BIG-ALGAE
Bringing Innovation and Growth to macroALGAE production systems
Project details
- Type of project
- Innovation Action - Demonstration
- Feedstock origin
- Aquatic
- Feedstock type
- Micro/macro algae
- Project period
- 1 May 2026 - 30 April 2030
- Status
- In progress
- CBE JU Contribution
- € 6 999 870,25
- Call identifier
- HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025
Summary
Macroalgae, a key feedstock for sustainable bio-based value chains, are currently used mainly in food applications. Although the European Union promotes the sector’s growth through initiatives such as EU4Algae, Europe accounts for less than 0.1% of the seaweed produced each year globally. Demand in Europe is expected to rise from approximately 270,000 tonnes in 2019 to eight million tonnes in 2030, creating a substantial supply gap and increasing reliance on imports.
To expand macroalgae transformation in Europe, BIG-ALGAE aims to develop tailored biorefinery processes to extract high-value ingredients for the food, feed, cosmetics, textiles, and packaging sectors. The project will demonstrate four economically feasible and sustainable macroalgae cultivation solutions for offshore and land-based settings, including stand-alone processes and integrated macroalgae cultivation with fish aquaculture, as well as options for non-coastal urban regions, enabling wider deployment across Europe.
BIG-ALGAE will bring together macroalgae primary producers, technology developers, researchers, and industrial end-users of algal ingredients, including Korean cultivation experts, to accelerate sustainable macroalgae-based value chains in Europe.
- Increase macroalgae productivity in land-based and offshore cultivation systems by improving cultivation strategies and enabling monitoring, control, and digitalisation of the cultivation processes, increasing the availability of biomass from five native brown and red macroalgae species: Porphyra spp., Gracilaria spp., Chondrus crispus, Palmaria palmata, and Saccharina latissima.
- Develop and upscale sequential biorefinery processes for macroalgae biomass.
- Develop 14 innovative macroalgae-based products with novel or significantly improved properties: two food products, four feed formulations, two functionalised textiles, one plastic material for cutlery, one flexible film for packaging, one ingredient for nutricosmetic, one ingredient for regenerative cosmetic, one biodegradable binder for direct seeding, one substrate for macroalgae adhesion.
- Demonstrate the environmental and economic sustainability of macroalgae cultivation, as well as downstream processing activities and products.
- Ensure wider reach of BIG-ALGAE through dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities and facilitate social acceptance of macroalgae-based products.
- Develop sustainable and cost-efficient macroalgae biorefinery processes for polysaccharides, proteins, pigments, and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) at an industrial scale.
- Drive socio-economic growth by generating eight new business plans and supporting the creation of approximately 85,000 jobs across primary production, processing, and the wider value chain in Europe.
- Increase the availability of macroalgae biomass in Europe, contributing to an estimated €947 million in revenue between 2030 and 2035.
- Reinforce the European macroalgae industry by connecting researchers and innovators from multiple backgrounds and disciplines, including biology, electronics, informatics, chemical engineering, food science, materials, environmental sustainability, and social sciences.
Consortium map
Project coordination
- A4F ALGA FUEL SA Lisboa, Portugal
Consortium
- Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin Berlin, Germany
- BBA - ASSOCIACAO NACIONAL PARA OS BIORECURSOS MARINHOS E BIOTECNOLOGIA AZUL GAFANHA DA NAZARE, Portugal
- CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DE L INDUSTRIE TEXTILE BELGE GENT, Belgium
- INU RESEARCH & BUSINESS FOUNDATION Incheon, South Korea
- UNIVERSITEIT GENT GENT, Belgium
- INESC TEC - INSTITUTO DE ENGENHARIADE SISTEMAS E COMPUTADORES, TECNOLOGIA E CIENCIA PORTO, Portugal
- ISS INCLITA SEAWEED SOLUTIONS SA MATOSINHOS, Portugal
- POSEIDONADA SL Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
- ALGAPELAGO MARINE LIMITED NORTHWOOD, United Kingdom
- FUNDACION CENTRO TECNOLOXICO DA CARNE San Cibrao Das Vinas, Spain
- SMARTWATER PLANET SL LAS ROZAS DE MADRID, Spain
- NOTPLA LIMITED LONDON, United Kingdom
- GREEN AQUA VAGOS LDA VAGOS, Portugal
- Safiestela- Sustainable Aquafarming Investments Póvoa De Varzim, Portugal
- MIKROBIOLOGICKY USTAV AV CR V.V.I PRAHA 4, Czechia
- STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN Utrecht, Netherlands
- AALBORG UNIVERSITET AALBORG, Denmark
- UNIVERSIDAD DE VIGO VIGO PONTEVEDRA, Spain
Partners
- Mars Petcare UK Slough, United Kingdom
