deliverable 1.4 production of a vision paper on the

Deliverable 1.4 Production of a "vision paper" on the ambitions and scope of EMBRIC Date: December 2016

HORIZON 2020 - INFRADEV Implementation and operation of cross-cutting services and solutions

for clusters of ESFRI

H2020-Grant No 654008 EMBRIC

EMBRIC – D1.4: Production of a "vision paper" on the ambitions and scope of EMBRIC

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Grant agreement no.: 654008 Project acronym: EMBRIC Project website: www.embric.eu Project full title: European Marine Biological Research Infrastructure

cluster to promote the Bioeconomy Project start date: June 2015 (48 months) Submission due date: February 2016 Actual submission date: October 2016 Work Package: WP 1 – Management and communication Lead Beneficiary: UPMC Version: 1.0 Authors: Mery Piña, Ibon Cancio, Pierre Colas, Ian Johnston, Anne Emmanuelle Kervella, Ilaria Nardello, Nicolas Pade, Douglas Robinson, David Smith, Erko Stackebrandt, Bernard Kloareg Project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (2015-2019) Dissemination Level

PU Public X PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services



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Abstract

Marine (blue) biotechnology is the key to unlocking the huge economic potential of the

unique biodiversity of marine organisms. This potential remains largely underexploited due

to lack of connectivity between research services, practical and cultural difficulties in

connecting science with industry, and high fragmentation of regional development and

innovation policies.

In this vision paper we discuss how the European Marine Biological Resource Center

(EMBRC) and its association with other Research Infrastructures (MIRRI, ELIXIR, EU-

OPENSCREEN) can be used to overcome these barriers. This endeavor will be crucial for

the creation of major knowledge centers which will foster innovation in marine

biotechnology. In particular, we discuss how the need for marrying excellence, a national and

European challenge, with territorial development, which falls under the responsibility of

Regions, can be reconciled to promote the blue bioeconomy. This is the aim of the European

Marine Biological Research Infrastructure Cluster (EMBRIC, INFRA DEV 4 2014-2015).



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TableofContents

Abstract..........................................................................................................................................3

TherationaleforEMBRIC..............................................................................................................5Marinebiotechnology,anemergingfield...............................................................................................5Innovationecosystemsinmarinebiotechnology....................................................................................6OverallconceptunderpinningEMBRIC...................................................................................................7

EMBRICvision..............................................................................................................................10MainmodelandassociatedassumptionsassociatedwithEMBRIC......................................................10LinksofEMBRCwithmaritimeregions.................................................................................................10OrganizationofregionalinnovationclustersatEMBRCfacilities.........................................................11Theneedforpublicandprivateinvestmentsatvariousscales............................................................14

EMBRICobjectivesandactivities.................................................................................................15Objectivesandscope............................................................................................................................15Overallapproach...................................................................................................................................16Methodologyforimplementation........................................................................................................17

EMBRICambitionandpotentialimpacts....................................................................................19Advancesbeyondthestateoftheart...................................................................................................19Impact:contributiontoimprovinginnovationcapacity........................................................................20Impact:connectingtheEuropeanmaritimeregions.............................................................................21

Conclusion....................................................................................................................................23



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TherationaleforEMBRIC.Marinebiotechnology,anemergingfield The marine environment accounts for over 90% of the biosphere and harbours immense biodiversity. Marine organisms have historically been difficult to access and study, but through the foundation of marine laboratories and more recently biological science research infrastructures (RIs) in Europe, a wider range of marine biodiversity can now be examined in greater detail than ever before.

Biotechnology, i.e. the application of biological knowledge to develop products and other benefits for mankind, is of growing importance for Europe and will increasingly contribute to shape the future of our society. Marine (blue) biotechnology, which involves marine bioresources either as the source or the target of biotechnology applications, is fast becoming an important component of the global biotechnology sector1. This largely stems from the need to meet growing demands for bioproducts that cannot be satisfied from terrestrial sources alone.

