WHO WE ARE

https://upb.ro/en/

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB) was founded in 1818 and is the oldest and most prestigious engineering school in Romania. The mission undertaken by UPB is conceived as an intersection of education, through professional training, scientific research, through the production of knowledge, and innovation. Its main mission is to train the capacity to adapt to the requirements of the market economy and new technologies, to have economic and managerial knowledge and to promote the principles of sustainable development and to protect the environment. Currently, UPB organizes, through its 15 faculties, bachelor's degree studies (88 programs), master's degree studies (191 programs), and doctoral studies (14 doctoral schools). Approximately 30000 students are enrolled in these programs. Within the university there are curricula with teaching in foreign languages, i.e., English, French, and German. UPB has high-performance teaching and research staff (more than 1300 people) working in 53 departments and 47 research centers. The Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, part of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies provides teaching activities in the disciplines of Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. UPB team has relevant expertise in experimental study and modelling of transfer phenomena in unit operations and (bio)chemical processes, e.g., biomass pretreatment, pyrolysis, extraction, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and in project management. UPB team will coordinate WP1 (Management and coordination) and will be involved in WP2–WP6, especially in material (pre)treatment and characterization, statistical analysis, preparation of research reports and papers.

https://www.norsok.no/en/

Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture (NORSØK) is a research institute established in 1986 to support the organic sector in Norway by conducting relevant research (R), development (D) and dissemination activities. NORSØK is located in Tingvoll, southwest of Trondheim on a farm managed by organic dairy production, where a broad range of scientific and dissemination activities are carried out. Out of 24 employees, 5 have a doctoral degree and 4 are PhD students. Fertilisation of crop plants, soil fertility, soil health and organic matter, climate effects of agriculture, and animal health and welfare are core areas for NORSØK.

Being located along a fjord and close to important areas of marine activities, NORSØK has been involved in blue-green R&D collaborations over several years. Our main focus has been to develop fertilisers applicable in organic growing, derived from marine residual materials such as fish bones and algae fibers. Trials have shown significant and positive effects on the growth of field crops. This will now be studied in further detail in MARIGREEN, where NORSØK (AK Løes) leads a work package and PhD student (J. Cabell) will conduct many activities. Composting of seaweed residues with N-rich blue materials such as fish and mussel residues, and extracting the compost to possibly derive new products with fertiliser and biostimulant effects, will be core activities at NORSØK. Composts will be compared with products made from fresh residual marine materials, made available by several industry partners in Norway and Denmark. In light of increasing prices and restricted access to fertilisers globally, marine-derived fertilisers may become a product for export.

https://www.auth.gr/en/

Aristotle University of Thessalonki is the largest University in Greece. Its educational and research activities cover all physical, chemical and biological research, extending into agricultural, health, and engineering fields. The Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry and Advanced Materials in the School of Chemical Engineering, is an accredited Laboratory, officially recognized in the Faculty and University by National Law. The research activities of the Laboratory involve multidisciplinary research in the fields of chemistry, biology, molecular engineering, and (bio)technology. In that respect, the Lab trains researchers at all levels of high education (undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral) and carries out research with emphasis on a) the (bio)inorganic chemistry of biological systems, focusing on human (patho)physiologies, b) use and modification of natural products as materials interacting with molecular targets of inorganic, organic and hybrid nature, in cellular systems, and c) nanotechnology linked to transport and delivery of molecular species (low and high molecular mass) in (bio)medical engineering applications (cancer, diabetes, neurodegeneration).

