MarineBiotech

Coordination Support Action in Marine Biotechnology

Marine biotechnology has the potential to provide a major contribution towards addressing some of the most pressing societal challenges, including environmental degradation, human health and delivering sustainable supplies of food and energy. A sound strategy and a concerted coordination of relevant national and regional RTDI programmes in Europe are urgently needed to allow this potential to be realized.

The main goal of the MarineBiotech project is to reduce current fragmentation and duplication, and pave the way for common programmes and cooperation through a future ERA-NET in marine biotechnology.

The project aims to achieve this, through:

• Mobilization of funding agencies and key stakeholders in the field of marine biotechnology; 
• Gaining a better understanding of the marine biotechnology landscape in Europe and beyond;Investigating the potential for future cooperation between funding agencies in the a of marine biotechnology; and 
• Developing a common vision for marine biotechnology RTDI. 

Contact at the Marine Board Secretariat: Jan-Bart Calewaert Email

Final Conference Challenges and Opportunities for Marine Biotechnology in Europe (11-12 March 2013, Brussels)

The final conference of the MarineBiotech project, entitled Challenges and Opportunities for Marine Biotechnology in Europe, took place at Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, Brussels, Belgium, on 11 and 12 March 2013.

This international conference bring together 145 scientists, industry representatives, policy makers/advisors and other key stakeholders involved or interested in Marine Biotechnology research in Europe to:

• Present and discuss critical issues and policy, scientific and industry perspectives relevant to various geographic scales (pan-European, macro-regional, national, sub-national regional);
• Provide insight into some of the most important recent and ongoing European Marine Biotechnology research projects and initiatives and gather lessons learned for the future; and
• Discuss the status and progress in the support and coordination of marine biotechnology research in Europe to inform future policy and coordination efforts.

Conference Sessions addressed among others: (i) Research collaboration challenges and opportunities, (ii) Science policy and coordination: progress and remaining issues, and (iii) Industry-academic collaborations: lessons learned for the future.

The conference also presented the outcomes of the CSA MARINEBIOTECH project and looked forward towards the MarineBiotech ERA-NET. If awarded, the ERA-NET will start late 2013 or early 2014.

More information about the conference: www.marinebiotech.eu/conference

This conference was co-organised by the European Marine Board and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for the CSA MARINEBIOTECH Project.