Marine biotechnology is the key to unlocking the potential of the unique biodiversity of marine organisms. It is rooted in basic research bringing together marine biology, microbiology, physiology, toxicology, systems biology, bioinformatics, omics technologies and analytical chemistry. The result is new applications in fields such as drug discovery, diagnostics, novel foods and food ingredients, aquaculture and agriculture, bioremediation, biomaterials, cosmetics and bioenergy. In 2013 a study by Global Industry Analysts indicated a market value of 2.8 billion euros, with an annual growth rate of 4-5% 2.

In its analysis of the potential, hindrances and opportunities in the field of marine biotechnology2, the OECD states: Advances in genomics and computer science have transformed earlier views of the ocean. It is no longer simply a source of food, but a vast reservoir of genetic potential and a means of achieving a wide range of socio-economic benefits. Genome sequencing is no longer the barrier it was a decade ago and our understanding of marine bioresources has improved significantly. (However) new Infrastructures are needed, with new models, new culture systems and new bioinformatics-based approaches to visualize genomics and other types of data.

In practice, the high economic potential of marine biotechnologies remains largely underexploited. Development of the marine biotechnology sector is hindered by:

1) Operational issues preventing the scientific community from fully exploring marine biological resources;

2) Practical and cultural difficulties in connecting science with industry; 3) Cost of accessing the marine environment compared to the terrestrial systems; 1 Marine Biotechnology: A New Vision and Strategy for Europe: Marine Board – ESF Position Paper 15. European Science Foundation, 2010 2 OECD (2013). Marine Biotechnology: Enabling Solutions for Ocean Productivity and Sustainability.



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4) High fragmentation of regional innovation ecosystems in marine biotechnology across Europe.

5) Lack of appreciation of the economic potential of the marine biotechnological sector by industry and governemts (partly due to the lack of well-defined boundaries defining what can be considered marine biotechnology).

To overcome these barriers, increased connectivity is necessary between RIs and their communities of users, between science and industry, as well as between the RIs and the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) policies in the European maritime regions.

Innovationecosystemsinmarinebiotechnology The term innovation ecosystem best describes the situation of interactions between scientific, industrial, economic and political stakeholders which enable technological development and innovation. Top scientific and technical talent, a deep sense of community and a strong cooperation and coordination between stakeholders are the pillars of a successful innovation ecosystem.

Innovation systems typically involve a number of elements, ranging all the way from basic scientific discovery, knowledge and technology transfer, technological and economic maturation, IP brokerage, prototyping and demonstration for the development of new products and services. These are the key elements of technology transfer and product and service pipelines. The distance from the generation of knowledge to the market can be measured according to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale, ranging from the observation of basic principles in the laboratory (TRL 1) to the actual system proven in industry (TRL 9).3

3 See the full description of TRLs in the Horizon 2020 programme here : https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/annexes/h2020-wp1415-annex-g-trl_en.pdf



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OverallconceptunderpinningEMBRIC

Figure 1. Node distribution of RIs involved in EMBRIC. The map illustrates the geographic separation of marine stations (EMBRC nodes) mostly located

in remote areas with direct access to marine habitats, from nodes of other European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) RIs such as EU-

OPENSCREEN, MIRRI and ELIXIR, which are mainly concentrated inland.

By their very nature, most European marine biology laboratories are located in peripheral maritime regions, often far from the major knowledge centres where most of the nodes of more generic RIs such as MIRRI, EU-OPENSCREEN and ELIXIR are located (Figure 1). Similarly, marine stations are also geographically separated from major concentrations of industry and in some cases located in areas with declining fisheries or ship-building activities and unemployment rates above the European average. In their smart specialization strategies (S3), several maritime regions in Europe now fully recognize the potential of blue biotechnologies to mitigate these problems and thereby catch up with socio-economic mainstreams. To boost their maritime economies, some regions have implemented competitiveness clusters such as the Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique and the Pôle Mer Méditerranée in Brittany and Languedoc-Roussillon (France), respectively, the Alliance