The Lab (representative of Greece in MARIGREEN) possesses extensive experience in the study of hybrid inorganic-organic biological systems, biochemical engineering and molecular biology of organic, naturally occurring compounds, active in bacterial, plant and human (patho)physiologies. The long-term experience in running multidisciplinary projects testifies to the resolve in designing, implementing, and coordinating projects on cellular biomass development, isolation, and evaluation of organic compounds useful in plant growth, with environmental and industrial applications. The lab staff involved in the MARIGREEN project contributes to elaborate synthetic and physicochemical studies pertinent to organic-antioxidant-bioactive compounds in blue biomass waste, chemical and biotoxicity profiling of derived extracts as fertilisers and biostimulant-bearing enhancers of plant growth. The collective input of the Lab, collaborating with all European partners, in promoting molecular engineering in multidisciplinary applications relevant to the present project exemplifies the innate drive of the School and the University to pursue research of excellence in fields, where knowledge and applications meet to provide tangible solutions to real problems in the country and the European Union.

http://usamv.ro/index.php/en/

USAMV is the oldest and largest institution of higher agronomic education in Romania, founded in 1852, its activity having as main focus high-performance education, research and extension. The research activity is organized in one institute, 3 R&D stations and 9 research centers. Currently, the university consists of 7 faculties (Agriculture; Horticulture; Animal Productions Engineering and Management; Veterinary Medicine; Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering; Biotechnologies; Management and Rural Development) and 2 branches (in Călărași and Olt counties), comprising 12,000 enrolled students, and multidisciplinary research laboratories as well as a research greenhouse, all designed to European standards, providing competitiveness both at national and international level. The Research Centre for Studies of Food Quality and Agricultural Products (https://www.qlab.ro/), who will be the coordinating facility in USAMV for this project, is a modern state of the art infrastructure comprising 13 laboratories and a research greenhouse. One of the strategic objectives of USAMV is to become a reference center in the study of the quality of agri-food products, which can be the starting point for increasing the economic competitiveness of several economic sectors in Romania (biodiversity, organic agriculture, integrated agricultural production, human and animal health, so on). USAMV expertise consists in sorption processes, impregnation techniques, physicochemical characterization of bioactive compounds from biomass, biochemistry, plant and animal products processing technology / design, crops technologies, IPM, and project management.

USAMV team will coordinate WP 4 (BLUE fertilisers via impregnation) and be implicated through the whole project. Selected materials (compost, pellets and possibly liquids) will be tested at USAMV for fertilisation effects and nutrient-supplying capacity in greenhouse with lettuce as test crop, and in field with strawberries as test crop.

https://www.aqua.dtu.dk/english

DTU Aqua conducts aquaculture research activities both at the North Sea Science Park in Hirtshals, northern Jutland, where we have our own international standard research facilities, and in collaboration with partners in the aquaculture industry at their facilities. DTU Aqua’s research findings are used by the authorities and for management purposes as well as by the aquaculture industry and by a large number of secondary industries, e.g., raw material suppliers, feed manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, components and recirculation facilities. Both the aquaculture industry and the secondary industries are suppliers to the global market, and the research conducted into aquaculture thus supports Danish exports. The research activities are central elements in DTU Aqua’s consulting services to the authorities, primarily the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and its agencies, but also to municipalities.

DTU Aqua has facilities specifically designed and well-suited for research within aquaculture at the North Sea Science Park in Hirtshals, Jutland. These experimental facilities provide the base for the institute’s research into aquaculture, farming technology and fish physiology. The facilities enable DTU Aqua to work with a wide variety of species under very different conditions, with recent research focuses primarily on species like rainbow trout, salmon, sole and zander. The aquaculture facilities in Hirtshals are unique in Denmark and outstanding in an international context as well. The facilities cover everything from small-scale pilot experiments to trials at commercial and semi-commercial scale. The facilities provide access to research into both fresh and salt water, and the water temperature can be adjusted. Almost all the facilities are electronically monitored and linked to 24/7 surveillance.

