Under the third and final additional call of the BlueBio Cofund, 13 projects were selected to amplify project reach and knowledge impact. The call is a smaller and shorter call, to enable a targeted funding call to organisations already participating in a BlueBio project.
Under the third and final additional call of the BlueBio Cofund, 13 projects were selected to amplify project reach and knowledge impact. The alternative funding approach we took in this call was the culmination of much discussion among partners. Consideration was given to the geopolitical landscape, funding commitments of partners, as well as developments under Horizon Europe such as the Partnership initiatives. But the primary reason we made this transition is because we wanted to support our funded projects to be more impactful.
It was thus proposed that BlueBio run a smaller and shorter call with a single stage approach to the application and evaluation, and sorter project running times. What resulted was a targeted funding call open to organisations already participating in a BlueBio project, and funded by one of the funding organisations that took part in the call: Croatia, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, and Norway. The total budget available was €560k.
As research and innovation projects progress, there are likely aspects that are uncovered that were not considered under the original proposal. Supporting our funded projects through this additional call enables complementary studies to be carried out that were not foreseen when the project began. We took into account the discussions had during the e-coffee meetings (thematic meetings) with the projects and outputs from BlueBio partner activities to develop the call scope and priority areas that we felt offered an opportunity for our projects to amplify their impact and complement their existing work programmes. These areas were:
- Dissemination of research and results (DISS)
- Training, exchange and capacity building (TECB)
- Business and commercialisation preparation (BCOM)
- Mapping of relevant policy landscape (MPOL)
- Barriers to commercialisation pathway (BARR)
A list of the projects that have been selected is provided below. The projects will be contacted by their respective funding organisations and will start immediately.
| BlueBio Project | Priority Area covered | Project Title | Lead Organisation |
| SeaSoil | DISS | Amplifying SeaSoil: Demonstrating seaweed fertilisation effects on perennial ley | NORSØK |
| SmartChain | DISS | Smart solutions for advancing supply systems in blue bioeconomy value chains_ Dissemination | SINTEF Ocean |
| SIDESTREAM | DISS | SIDESTREAM_DISS | SINTEF Ocean |
| QUALISEA | DISS | Quality assessments and preservation of cultivated seaweed | SINTEF AS |
| PlastiSea | DISS | From seaweed to bioplastics: Challenges and opportunities across the value chain | SINTEF Ocean |
| BlueCC | DISS | SOUNDSCAPES: Sonification as a platform for communication of three-dimensional data sets | NOFIMA |
| DIGIRAS | DISS | Development of a real-time fish-behaviour analysis tool for early-warning applications in aquaculture systems (RT-FIBEAN) | SINTEF Ocean |
| MARIGREEN | TECB | Workshop in the use of FT-IR for evaluating humification in marine-based composts | Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture |
| MINERVA | TECB | JUNO: Justification for Using Natural Optimizers of plant health | University of Galway |
| SUREMETS | BCOM | Business and Commercialisation of novel marine protein hydrolysates | Biomarine Ingredients Ireland |
| SUMAFOOD | BCOM | Commercial production of marine ingredients from Rest Raw Material | Nuas Technology AS |
| MARIKAT | BCOM | MARIKAT-BCOM, Blue-Bio Seaweed-based products from successful research and innovation to commercialization | MATIS ohf |
| SmartChain | MPOL | Smart solutions for advancing supply systems in blue bioeconomy value chains_ Policy | University of Iceland |