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for Marine Science and Technology in Scotland (UK), or the Maritime Cluster in the Västra Götaland region (Sweden). In contrast, regions such as South West England have only relatively recently commenced the formation of a marine cluster (South Coast Marine Cluster), while others such as Algarve (Portugal) have not yet organized into such structures. Connectivity is lacking between these Regional Research Driven Clusters (RRDCs) and knowledge centres further inland. Blue biotechnology can therefore not take full advantage of the most recent advances in scientific knowledge, which is a significant weakness in the fast moving knowledge-based bioeconomy. A range of further factors hinders efficient knowledge transfer including cultural differences between the science and business communities, lack of incentives for public researchers, legal barriers, and fragmented markets for knowledge and technology4. In addition, the emerging blue biotechnology sector mainly involves SMEs, which lack the resources to engage in significant medium- and long-term R&D activities. For example, 90% of the aquaculture companies in Europe have fewer than 10 employees5 and could benefit from the cutting-edge technologies delivered by research infrastructures. Amidst these challenges there are also opportunities, for example marine biology is experiencing a scientific revolution involving approaches as sophisticated as in mainstream « terrestrial » biology, notably related to new omics techniques and the increased capacity to analyse massive amounts of data. It follows that, as in terrestrial research, marine biologists are becoming more and more specialized, resulting in greater complexity for individual scientists to achieve highly significant results. The need for interconnectivity between a variety of disciplines, such as biology, ecology, genomics, bioanalysis, and structural and analytical chemistry, is more critical than ever before. The situation described above was analyzed by the OECD, which gave the following recommendations: The wide range of marine biotechnology creates special challenges. There is a need, as in other fields, to form strategic partnerships for knowledge co-creation, transformation, mobilization and diffusion from basic R&D through to diffusion of innovations in the market place6. In its position paper on Marine Biotechnology1, the Marine Board of the European Science Foundation made three main recommendations: 1) Create a strong identity and communication strategy to raise the profile and awareness of European Martine Biotechnology Research; 2) Stimulate the development of research strategies and programmes for Marine Biotechnological research and align these at the national, regional and pan-European level; 3) Significantly improve technology transfer pathways, strengthen the basis for proactive, mutually beneficial interaction and collaboration between academic research and industry and secure access and fair and equitable benefit sharing of marine genetic resources. Transnational research programming instruments such as Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) and ERA-NETs are frontline means to enforce these recommendations by lifting research

4 European Commission (2007). Improving knowledge transfer between research institutions and industry across Europe: embracing open innovation – Implementing the Lisbon agenda. 5 European Commission (2009). Building a sustainable future for aquaculture – A new impetus for the Strategy for Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture. 6 OECD (2013). Marine Biotechnology: Enabling Solutions for Ocean Productivity and Sustainability.



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programmes out of their national confinements into the ERA as a whole. Specific programmes exist in the field of marine biotechnology such as the JPI-OCEANS « Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans » and the ERA-NET MarineBiotech. Pan-European RIs are ideal complements to these programming instruments, providing the relevant hardware to implement programmes7 and to contribute to continuity and integration. This model applies in the field of marine biotechnology, but no collective RI undertaking has been attempted so far. A number of ESFRI RIs are well suited to take part in this process and the EMBRIC partnership was established to effectively mobilise the relevant RIs and facilitate their collaboration and complementarity. EMBRC is the main pan European biological resource centre devoted to providing access to marine bioresources. Specific groups of marine organisms and associated expertise are also available through MIRRI and AQUAEXCEL. Dedicated omics platforms are available through EMBRC and MIRRI, and specific analytical technologies and expertise in the fields of bioprospection and natural products chemistry are offered by EU-OPENSCREEN. Access to data and tools for analyzing data is essential to all fields of biology and biotechnology, and this expertise is offered by the e-infrastructure ELIXIR.

7 European Commission (2013). Enabling science: EU support to research infrastructures in the life sciences. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.



