Kick-off meeting ERA-MarineBiotech

Published on 21 February 2014

The Marine Biotechnology ERA-NET (ERA-MarineBiotech) kick-off meeting was held in Lillehammer on the 30^th and 31^st January 2014. Representatives of each of the 19 partner institutions from the 14 countries that form the ERA-MarineBiotech consortium, and representatives from the European Commission DG MARE, attended the meeting.

The Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and DG-RTD, EU-Commission delivered welcome addresses to the meeting. Each speaker highlighted the potential for Marine Biotechnology to contribute to the realisation of the “Blue Growth” agenda. They also pointed to the scope for greater transnational collaboration, better coordination and reduced fragmentation and duplication of Research, Technology Development and Innovation (RTDI) programmes in Europe. A major aim of the ERA-MarineBiotech project is to address these issues. The representative from DG-MARE provided an update on Marine Biotechnology in the context of “Blue Growth” and discussed the preliminary results of a public consultation by DG-MARE on marine biotechnology.

The ERA-MarineBiotech coordinator presented key lessons from activities such as the CSA in Marine Biotechnology, which was a preparatory action for the ERA-NET, and other initiatives, which provide the foundation of the four year ERA-MarineBiotech project.

The main goals of the ERA-MarineBiotech project were summarised as:

To stimulate coordinated marine biotechnology RTDI developments across Europe.
To develop a Strategic Road Map - informing the calls, policy and industry.
To deliver a lasting network to fund and support Marine Biotechnology RTDI programmes.

ERA-MarineBiotech will seek to achieve this through the outcomes of 6 work packages (WP):

WP 1: Project Management and coordination (RCN, Norway)

WP 2: Strategy for the Marine Biotechnology ERA-NET and beyond in the context of the European Bioeconomy (MI, Ireland)

WP 3: Interactions with industry (RANNIS, Iceland)

WP 4: Outreach to external activities (JUELICH, Germany)

WP 5: Joint activities: implementation of joint calls and training and education activities (FCT, Portugal)

WP 6: Communication, information and dissemination (VLIZ, Belgium)

Each WP team presented details of their planned work; this was followed by a discussion concerning the contractual aspects of the project.

Professor Øystein Lie (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) delivered an enlightening presentation about "Marine resources and the impact of marine biotechnology". This formed the basis for a discussion on possible topics and procedures for the first call for research proposals, which is to be launched during 2014.

The next project meeting will take place in Belgium in April 2014.

Pictures of the klick-off meeting in Lillehammer are available in the Photo Gallery.

Further info can be found at: www.marinebiotech.eu