The algae industry is no older than 70 years and currently mainly produces extracts for processed foods and other industries, such as cosmetics and medicine. High growth rates in these sectors, as well as new innovations, such as sustainable packaging from seaweed, to replace oil-based plastics, are reason for optimism about the future of algae cultivation. But apart from pure biomass production, there is a huge potential for developing a sustainable algae industry along the whole value chain, supported by a strong applied research and the valorization of strain collections and genetic resources, as well as patents, new applications, technologies, and product developments. This could be an important step towards developing a bioeconomy, while creating new education possibilities, innovations, services, and jobs. The following five points should be the strategic focus points for developing such an algal bioeconomy and promoting growth in the sector:
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1.
Basic and applied research center(s)
Focused mainly on applicative research, product development, technological development, process development, publications, and commercialization of patents
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2.
Commercial (local) strain collections
Knowledge collection and commercialization of local strains and biological/genetical resources. Also, a means of biological monitoring of environmental changes or natural conservation
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3.
Education (schools and universities)
New study subjects, e.g., “Algae Biotechnology”
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4.
Support of startup companies
Creation of a strong network to develop promising go-to the market strategies
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5.
Financing
Development of tools to finance projects (“algae fund”) and research
Asian producers of microalgae and seaweed are currently the main drivers of growth. The number of algae-producing companies in Europe has grown, but their impact is still low. Algae biomass production in the EU (0.23 Mt, fresh weight) contributed less than 1 % to the global production of 30.4 Mt in 2015 (Camia et al. 2018). However, current EU political priorities favor a transition towards a sustainable economy and therefore also the development of an algae sector, e.g., the EU Bioeconomy Strategy (European Commission 2018), the EU Blue Growth Strategy (EC, 2012), and the European Green Deal. The EU also funds development aid projects related to algae cultivation, for example, a €8 million project to help Kanembu communities in Chad adapt to the impacts of climate change and develop renewable energies, providing technology for more effective cultivation and drying of Spirulina (European Union 2020). The work is done mainly by women. Increase of production volumes and quality could generate more jobs and income for them.
There are many examples of the socio-economic benefit of algae industries in developing countries. The harvesting of Eucheuma seaweed in Zanzibar accounts for 7.6% of the islands GDP, and in total, Tanzania’s seaweed industry employs 30,000 people (The Fish Site 2020).
Recently in Bali, seaweed farming has received a renewed boom, after having been dialed down, roughly a decade ago. Due to the Corona crisis, the tourist industry has collapsed, and seaweed farming was rediscovered, generating an income of up to 400 USD a month for workers. This is just over half of what people had before pandemic but shows that diversification could help to overcome such crisis (Channel News Asia 2020).