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EMBRICvisionMainmodelandassociatedassumptionsassociatedwithEMBRIC RIs are seen as an indispensable hardware and knowledge-based complement to fully exploit and ensure long-lasting effects of research programming. The main model underpinning EMBRIC is thus that RIs will collectively mobilize the necessary resources to drive integration at the scientific, technological and geographical levels (cf. declarations at the 2nd International Conference on Research Infrastructures: http://www.icri2014.eu/). The RIs are in a unique position to develop marine biotechnology, by (i) organizing efficient value chain workflows across different RIs, from marine organisms captured from the sea to technology transfer and commercial products; (ii) building a cluster which will be capable of fulfilling the needs of its users according to different dimensions and scales (science and technology, technology transfer, subsidiarity across Europe); and (iii) mobilizing relevant stakeholders such as regional, national, and EU policy-makers, as well as private investors to develop and finance a sustainable cluster. The main assumptions associated with this model are: 1) For the scientific dimension: The establishment of, and provision of access to, integrated workflows will develop synergies within the cluster and with its R&D user communities. This in turn will accelerate the development of key enabling technologies, for the benefit of the scientific community as a whole. 2) For the technology transfer dimension: The fostering of synergies between regional innovation ecosystems and the emergence of a community of practice8,9 for technology transfer in marine biotechnology will lead to more effective and efficient development of innovative products. 3) For the policy dimension: By illustrating a positive incentive/risk ratio, EMBRIC will be able to convince a critical mass (>50%) of its participating legal entities to commit to providing resources, either political or financial, to sustain clustering beyond the life-time of the project. LinksofEMBRCwithmaritimeregions. EMBRC is a distributed RI with multiple sites embedded in maritime Regions. This multiregional dimension markedly differs from single-sited research infrastructures or even from traditional distributed infrastructures with big hubs located at a few sites. Moreover, EMBRC developed from existing facilities located by the sea, thus making it instrumental to promote the blue bio-economy in European maritime regions in the context of their Research and Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3). These features have been fully endorsed

8 Wenger E (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 9 Amin and Roberts (2008). Community, Economic Creativity and Organization. Oxford University Press.



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by the European Commission and the Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) organised a brokerage event in 201210 entitled “The Potential Role of Regions in the Development of European Research Infrastructures: The Example of the European Marine Biological Resources Centre (EMBRC)”. EMBRC will provide several categories of services to both Science and Industry:

• Access to marine biological resources (natural and engineered, from genes to cell factories to whole organisms);

• Access to state-of-the-art knowledge, data and know-how on marine bioresources (including cultivation, breeding and manipulation and bio-refining) ;

• Access to analytical services, particularly in the domain of marine genomics. • Access to training.

This has been recently formalized with a signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between EMBRC and the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). EMBRC will benefit from the nodes connecting with regional authorities and engaging with local innovation ecosystems, in order to promote their services including marine biotechnology, and take advantage of territorial assets. At the corporate levels, an alliance between EMBRC and the CPMR could develop a common strategy to efficiently exploit and promote infrastructure services. Such a strategy will contribute in organizing a trans-regional innovation ecosystem for blue growth based on specialties and complementarities of the regions. EMBRIC can foster regional innovation ecosystems in the emerging field of marine biotechnologies by associating research, training and technology transfer. As EMBRIC mainly contributes in Research and development while companies undertake Development and Innovation, the pooling of resources and skills in EMBRC facilities will potentially lead to more innovative products and services in the marketplace. This is an opportunity for industry to take advantage of EMBRC facilities and high level activities which are among the best performed by the academia (technology readiness levels, TRL 1-3/4) which complement private research (TRL 4/5-9), facilitating the pace of innovation and reducing unnecessary duplication. OrganizationofregionalinnovationclustersatEMBRCfacilities EMBRC facilities are located in areas with unique, yet complementary assets, covering most of the marine biodiversity in Europe. They are situated in territories where the right blend between research, higher education, technology transfer and the socio-economic forces have developed. The vision is to establish at the EMBRC sites expert centers which will be open to Industry. Depending on their developmental stage, such innovation clusters can range from the implementation of simple good practices to genuine science parks (Figure 2). At the level of

