Trondheim, Norway
Portuguese researcher: Luísa Maria Pinheiro Valente, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR)
Financing granted by FCT: €100.000,00€ (hundred thousand euros)
Project budget: €1.870.700,00