ALLIANCE aims to broaden the uptake of microalgae-based products in the EU market, improving the cost-effectiveness, circularity, and overall sustainability of production, processing and product development steps. Our ambition is to demonstrate the effective establishment of algae-based mid-value ingredients using multi-product biorefineries for food, cellular agriculture, aquafeed, and agriculture sectors. Previous sustainability and cost analyses clearly pointed at our R&I targets: recirculating nutrients and water, ALLIANCE aims to expand access to microalgae-based products in the EU market, making it cheaper and more sustainable. Our ambition is to demonstrate multiproduct biorefineries for food, aquafeed, and agriculture ingredients. Our previous sustainability and cost analyses clearly pointed at our R&I targets: recirculating nutrients and water, efficient and automated control of production, reducing nutrient consumption, prioritizing renewable energy and off-the-grid operation, and solvent-free biorefinery processes. We will focus on vertical integration of upstream and downstream processes, developing and demonstrating technological solutions on the targets above for four different existing algae pipelines, which will expand from 4 into 15 lines of fractions/products (and near-zero waste). ALLIANCE will use solvent-free extraction and purification technologies that are scalable and cost-competitive, as well as wet-biomass, bypassing the dewatering process. The ingredients will feed an integrated exploitation strategic plan to identify different business cases and their timelines and markets. We will work in a multidisciplinary and multi-actor approach, with a broad group of stakeholders joining us in reaching European consumers and supporting the penetration and acceptance of microalgal biobased products. Finally, we will collaborate with policy-making communities to propose concrete solutions for addressing gaps in legislation and regulatory frameworks.

Aquaculture is the world fastest growing food production sector, providing over 50% of sea food, while capture fisheries remains static. However, there is increasing concern about its sustainable and profitable development. This challenge requires effective cooperation and communication between the academic and the private sector. The EASYTRAIN project tackles this challenge by developing innovative aquaculture systems based on the most modern techniques in the field of aquaponics using organic aquaculture feed formulas, which substitutes fishmeal by Spirulina and quinoa as filler. EASYTRAIN combines the expertise of two academic and four industrial partners from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Italy, with complementary expertise in the field of plant and fish farming, feed production, aquaculture engineering and micro algae biotechnology. The outcome of EASYTRAIN will be 6 researchers with experimental and transferable skills ready to cope with the future challenges of the prospect aquaculture sector.

LOCALITY will implement local, innovative, and sustainable value chains, supporting the interaction of the algae value chain actors with relevant waste stream producing industries. Three regional ecosystems will be strategically developed in key regions considering strong and active business on which circularity and sustainability will be improved by the reutilization of wasted nutrients for algae cultivation. These ecosystems will be positioned in the Baltic and North Sea bordering countries but multi-perspectively supported by other R&D and industrial experienced partners in sustainable algae production. The biomass will be processed using a biorefinery approach and raw and treated ingredients applied in the food, aquafeed, agriculture, and textile markets. An integrative methodology involving R&D partners, industry, and SMEs will work in each market sector to develop innovative and sustainable algae-based products. The consumer readiness for the designed products will be assessed, and significant constraints and legal barriers will be identified. Those will be evaluated and integrated into the business model to prepare a successful market implementation and exploitation of the developed products. A dissemination and communication plan for maximum outreach to all relevant stakeholders will be implemented. The designed products will gain a strong position in the European marketplace in the coming years.

An important gap in continued sustainability of fish farming is the lack of a proper understanding on digestive function and aquafeeds utilization. The WiseFeed project will focus on this gap using an integrative approach and considering selected key fish species in culture, the feed composition and feeding protocols. The approach in WiseFeed is based on a collaborative effort for advancing both the fundamental physiological knowledge and practical applicability. WiseFeed will build an integrated network of research groups from the academia and partners in SME and large enterprises where the overall aim is to improve performance and sustainability of aquafeeds for fish production. WiseFeed has the following specific objectives: - Develop model that quantifies digestion, absorption and retention efficiency of selected macro nutrients in key cultured fish species - Develop software package to optimize feeding strategies - Elucidate the role and effects of specific amino acids and dietary supplements for enhancing metabolism, growth and N-retention including effects of elevated temperatures due to climate changes. The research that forms the basis for WifeFeed is funded by on-going national R&D projects that constitute the scientific and technical pillars of the current proposal. The secondments will bring external expertise to each of these R&D projects and coordinate efforts among similar and related activities. The secondments also build the competence of each of the participating researchers The practical benefits of WiseFeed will be improved production yield, reduced feeding cost and reduced N-waste from fish farms. The expected added value will be a faster advance in common objectives by facilitating progress and fulfilment of the R&D objectives for each participant. Furthermore, it is also the aim of WiseFish to establish a consolidated network beyond the framework of this proposal to give response to new challenges of the aquafeed industry.

AquaIMPACT is a major effort to integrate the fields of fish breeding and nutrition to increase the competiveness of EU's aquaculture of Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, gilthead seabream and European seabass, to ensure food and nutrition security and to satisfy consumer demands for high-quality seafood with limited environmental impact. These four species together represent 75% in volume and 89% in value of the total farmed finfish production. AquaIMPACT will develop products and services based on genomic selection for the European aquaculture breeding industry, with focus on cost efficient trait recording and genotyping, and selection for traits that can only be recorded under commercial conditions. By incorporating emerging ingredients, essential nutrients and appropriate additives developed by companies, novel nutritional and feeding strategies will be up-scaled and tailor-made specifically for the genetically improved fish arising from breeding programmes. The use of genomic technologies will be economically optimised and in combination with the nutritional solutions demonstrated to produce more robust, healthy, nutritious and resource-efficient fish, promoting industrial practices of re-circular bioeconomy, zero-waste and more efficiency use of natural resources. Impacts of the innovations will be measured under practical farming conditions, co-working with commercial partners, producing more profitable farming practices. Developments in imaging technology and spectroscopy, internet-of-things, machine learning and smart-software are harnessed to improve cost efficiency of operations and to provide novel products and services. The communication and exploitation will be linked to interactive multi-actor dialogue, bringing together views of consumers, regulatory authors and companies to increase societal acceptance of aquaculture as a sustainable source of high quality nutritional products.