SeaMark Deliverable 7.2: A Platform for Market Exploitation

Summary

Multiple native European seaweed species are subject to growing interest from European policymakers, researchers, industry, and consumers alike as climate-smart alternatives to terrestrial crops and fossil-based industrial feedstocks. In Europe, commercialisation of macroalgae remains in its infancy: most producers are small-scale, with biomass applied predominantly in niche or low-volume product. The potential range of mainstream industrial applications of macroalgae is far-reaching, from bio-stimulants and feed additives to meat replacers, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical devices. Remaining bottlenecks to upscaling the industry include the development of robust, high yield seed material; high-volume pre-processing and biorefinery; product development; as well as industry-, regulatory- and consumer acceptance. The SeaMark (“Seaweed-based market applications”) project will identify, develop, and exploit concrete solutions to all of the above bottlenecks, thereby accelerating the