Picture – From left to right: Brian Thomsen (AAC Chair), David Bassett (EATIP General Secretary), Commissioner Kadis, Yobana Bermúdez (MAC Chair).

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Please see below the programme of the event:

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The presentations are available for EATiP members on our intranet.

Lorella de la Cruz Iglesias (EC DG MARE), Gustavo Larrazábal (EATIP President), David Bassett (EATIP General Secretary)

Alexandra Neyts (EATIP)

Aquaculture Europe 2022 Innovation Forum

“From Policy to Solutions”

Creating the correct circumstances for the successful uptake of innovation solutions across aquaculture value chains benefits from a methodological approach considering industry needs alongside strategic political and policy objectives, coupled with an understanding of appropriate delivery vehicles.  Multiple knowledge transfer and facilitation routes, including platforms, projects, accelerators, and dissemination/education tools all have a key role to play in effective innovation transfer and capacity building. 

The AE2022 Innovation Forum aimed at industry actors, policy makers, knowledge transfer experts, and those engaging in aquaculture knowledge development and collaboration, to inform how best to ensure meaningful knowledge & innovation transfer addressing research gaps and priorities for action whilst ensuring impact.

10:30 to 11:30 Part I. The Policy environment as a driver for Innovation Uptake

Moderated by David Bassett, EATiP

Short, focussed presentations with Q&A after each

• Global aquaculture policies as a lead for setting priorities nationally – Austin Stankus, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division
• Implementing the Research and Innovation aspects of the Strategic Guidelines and the Aquaculture Assistance Mechanism for a more sustainable and competitive European Aquaculture – Lorella de la Cruz, European Commission, DG MARE
• A new approach for a sustainable Blue Economy – Blue farming within the Green Deal & Farm to Fork Strategies – Birgit Van Tongelen, European Commission DG MARE
• Mission Restore Our Ocean & Waters – Taking a Regional /Basin Approach – Nikos Zampoukas, European Commission DG RTD

11:30 to 12:30  Part II. The Building Blocks

Moderated by Mieke Eggermont, EATiP Mirror Platform Working Group

A panel-based discussion focussing on the available instruments and how they operate to facilitate the identification of needed innovations and mechanisms to maximise uptake.

Contributions from

• Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) smart specialisation platform(s) for Aquaculture – David Basset, EATiP
• EATiP Mirror Platforms: regional & national clusters:
  • Ann Cecilie Hilling, NCE Aquaculture
  • Yolanda Molares & Agustín I. López Gialdi, ACUIPLUS
• National Innovation Organisations – Øyvind E. Haga, Innovation Norway
• European Institute of Innovation & Technology – Mercedes Groba, EIT Food

12:30 to 14:30 Lunch (on your own) and visit to the AE2022 Trade Show

14.30 to 15:15 Part III. Facilitating the uptake

Moderated by Damian Toner, EAS

Following up to Part II, with a focus on concrete measures within the policy and building blocks of the previous sessions to present and discuss approaches, experiences and best practice.

• How to throw good money after good money: getting from public funding to the market – Ingeborg Korme, BlueBio Cofund
• Commercialising innovation in aquaculture: lessons from Hatch Blue – Chris Sworder, HATCH Blue
• Rethinking Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation (CDE) approaches for Industry Impact – Frederick Bruce, SUBMARINER Network

15:15 to 17:15 Part IV. Selected Case Studies

Moderated by Alexandra Neyts, AQUAEXCEL3.0

Watch AQUAEXCEL3.0 videos

Selection of case studies with outputs leading to either increased TRL
or with high innovation potential.