10 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/2715



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the science park, companies would work as clusters, to favor local development and a circular economy.11

Stages TRL Levelofservices Organisationcriterias Impact

1–Exploration

Pre-competitiveonly

Accordingtolocalpractices

SigningtheEMBRCcharterforgoodpractices.Inhousesmallcapacity

Local

2–Towardsinnovation

+Technologicaland/oreconomicalproofofconcept+competitiveresearch

Implementationofqualityprocess

Inhouse+separatefacilities Regional

3–Incubator

+Demonstration+Commercialization

Onepersondedicatedormore

Physicallyindependententity National

4–Sciencepark

+Productonthemarketplace

Dedicatedteamandservicesincludingpromotionoftheserviceprovision

Physicallyandlegallyindependententity European

Figure 2. Installation of expert centers at EMBRC facilities. Stage 1 is achievable by all EMBRC members at the onset of EMBRC operational phase. Stage 4, the science park,

involves integration of strategic research, initial and long-life training, and technology transfer into a single legal entity.

With a few exceptions, however, EMBRC nodes have gaps in expertise e.g. bioinformatics, chemical biology or microbiology. These weaknesses can be overcome through the implementation of workflows across the EMBRIC cluster, involving ELIXIR, EU-OPENSCREEN and MIRRI. These workflows are geared to promote bio-discovery (bio-actives, bio-refineries) and to develop new production systems (from cell factories to

11 The circular economy describes the idea of “closing the loop" of product lifecycles through increased recycling and re-use of resources that overall benefits the environment and the economy. See the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy : http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614



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aquaculture). The EMBRIC vision is to engage into a global alliance between several pan-European Research Infrastructures and to partner in the implementation of pipelines to obtain synergies that will benefit users from academia and private sector to develop marine biotechnology (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Examples of EMBRIC regional innovation clusters. The map highlights the

RI workflows in relation to the marine bioresource they stem from: 1) Macro-algae (Brittany), 2) Fish and shellfish (Scotland, Crete, Basque Country, Galicia), 3)

Microbes (prokaryotes and /or micro-algae, Occitanie, Campania).



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Theneedforpublicandprivateinvestmentsatvariousscales The main drivers of the Blue Bio-economy in Europe are the Regions, for three main reasons: i) even though science production is a global process, much of the technological production is anchored in regional development; and ii) the production systems related to marine bio-resources essentially located next to the sea, in maritime regions, iii) significant amounts of European funds for development and innovation are channeled through Regions, making them the relevant dimension to organize and promote the knowledge-based blue bio-economy. Yet, the capacity to retain or attract human and financial capital to be invested in the development of the maritime economy is far from granted, even in those regions where favorable pre-existing socio-economic forces are present. Developing the emerging sector of marine biotechnologies will require significant investments before returns can be expected. Thus, convincing decision makers to invest the regional innovation clusters will require solid arguments for technology push and market pull combined with indicators of positive socio-economic impact for the regions. Depending on the marine ecosystems which harbor those resources and on the RIS3 of maritime regions, regional innovation clusters are expected to specialize on given categories of bioresources and/or products (Figure 3). Competition between these regional clusters will certainly occur, e.g., to attract scientists, companies and jobs. Yet complementarities and alliances can be promoted, supported and developed, leading to the integration of innovation ecosystems in marine biotechnology all the way to a multi-regional pan-European ecosystem fostering cohesive and inclusive growth. A powerful incentive for integration is collaboration and subsidiarity at the European level. Regions have the political and, in some cases, financial clout to support this process, using European Structural Funds as an instrument to promote the development of innovation clusters. They can also foster the establishment of regional capital funds, combined with guaranties from the European Investment Bank to promote the development of the marine biotechnologies in their territories. Given the need of establishing synergies between research and innovation grants, on the one hand, and structural funds, on the other hand, regional, national and EU policy makers should be convinced to support EMBRIC activities beyond the the project’s life-time. Thus EMBRIC innovation clusters can become focal points where regional, national and European policies converge.



