The INNOAQUA project intends to contribute decisively for the development of a sustainable and diversified EU in-land aquaculture industry. It is set to achieve this by demonstrating and mainstreaming innovative algae-based foods and solutions, based on ecological, circularity and digitalization concepts.
The main idea behind this strategy is the use of algae, taking advantage of their special characteristics such as, high productivity, efficiency in nutrient removal from water, production of compounds with added value, potential to be consumed as food, feed or applicable in other areas, among others.
Algae are one of the main group of organisms produced in aquaculture worldwide, with more than 36,5 million metric tons and approximately 25% of total share (FAO, 2024). Despite that, and an increasing demand by European companies and consumers, Europe produced less than 0,1% of this biomass in 2022, being completely dependent on imports. Naturally this as impacts in the economic balance but also on food safety and sustainability, considering that most of the production and imports come from the other side of the world.
In-land animal aquaculture is the perfect environment to apply the concept of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) and produce algae in synergy with the animal production. Land-based algae aquaculture, produced in this way, can contribute significantly towards the sustainability of European aquaculture while contributing also towards food safety and valuecreation.
For several reasons, the development of algae production units operating solo is not always feasible. On the other hand, in-land fish farmers understand the advantages of transition from RAS to IMTA-RAS, integrating algae productions in their system. The problem lies in the need to hire algae experts and/or having the time to acquire expertise in an area that is not the core business of fish-farming. That is why one specific goal of INNOAQUA is to develop hardware and software tools to facilitate the implementation of algae productions in IMTA. Just as it is already happening with so many activities, supported by technologies such as A.I., Machine Learning and Data Intelligence, our SMARTIMTA concept is meant to be user-friendly and make algae production accessible for non-algae experts.
Stay tuned….