The general objective of DTU Aqua is to conduct dissemination, communication and outreach activities (e.g., meetings, mobility and training, participation in trade fairs, summer school, conferences, congresses, symposia, workshops and other events, publishing peer-review and general papers, press releases and other communications of results achieved in the MARIGREEN project) to different target groups (fisheries, aquaculture, farmers). Additionally DTU Aqua will work with Alumichem in the development of a fish cake from an organic fish farm.

https://ifro.ku.dk/english/

UCPH is a public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark, founded in 1479. University of Copenhagen consists of six different faculties, with teaching taking place in its four distinct campuses, all situated in Copenhagen. Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO) is part of the Science Faculty, being the only social science institute at the faculty. The department carries out basic, applied, and business-oriented social science and humanities research in a multidisciplinary setting, embracing economics, law, sociology, political science, development studies and bioethics. IFRO is Denmark’s only university department specializing in food and natural resource economics. The target fields are in particular: the natural environment and resources; food production, markets and agricultural policy; global development; food consumption, nutrition and health. Research at IFRO is divided into four sections covering a wide range of subjects, but researchers at IFRO also carry out cross-disciplinary research. The research of the section addresses fundamental questions and challenges as well as applied policy, relevant aspects of human kinds, use and protection of the environment and natural resources in a wide sense, including how people interact, e.g., in forms of conflict over natural resources or in the relation to provision of public goods. These questions are addressed from a social science perspective covering in particular disciplines like economics and typically engage in interdisciplinary research projects with national or international colleagues from natural and health sciences. Approaches cover theory formation and theoretical analysis as well as numerical modelling and simulation, experimental approaches and large scale empirical analyses based on surveys or long-term databases of economic and environmental issues. The applied work includes issues like the optimal regulation and use of natural resources like agricultural land, forests, game and fish stocks, aquaculture, environmental valuation and regulation of externalities, cost-effective protection of biodiversity, groundwater and water bodies and the economics and policies of climate mitigation and adaptation, but also issues of consumption.

Together with NORCE to examine whether commercial blue organic fertilizer and bio-stimulants can become economic viable. The economic analysis investigates both sufficient supply of raw material and whether a market for blue-based fertilizers exist, where the revenue exceeds the cost of production. The economic analysis will integrate information from the entire interdisciplinary team.

https://www.norceresearch.no/

Norwegian Research Center (NORCE) is one of Norway’s largest research institutes with a large academic breadth and strong knowledge base delivering research and innovation in energy, health, climate, environment, society, and technology. NORCE’s solutions respond to key societal challenges and contribute to value creation locally, nationally, and globally.

With activity along the entire Norwegian coast, NORCE has approximately 750 employees, over 2000 research projects and 750 clients. NORCE's operations are organized into the 3 divisions Energy and Technology, Health and Society, and Climate and Environment.

The largest owners in NORCE are the four universities: University of Bergen, University of Stavanger, University of Agder, and UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, either as direct owners or through regional holding companies. Additional owners include counties and municipalities, research foundations, and companies in industry and finance. NORCE team together with UCPH will examine whether commercial blue organic fertilizer and bio-stimulants can become economic viable. The economic analysis investigates both sufficient supply of raw material and whether a market for blue-based fertilizers exists, where the revenue exceeds the cost of production. The economic analysis will integrate information from the entire interdisciplinary team.

https://alumichem.com/

With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, and an established and broad international network of knowledge-intensive employees and collaborators, Alumichem is built on solid expertise in chemicals, equipment and consulting. At Alumichem, we are committed to ensuring that our customers achieve optimal and cost-effective results in their wastewater and water treatment processes. We always make use of the best available technologies on the market, and we innovate and develop new products and technologies. That way, our customers make the most of their processes and enjoy the most environmentally friendly products.

Alumichem is a leading Nordic producer of functional aluminates and specialty chemicals, serving customers all over the world. Our products are used in a wide range of applications and industrial processes from water treatment and eco-friendly deicing, to battery technology, powering the future of zero-carbon transportation.

http://www.fjordlaks.no/

Anita and Anders Pedersen established Fjordlaks in 1973 with the emphasis on smoked wild salmon and peeled prawns. They subsequently decided to start producing fish themselves, and the salmon and trout farm was in place in the fjord in Sunnmøre in 1976. A wish for diversify led to the acquisition of a klipfish production facility in Ålesund in 1985. The production of trout was sold to new owners the summer of 2016, and Fjordlaks is today only producing klipfish. Fjordlaks has to dauther companies, i.e., Tufjordbruket AS is in Tufjord, Måsøy community, in West Finnmark, just North of Hammerfest in the northen part of Norway. They buy and produce saltfish that will be dried to klipfish. Karlsøybruket AS is in Karlsøy community, North West of Tromsø, also in North of Norway. They buy saltfish and produce klipfish locally.