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EMBRICobjectivesandactivities. Objectivesandscope The overarching objective of EMBRIC (European Marine Biological Resource Infrastructure Cluster) is to build interconnectivity along three dimensions: science, industry, and regional RDI policies. The expected endpoint is the formation of a perennial cluster of RIs, which will foster innovation in marine biotechnologies. The specific objectives of EMBRIC are to: 1) Develop coherent chains of high quality services for access to biological, analytical and data resources by connecting cognate ESFRI and other RIs (EMBRC, MIRRI, EU-OPENSCREEN, ELIXIR, AQUAEXCEL, RISIS) and deploying common underpinning technologies and practices; 2) Strengthen the connection of science with industry by federating technology transfer services; 3) Geographically defragment public and private-sector communities in the domain of marine biotechnology by involving regional RDI policy-makers with the construction of EMBRIC. The EMBRIC project focuses on two specific sectors of marine biotechnology, namely (i) discovery and development of marine natural products, and (ii) genetic selection in finfish and shellfish aquaculture. It follows that many opportunities, such as those dealing with the utilization of macroalgae (seaweeds) or animal-algal symbioses (corals and mollusks), are not covered in EMBRIC. Recently, however, a project dealing with the exploitation of macro-algal biomass was accepted for funding in the Blue Growth program (GENIALG, H2020-BG-2016-1), covering this important marine bioresource. There are also other relevant projects in which EMBRIC partners participate at national and European level which can benefit from EMBRIC philosophy. Examples include the consolidation of workflows at the level of the expert centers and the organization of company fora around a given bio-resource.



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Overallapproach

Figure 4. General organization of EMBRIC.

EMBRIC will establish integrated multidisciplinary value chains of services for the exploration of marine bioresources and their sustainable exploitation as sources of biomolecules and/or as whole organisms for food (Figure 4). The cluster unites RIs that provide access to the full spectrum of diversity of marine organisms (EMBRC) or are specialized in the provision of specific groups of organisms (MIRRI: prokaryotes and fungi; AQUAEXCEL: finfish). Using these biological resources as raw materials, the cluster will develop service-oriented workflows for natural products discovery and for genetic selection in aquaculture. EU-OPENSCREEN contributes its chemistry services and expertise in the area of natural product discovery. ELIXIR provides cross-cutting expertise on data services and management. The cluster also includes the social sciences Integrating Activity project RISIS, specialized in the quantitative analysis of research and innovation through organized data sources. Members from RISIS will develop indicators of socio-economic impact of EMBRC installations on the local innovation ecosystems across Europe, as well as an understanding of socio-economic benefits stemming from research projects and innovation activities. This activity contributes towards establishing the technology transfer identity of EMBRIC. Case studies are designed to help testing and refining these workflows through Joint Development Activities (JDAs). This internal testing will be complemented by providing access of external user communities to EMBRIC services in the second half of the project’s lifetime.



