Workshop 23 "Driving Innovation in the Blue Bioeconomy: Algae "

This workshop is a collaboration between the EU4Algae project and EUMOFA, held under the umbrella of European Maritime Day (EMD) 2024. It will bring together stakeholders from across the algae and broader blue bioeconomy sectors to foster collaboration, share insights, and highlight opportunities within the algae value chain.

A special emphasis will be placed on presenting findings from the EUMOFA Blue Bioeconomy Report, which features an enhanced focus on algae, alongside updates from four key EU-funded algae projects. Additionally, the discussion will contribute to the CINEA Feedback to Policy (F2P) initiative. The EU is supporting the transition to regenerative ocean farming through targeted funding for pilot projects that help fishers shift careers, promote innovative SMEs, and advance algae sector development. Several CINEA-funded projects contribute to this effort, offering synergies and policy insights on new ocean farming models for coastal communities. Therefore, F2P aims at providing valuable feedback on policy developments, as well as the barriers, challenges, and needs identified through project discussions.

Objectives:

• Showcase the latest data and trends from the EUMOFA Blue Bioeconomy Report, emphasizing algae and its role in the regenerative blue bioeconomy.

• Highlight synergies among EU-funded algae projects, presenting key results and future actions.

• Foster networking and collaboration between stakeholders from the industry, academia, policymakers, and related sectors.

• Discuss challenges and opportunities for scaling up algae-based solutions in line with EU regenerative farming and market goals.

• Contribute insights to the CINEA F2P initiative, shaping policy discussions based on project findings.

• Provide feedback to the European Commission relevant to future policy and funding frameworks, based on lessons from project implementation and project findings.