Covering an area of 30.000 m2, the Fjordlaks headquarters and modern production plant has a central location in the heart of Ålesund, at the west coast of Norway.

Ålesund grew as a town in the course of the 19th century owing to the flourishing fish trade, a tradition that we are continuing. Today Ålesund is a bustling town with a wide range of business specialising in marine aquaculture, fisheries and other maritime activities. The art nouveau architecture that gives the town its character is the result of the reconstruction that followed the great fire of 1904.

https://www.algea.com/

Algea collects and processes algae like Ascophyllum nodosum to make extracts and phytocomplexes for use in agriculture and animal feed.

In Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle, in one of the purest habitats in the world, we have been harvesting and processing Ascophyllum nodosum with great passion for over 80 years.

Because this seaweed undergoes strong climate stress due to being sometimes exposed to the sun and bad weather and other times immersed into freezing Arctic waters it developed active components of the highest quality and purity. We harvest Ascophyllum nodosum following a strict process to preserve its quality, with tools and technologies that are so advanced that they leave the environment completely unchanged. Processing takes place near harvesting areas to keep all the properties intact. As well as our first site, we have built a new ultra-modern plant to process seaweed.

In 2002 we joined the Valagro Group, sharing their vision: Meet people's needs using up the least amount of resources thanks to a new awareness that is able to use science for the benefit of mankind through innovation while respecting nature at the same time.

Thanks to the Geapower technology system developed by Valagro, we gained complete knowledge of the Ascophyllum nodosum. We can therefore design and develop innovative solutions using seaweed for specific purposes: for agriculture and animal feed.

Production chain checks, attention to the environment and to the population of the surrounding areas and the strict tests we run on our products make us a point of reference worldwide for the production and marketing of seaweed products.

https://www.sigurdfolland.no/home.php

Sigurd Folland AS is a traditional, family-run fish producer based in Averøy. Established in 1928 by Sigurd Folland, we produce a variety of salted and dried fish products for private and retail customers in Norway and Europe.

The company's founder, Sigurd, was originally a farmer but wanted to seek new opportunities in the ocean environment and bought the Langbakken Island. Here he started the production of clipfish. His sons Edvin and Sigurd Bjarne joined him early in the history of the company. They purchased the coaster ''Eos'' to carry fresh fish and saltfish. In 1999 Edvin's son, Sigbjørn, took over responsibility of the company. Today, Sigbjørn runs the company together with his two sons Emil and Ole Sigurd.

Over the last 20 years, turnover has doubled and the number of employees is more than 20 employees. Despite major changes over time, the focus on quality has never changed. Just like 90 years ago, we sell fish products of the highest quality.

https://www.snadderogsnaskum.no/english

Snadder & Snaskum AS has been a leader in the Norwegian shellfish industry since 1980, and is the country's oldest mussel producer. Our organic mussels are grown locally and packed at our factory in Rissa, Trøndelag. Founder, enthusiast and Snadder King Magne Hoem has lead us every step of the way. Snadder & Snaskum delivers fresh mussels year-round.

Mussels from Snadder & Snaskum are organic shellfish and bear the Debio mark. This means that we meet all the requirements for environmentally-friendly food production. To be considered sustainable, the process of growing and harvesting mussels must not come at the cost of the destruction of the natural environment, and we must maintain these resources for future generations. We do not feed our mussels; Mother Nature takes care of that. Mussels, therefore, are one of the most eco-friendly food products. Since mussels are also nutritious, tasty and cheap, they can be enjoyed often with a good conscience.