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Methodologyforimplementation Defragmentation at the science level (WPs 2-4): This includes the identification of bottlenecks and gaps for making better use of marine biological resources in fundamental and applied science. Concepts and workflows will be consolidated to foster the establishment of interoperable services along the following technology lines: cultivation of whole marine organisms; provision of natural products; and data services. Interconnection of Research and Industry (WPs 1, 5-8 and 10): EMBRIC will engage industry in multiple ways. The consortium involves three SMEs and a Company Forum for small and large companies in the field of aquaculture genetics. The joint development activities (WPs 6-8) will interact with cognate private actors to identify and implement market-pulled innovative projects, presenting a high potential for technology transfer (TT). The analysis of innovation pathways and related value chains within maritime regional research driven clusters (RRDCs) and the resulting roadmap (WP5) will be based on an understanding of socio-economic impacts and benefits. In addition, measures will be taken to facilitate and expedite TT processes involving multiple RI nodes (WP5). The EMBRIC Transnational Access (TA) programme (WP10) will endeavour to attract projects involving private-public collaborations. Industry is one of the main targets in the communication strategy of WP1 and dedicated dissemination tools and outreach events will be used to attract new industrial users and promote the cluster. Defragmentation of RDI policies within Peripheral Maritime Regions (WP1, WP5): This involves embedding EMBRIC into regional innovation ecosystems by establishing a network of TT officers from regions where the maritime bioeconomy is booming and from other regions with less advanced bioeconomy. Most of the regions in which EMBRIC partners are found have a RIS3 and receive European Structural and Innovation Funds to foster cohesive economic growth. Several of these regions are willing to promote the idea that supporting RI excellence at the pan-European level will improve funding efficiency and benchmarking capacity, as well as providing higher visibility and attractiveness, including towards private research. The principle of partnering with EMBRC has been approved by the CPMR12. It is also in line with the EC policy of maximizing the overall coherence of the utilization of Structural and Innovation funds throughout Europe and their alignment with H2020 funding. Joint Development Activities (WPs 6-8): These are specific case studies that will test service interoperability in the workflows, develop enabling technologies, and increase the Technology Readiness Levels of their products. They have been designed to ensure maximal efficiency and a short lag time. Since many partners are engaged in projects related to EMBRIC (see below) and/or were successful in the first evaluation round of other H2020 calls, potential risks for duplication and conflicts of interest were avoided.

12 Board meeting, Inverness, UK, June 6th 2014. Latter formalised through the signature of a memorandum of understanding between CPMR and EMBRC for collaboration.



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Integrated training programme (WP9): This key activity will be developed for the whole cluster to spread expertise and best practices between the nodes and to promote the services offered. This will include both science and technology and target both academic and private users. When the workflows are in place (month 24), on-site transnational access (WP10) will be offered to the user community. With the criteria that projects must mobilize at least two of the RIs in the cluster, this pilot TA programme will test access procedures and the concept of value added access pipelines. Applications will be encouraged with the following aims: (i) to attract new users from institutes outside the cluster; (ii) to check that partner installations within EMBRIC can provide interoperable TA; (iii) to further develop Key Enabling Technologies; and iv) to attract scientists who seek help with the scientific and/or economic maturation of their research (proof of concept for innovations based on marine bioresources). This activity will start with a collective study on the harmonization of access procedures, including costing and pricing policies. Besides implementing essential activities in coordination, management and communication, WP1 will be responsible for sharing and promoting the EMBRIC vision. The goal is to convince stakeholders of the benefits the cluster for science and society (Figure 5) and should be supported beyond the end of the project.



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EMBRICambitionandpotentialimpacts Advancesbeyondthestateoftheart Given the current state-of-the-art, the advances at the end of EMBRIC will be: • Functional trans-disciplinary collaboration between related RIs: EMBRC, the main RI for

the provision of marine bioresources, AQUAEXCEL specialised on finfish, and the more generic RIs in biological, chemical and social sciences MIRRI, EU-OPENSCREEN, ELIXIR and RISIS.

• Integrated services made available to a wider community of users (WPs 6-10) in the provision of marine biological resources (WP2), natural products chemistry (WP3), bioanalysis and data services (WP4) and technology transfer creating mechanisms for assessing/monitoring socio-economic impacts and thus value creation (WP5).

• Advances in science and technology for the sectors of marine prokaryotes (WP6), microalgae (WP7) and shellfish and finfish (WP8).

• A network of TT officers established in EMBRIC nodes throughout Europe (WP5). • The creation of a task force of policy-makers from universities and research organisations

throughout Europe as well as from RDI political bodies at the regional, national and EU levels for the enforcement of EMBRIC strategy (WP1).

• Agreement in principle reached to maintain the cluster as a useful instrument that will continue to serve public and private research in marine biology and biotechnology beyond the duration of the project (WP1).

