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Evolution of microalgal biotechnology: a survey of the European Patent Office database

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Abstract

Microalgal biotechnology is an innovative sector in the field of biotechnology and has evolved exponentially in the last 100 years. With the aim of finding out the current situation of the sector and its development, patents on microalgal biotechnology were surveyed in Espacenet, the European Patent Office database. The objective of this study was to identify the main trends in microalgae-related patents in the most commercial genera: Chlorella, Spirulina, Dunaliella, Haematococcus and model organism Chlamydomonas.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Finance and Competitiveness through ALGALIMENTO project in the framework of the INNPACTO Programme and by the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society, through ALGAEFEED project. The authors are grateful for the free trial provided by Matheo Patent software.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biotecnología, Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, Pozo Izquierdo, 35119, Sta. Lucía, Spain

    Adelina de la Jara, Patricia Assunção, Eduardo Portillo, Karen Freijanes & Héctor Mendoza

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  1. Adelina de la Jara
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  2. Patricia Assunção
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  3. Eduardo Portillo
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  4. Karen Freijanes
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  5. Héctor Mendoza
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Correspondence to Adelina de la Jara.

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de la Jara, A., Assunção, P., Portillo, E. et al. Evolution of microalgal biotechnology: a survey of the European Patent Office database. J Appl Phycol 28, 2727–2740 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-016-0805-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-016-0805-8

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