Algae Accelerator Programme for Startups and SMEs in Algae Value Chain (Europe)

The Algae Accelerator Open Call 1 (OC1) is a competitive process by which single SMEs/Startups or consortiums of two or three eligible SMEs/Startups apply to receive innovation vouchers that provide access to the AlgaeProBANOS Mentoring Programme.

Objective and Benefits

• Algae Accelerator OC1 will provide an intensive 6- month mentoring program for SMEs and Startups from the algae sector, aimed at helping them accelerate product development in algae sectors in BANOS, by addressing business, techno-economic, marketing or industry-specific challenges in the algae domain. The mentoring program will be tailored to the SMEs/Startups’ needs as per their individual stage of development and the specific challenge they address in their application. Beneficiaries (individual or team projects) will have early access to SUBMARINER Network for Blue Growth and its Accelerator:
  • infrastructure, tools and resources,
  • matchmaking facilities, mentors, tutorials, and webinars,
  • mentorship, experts and key ecosystem stakeholders; and
  • access use-cases to pilot their solutions.

Challenges

• Economic attractiveness and de-risking in the algae Industry
  • Despite the growing interest and potential of algae as an innovative sector within the EU bioeconomy, the production volume and market size are still small. This is due, on the one hand, to various constraints limiting the expansion of the sector, such as high production costs and technological limitations, variability in biomass supply, and gaps in scientific knowledge of large-scale cultivation of algae. To enable large-scale economic production of algae-based products, the production must become an industrialized process in which process stability, reliability, product quality, sustainability, and economic viability are guaranteed. This challenge aims to address potential new business cases that would increase the market value for the algae industry in Europe.
• Scaling up challenges in the algae Industry
  • Scalability is an issue for all technologies to move from bench to pilot to fully commercial scale. Different studies have highlighted the potential of algae biomass production as an economically sustainable activity in the European bio-based industry landscape. Several constraints, however, still limit sector expansion, the primary constraints being the small market size for algae commodities in Europe, the variability in the annual biomass supply, the current state of technological development in the production and processing of biomass. Current efforts to upscale the industrial production of algae have focused on implementing efficient farming strategies and developing technologies to optimize the production and deployment, biomass harvest and crop handling logistics. This challenge aims to address innovative solutions in the algae sector that can help scaling up the algae business to commercial scale from cultivation, market replication, product validation, and/or go-to-market strategies.
• Innovative technological solutions for algae cultivation and Industry
  • Commercial production of microalgae has already taken place since the 1950’s. This production, however, had limited control of the production process resulting in low productivity and low product quality. Challenges and barriers for algae cultivation are low production volumes, high production costs, limited knowledge of market and consumers, limited knowledge on risks and impacts of an expanded algae production, and fragmented governance framework. At the most fundamental level of algal farming, there is still insufficient knowledge about disease management, interactions between species or between the desired biomass and cultivation variables, biomass volumes, early warning of new pests and development of high throughput monitoring and tracking tools. This challenge aims to address new solutions that would foster algae productivity in cultivation systems.
• Environmental and sustainability challenges in algae product value chains
  • Sustainable algal production is governed by an entanglement of regulations focused on measures of conservation and air, water, and soil quality. This challenge addresses the need for more sustainable and environmentally friendly strategies to help leverage algae product value chains. Algae producers use a broad array of process designs. The reagents used (e.g., microorganisms, enzymes, chemicals), determine the quantity and nature of the waste produced. Various biological processes amplify natural microbial populations (including metabolically or genetically engineered varieties), algal toxins (potentially inducing dermatitis, neurological disruption, and hepatotoxicity), as well as enzymes that may be potentially hazardous to the environment and individual. This challenge aims to address processes to improve economic and environmental sustainability in algae product value chains.
• Market Growth in the algae Industry
  • Challenge Description There is limited data available about the markets, both for the biomass as well as algae-based products/ingredients. This includes quantities, prices, quality requirements/standards, current players, main buyers and dominant business models, geographic setup of the value chains, among others. This framework should be set up by describing in a comprehensive manner the many inputs and outputs that occur in algal engineering operations and by identifying the methodologies required to measure these data. This challenge aims to address life cycle and techno-economic analyses that will promote the standardization of processes to leverage the development of the algae industry.
