Sino-Swedish cooperation for the sustainable production of marine high value compounds from microalgae

Purpose and goal

The purpose of this project was to investigate the potential and to establish cooperation with relevant partners in China. The purpose was to facilitate development, commercialization and large-scale production of essential bioactive compounds from marine origin, to alleviate harmful environmental impact due to overfishing and exploitation of endangered species. The practical goal was to establish a purposeful international consortium for future collaboration. This goal was reached beyond expectation, with a strong consortium and solid project plans as the result.

Results and expected effects

We established a strong consortium with a research institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a green biotechnology company as partners in China, and a researcher at KI as additional Swedish partner. A joint project plan was developed as the basis for the further financing through the call ICE B, which unfortunately was not granted. A Letter of Intent was signed for future cooperation towards a joint venture. Furthermore, feasibility studies regarding IP, regulatory issues and business in China were performed, which strengthened our competence level for future projects.

Approach and implementation

The project followed the suggested plan well in terms of activities, and the results have been very useful to us. The time plan had to be adjusted along the way, due to national Holidays but also since certain parts were easier than expected (e.g. identifying project partners). Also, the cost structure turned out a bit different, with higher salary costs due to more extensive efforts than anticipated. In large we consider the project a huge success outperforming the plan, to a great extent because of the excellent collaboration between project partners.