AQUAEXCEL3.0 Transnational access high-impact outputs:

• Massimo Orioles: Red Mark Syndrome in rainbow trout: advances in diagnostics and management strategies
• Ricardo Ekmay: Beyond insect flour: use of Wood-Based Yeast SCP (single-cell protein) as an ingredient for Trout diets
• Hijran Yavuzcan: A novel welfare assessment tool for sea-caged European Seabass: the SWIM (Salmon Welfare Index Model) approach
• Raneesha De Fonseka: Triploid salmon: how salinity influences their growth and welfare
• Dinara Bekkozhayeva: No more tags: a novel method to identify fish by using their scale patterns

Discussion chaired by Kjell Maroni, FHF and member of AQUAEXCEL3.0 IRAP

Research-based industry innovations and start-ups:

• Industry innovations: Viking Aqua (AquaBioTech, Shane Hunter)
• Accelerators: Planktonic (Antonio Coli)
• Knowledge and Innovation Community: Next Tuna (Paul Sindilariu)

17:15 Wrap up – with the 4 moderators giving a short summary of their parts.

Apply for fully EC-funded access to top class aquaculture research infrastructures with AQUAEXCEL3.0

The AQUAEXCEL3.0 project unites major aquaculture experimental facilities with capacity to undertake experimental trials on a selection of commercially important aquaculture species and system types. These facilities are made available to the research community for Transnational Access (TNA) with the support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (Infrastructures).

Transnational Access involves a research group in one country collaborating with one or more AQUAEXCEL3.0 Infrastructures that are located in a different country to the applicant, and which offer facilities and expertise not available in their own country. The collaboration normally takes the form of one or more scientists from the applicant organisation visiting the selected AQUAEXCEL3.0 installation to undertake research work there for up to 3 months. In some cases, remote access is also available (where the applicant is not present for some or all of the experimental period at the installation).

The facilities available cover the entire range of aquaculture production systems (recirculation, flowthrough, cage, hatchery and pond systems); environments (freshwater and marine, cold, temperate and warm water); scales (small, medium and industrial scale); culture species (fish, shellfish, seaweeds and insects); and fields of expertise (nutrition, physiology, health and welfare, genetics, engineering, monitoring and management technologies).

The overall objective of the project is to promote the coordinated use and development of these experimental facilities and encourage problem-based research and knowledge transfer to more effectively support the development of a sustainable European production of high-quality seafood with reduced environmental impact. The establishment of new transnational collaborations is strongly encouraged, as well as the participation by SMEs.

Applications for Transnational Access can be made at any time (continuously open call).

More details and to apply: see attached flyer, and https://aquaexcel.eu/transnational-access/

More information on each facility can be found here: https://aquaexcel.eu/resource-infrastructures/ and https://aquaexcel.eu/interactive-map/ – including pictures and videos of the facilities. Interested people with a project idea who need a little help finding the right facility can contact our orientation committee at aquaexcel-OC@inra.fr.

We also have a number of “success stories” from previous TNA users – https://aquaexcel.eu/media-centre/ and https://aquaexcel2020.eu/results (check out the Video and Innovative Outputs sections) which can be used as inspiration.

AQUAEXCEL3.0 is a research infrastructure project funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). The project aims to further support the sustainable growth of the European aquaculture sector. For more details see the project website: https://aquaexcel.eu/

The workshop was organized by EATiP in conjunction with Copernicus Marine, EMODnet and the European Commission (DG MARE and DG DEFIS), as a follow-up of the successful event addressing environmental monitoring for aquaculture in the North Atlantic (see the report on MARINE DATA TO SUPPORT AQUACULTURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC). About 80 aquaculture company stakeholders, experienced data users and providers, researchers and coastal managers from across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions gathered to explore opportunities for open source marine environmental data to support and innovate the aquaculture sector.

Both the Marine Food sector related Copernicus Marine Service and the EMODnet portfolios provide valuable marine data, services and tools that might be combined with coastal models, data networks and measurements by aquaculture farms in order to contribute to a better management and operation plans.

The objectives of the workshop and a summary of the marine data from the aquaculture industry in a set of different countries in the region are attached. Information in the latter was assembled by EATiP, its regional Mirror Platforms and by key national stakeholders, based on information from national and regional authorities that are responsible for aquaculture management and spatial planning. Both documents supported the attendants of the Mediterranean and Black Seas meeting in understanding the current of play and the expectations towards a future collaborative network for better use of current data.

Thank you to all who joined the workshop!

The report  is now available here.