• Consumer acceptance and social legitimacy in algae
  • EU consumers and citizens are often not aware of the many benefits of algae cultivation and algae-based products, ranging from regenerating marine ecosystems to creating low-carbon products and generating blue economy jobs. Increasing social awareness of algae and algae-based products can boost the demand for them, spurring the EU algae sector’s development. Targeted analysis of consumer behaviour and preferences for algae-based products would also help to get an idea of where knowledge is lacking and where it is therefore necessary to organise awareness-raising initiatives and in what direction to take algae business development. This challenge aims at finding solutions to increase consumer acceptance and social legitimacy in algae. These solutions can be focused on consumer behaviour and preference analysis and/or awareness-raising actions involving relevant stakeholders.
• Market studies for algae biomass and algae-based products/ingredients
  • Possibly two of the most pressing and fundamental areas of standardization are in the measurement of algal productivity and biomass composition. Algal biomass productivity is the denominator in any description of algal yield, and the composition provides the respective yield of the constituents that give it market value. The aim of the current challenge is to address the application of the current methods in the algal industry related to algae biomass and algae-based products/ingredients and recommend measurement practices that are based on a review of existing methods.
• Large-scale cultivation of macroalgae in the Baltic Sea
  • Challenge Description Seaweed cultivation in the sea is recognised for promoting a positive impact on the environment. At the moment, there are no industrial seaweed farms in the Baltic Sea and no strategies implemented for upscaling the industrial production. This challenge focuses on finding solutions for implementing efficient farming strategies and developing technologies to optimize the production and deployment, biomass harvest and crop handling logistics at a large scale in the Baltic Sea.
• Sustainable packaging for algae products
  • Algae are inherently a good sustainable source for product development. In order to accelerate the sustainable development of the algae industry, consumers’ willingness to purchase algae-based products is a key factor. As consumers become more aware of the connection between conscious consumption and their own health and well-being, the demand and need for sustainability is also increasing. One possible way to accelerate the growth of sustainability in the algae sector is to be able to offer consumers climate-neutral packaging that is comparable to other packaging materials and variants, for example through information on life cycle assessment of packaging products and transparency about the origin of packaging products, so that consumers can fill the gap in knowledge and be educated and empowered to avoid purchasing products that have a negative impact on the environment and society. The aim of this challenge is to develop novel, climate-neutral packaging and packaging concepts for algae products. Where possible, actions or strategies should be implemented to promote the concept of conscious consumption in relation to packaging and to strengthen policies requiring producers and/or manufacturers to provide comparable information on environmental impact of packaging products.
• Quality standards in algae production      
  • The lack of a universal standard quality standards in the EU algae industry inhibits the direct comparison of methods and measurements used to compare processes and products from algae. To support an algae-based bioeconomy, there is a critical need to align language around technical metrics and standardization. This challenge aims to develop a reference material that will facilitate the standardization of algae production in the Baltic and North Sea regions.
• AI-based solutions for the algae Industry
  • The algae industry and algae-related research are growing, but the increasing amount of laboratory research information is not systematic, and processing algae remains challenging due to the complexity of algae cell structures. While there are already tools available that can use AI to systematically screen large volumes of scientific texts or help analyze scientific literature, none of them specialize in a supercharged AI-driven laboratory support in this specific domain and context. The aim of this challenge is to develop an AI application concept that generates decision-making aids for laboratory work on algae processing. Where possible, relevant regulations and safety standards in this specialized field should be explored.

Funding Information

• Voucher per solution (up to) EUR 10,000 for mentoring vouchers.
• Number of solutions to be selected: 10 solutions per Open Call.

Eligible Applicants

• Single applications from SMEs/Startups or consortia applications of 2-3 SMEs/Startups.
• Looking for companies:
  • in Aquaculture, Product Life Cycle Management, Environmental, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Scalability, Biofuels, Sustainable Business, Product Development, Food Packaging, Sustainable Foods, Biomass, AI Research & Development, Blue Economy, Blue Biotechnology
  • located in Europe
  • incorporated
  • idea, prototype or users stage
  • have raised funding or not
  • currently raising or not raising funds
  • have revenue or not

For more information, visit AlgaeProBANOS.