ALLIANCE aims to broaden the uptake of microalgae-based products in the EU market, improving the cost-effectiveness, circularity, and overall sustainability of production, processing and product development steps. Our ambition is to demonstrate the effective establishment of algae-based mid-value ingredients using multi-product biorefineries for food, cellular agriculture, aquafeed, and agriculture sectors. Previous sustainability and cost analyses clearly pointed at our R&I targets: recirculating nutrients and water, ALLIANCE aims to expand access to microalgae-based products in the EU market, making it cheaper and more sustainable. Our ambition is to demonstrate multiproduct biorefineries for food, aquafeed, and agriculture ingredients. Our previous sustainability and cost analyses clearly pointed at our R&I targets: recirculating nutrients and water, efficient and automated control of production, reducing nutrient consumption, prioritizing renewable energy and off-the-grid operation, and solvent-free biorefinery processes. We will focus on vertical integration of upstream and downstream processes, developing and demonstrating technological solutions on the targets above for four different existing algae pipelines, which will expand from 4 into 15 lines of fractions/products (and near-zero waste). ALLIANCE will use solvent-free extraction and purification technologies that are scalable and cost-competitive, as well as wet-biomass, bypassing the dewatering process. The ingredients will feed an integrated exploitation strategic plan to identify different business cases and their timelines and markets. We will work in a multidisciplinary and multi-actor approach, with a broad group of stakeholders joining us in reaching European consumers and supporting the penetration and acceptance of microalgal biobased products. Finally, we will collaborate with policy-making communities to propose concrete solutions for addressing gaps in legislation and regulatory frameworks.

ZeroW has set the ambitious target of playing a key role in the transition of current food systems towards halving Food Loss & Waste (FLW) by 2030 and reaching near-zero FLW by 2050. ZeroW provides significant impacts through the demonstration of innovations in nine real-life food chains, by employing a systemic innovation approach, to effectively address the multidimensional issue of FLW. This involves: (i) pre-identifying systemic innovations, that incorporate multiple interlinked dimensions (process, organisational, strategy, marketing, product, technological, governance, etc.), which are tested and demonstrated; (ii) steering the evolution of innovations towards higher levels of systemic readiness and impact, using a Living Lab co-creation and multi-actor collective learning approach; (iii) enhancing the Living Lab actors’ innovation advancement capability with shared resources facilitating new ways and means of cooperating and co-developing innovations; (iv) developing context-specific trajectories for the systemic innovations (from ideation to scaling-up and commercialisation) leading to the provision of currently missing end products and services that align with consumer attitudes, food actor needs and policy trends. Moreover, ZeroW establishes a clear ‘FLW impact trajectory’, from demonstrator results (2025), scaled up to meet the F2F 2030 goals, and steered through a ‘just transition pathway’ towards a near-zero FLW in 2050.

Today there are only market opportunities for high value applications due to production costs, which are still too high to make microalgae a competitive feedstock for commodities. There is presently a large production capacity for a limited number of microalgae strains in Europe. However, the number of concrete products and market applications is still limited. The enlargement of current market applications for high-value microalgae ingredients will lead to new business opportunities, industrialize the technology and provide the knowledge and experience required to enter the medium- low value market within 5-10 years. MAGNIFICENT will expand the range of commercial products and their market volume substantially and in a sustainable manner. The overall objective of the project is to develop and validate a sustainable and economically feasible new value chain based on cultivation and processing, with the aim to transform microalgae biomass into valuable ingredients for food, aquafeed and cosmetics applications. Development and validation of new product formulations of microalgae are included in the project To achieve this, optimization will be done: 1) Upstream, cultivation related processes via adaptation and selection of algae varieties, improvement of growing conditions and target product concentration in the cell and 2) downstream process steps (separation, extraction, purification) in order to achieve the overall aim to maximise the production of compounds of interest (phospholipids rich in omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and fucoxanthin as main molecules). The work will be supported by chain evaluation, market assessment, socio-economic impact assessment and LCA. Specific attention will be paid to the requirements of the existing EU regulatory framework. The MAGNIFICENT consortium has 16 partners from 7 EU countries incl. 10 SME's, 3 LE's, 1 University and 2 RTO's, and comprises commercial partners in the entire value chain and the 3 target markets.

The AlgaeNet4AV project seeks to exploit the microalgae biodiversity, as a source for high-added-value lectins and polyphenols with antiviral properties against influenza and coronavirus pandemic strains. Microalgae derived-compounds are easily amendable, bio-degradable, non-toxic and safe; thus, they are preferred to be used for the development of novel bio-based materials and cosmetics with antiviral potential. Lectins and polyphenols could be highly demanded non-drug interventions across the materials and cosmetics industry as a solution to reduce the risk and speed of contamination and transmission during pandemic outbreaks. The project will combine the whole value chain in order to: a) develop transcriptomics and metabolomics resources from microalgae diversity as a valuable source for the discovery novel lectins and polyphenols; b) characterize their spectrum of bioactivity and toxicity and provide structure-function relationships; c) develop and optimize application-based microalgae culture systems and downstream processing strategies for higher production rate of the desired compounds; d) develop, formulate and evaluate lectins and polyphenols-based final cosmetics products. The work will be supported by market assessment, integral biorefinery designs, techno-economic and sustainability assessment. Integrated value chains will be demonstrated to deliver proof-of-concept and demonstrate economic feasibility. AlgaeNet4AV is an industry-academia R&D and innovation project with a multidisciplinary approach aimed at generating robust business cases through technology development. The consortium composed by 11 partners, with 7 European and 2 third-country (USA & Japan) prominent research organisations. Strong industrial leadership is guaranteed through the participation of 5 SMEs. The projects goals will be achieved through a sustainable way helping meet the increasing demand while creating a positive environmental impact through reduction of carbon emissions.

ProFuture will set the basis for market uptake of innovative, healthy and sustainable food and feed products, reformulated with protein-rich ingredients from Spirulina, Lemon/lightly/Chlorella vulgaris, Tetraselmis chuii and Nannochloropsis oceanica. Multi-factors approach and LCA/LCC will boost sustainability of the microalgal biomass production and processing, by reducing energy/water consumption and the carbon footprint. Implementation of innovative technologies will increase the efficiency and decrease the production costs of biomass, ingredients and foods/feeds. Optimized workflows will be tested at pilot plant, as part of a biorefinery process, to produce single-cell proteins and protein isolates, which will be characterized for their nutritional, safety, techno-functional and organoleptic properties as well as for economic viability & sustainability. Food and feed will be formulated with the novel ingredients at pilot plant level in collaboration with SME and large companies. Single-cell proteins will be incorporated in foods (n=6) and feeds (n=5) which will be produced at industrial scale. The food/feed microalgae value chain in EU will be analysed and improvements will be proposed to increase the economic viability and the communication between actors. Social and economic benefits of innovative food and feed products will be demonstrated by: i) supporting the authorization of novel microalgae protein ingredients for food and/or feed applications in the EU, ii) assessing consumer acceptance of and preference for microalgae protein-based products, iii) preparing a successful market implementation and exploitation of the project results and iv) devising a dissemination and communication plan for maximum outreach to all relevant stakeholders. ProFuture consortium (8 RTDs, 16 SMEs, 8 large industries and 1 association) brings together expertise with a clear market orientation to increase the competitiveness of the EU microalgae value chain.