EMBRIC will first address the necessity of scientifically integrating the marine biological research community with colleagues from other disciplines (Figure 5). EMBRIC will also establish greater connectivity in two other dimensions, with industry and RDI policies in maritime regions on the other hand. This latter dimension represents a truly original aspect of the project and in the ESFRI roadmap panorama. Many of the elements to pursue these objectives already exist, but not in every maritime region and they are not integrated at the EU level. Successful implementation of the advances outlined above will endow EMBRIC with high innovation potential in each of its three major dimensions:

• In its science dimension, EMBRIC will be the first pan-European project in the field of marine biotechnology to provide high connectivity all the way from provision of biological resources to technology transfer. Workflows from the biological resources to products, will complement the mission of pan-European pan-European initiatives in research programming by improving interdisciplinary research and collaboration and accelerating maturation of biodiscovery to markets..

• In its TT dimension, EMBRIC will have the capacity to influence technology transfer at the European scale. It will provide a focal point for blue biotechnology companies seeking to collaborate with research groups across Europe and greatly improve the visibility of new discoveries, technologies and products. It will be a recognizable center of expertise for actors



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involved in the scientific and economic maturation of projects in blue biotechnology, such as competitiveness clusters and other multipliers, as well as private or public investment funds.

• In its policy dimension, EMBRIC will facilitate dialogue and exchanges with the maritime regions of Europe, directly or via their pan-European representation (CPMR). EMBRIC will rapidly become a focal point for discussing regional, national and European policies for blue growth. This will represent a clear political innovation in the ERA.

Figure 5. Overarching objectives and expected impact of EMBRIC.

The bioeconomy as a whole is worth nearly €2 trillion and provides approximately 22 million jobs in Europe alone, across sectors as diverse as agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, fisheries, food, chemicals and biofuels13. The idea of releasing the full value of marine biological resources into some of these fields is pivotal to delivering on the promise of marine biotechnology reflected in the European Blue-Growth agenda and to reinforcing European leadership in the fast moving global bioeconomy. Impact:contributiontoimprovinginnovationcapacity EMBRIC will introduce a dramatic change in the innovation paradigm that has strongly influenced blue biotechnology until present. With perhaps a few exceptions, it is clear that innovation in marine biotechnology has most often harnessed methodological and technological breakthroughs developed in the context of mainstream (“terrestrial”) biotechnology. This has delayed the development of blue biotechnology, especially when these methods and technologies require adaptation for transposition to marine biotechnology. In EMBRIC, marine biology and biotechnology will be at the heart of a cluster of RIs that will develop innovative methodological and technological solutions specifically for these domains. The integrated

13 EuropaBio (2012). The tax, finance and regulatory framework and global policy comparison. European Commission.



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infrastructure cluster will thus cater specifically for the requirements of innovation ecosystems in the blue bioeconomy, advancing the competitiveness and global positioning of Europe in this field. The cluster dimension will simultaneously make it easier for public and private-sector research communities to also tap into the most recent advances in mainstream biotechnology. Proof of concept of the ability of the cluster to provoke this paradigm shift will be provided by the Joint Development Activities (WPs 6-8). EMBRIC will provide transdisciplinary services and skills to a larger community of users than any single participating RI. It will enable more precise and complete matching of user demands with service supply than could be achieved within the constraints of partnerships between individual RIs, let alone between individual partner facilities within given RIs. To facilitate this, users will be able to access information in biological and molecular resources and other data of all cluster RIs from access points in any RI. In collaboration with other European initiatives in marine biotechnology, a coherent body of knowledge management activities and tools for staff and users will be developed (WP9). Knowledge will be disseminated through targeted knowledge transfer, generic communication activities, and training. Specific new knowledge of high relevance to marine biotechnology will be generated in WPs 6 and 7 and will include:

• Methods for harnessing the biochemical potential of marine prokaryotes that are not, as yet, amenable to mass culture;

• Protocols for the production of valuable secondary metabolites by synthetic chemical biology;

• Microalgal strains tailored by genetic engineering and/or selective breeding for the production of natural compounds of interest.

For the mariculture sector, WP8 will generate knowledge that will contribute to increasing sustainability and profitability, such as:

• Methods for generating fish or shellfish genotypes resistant to parasitic infection and major diseases, or tolerant to climate change;

• Methods for identifying genotypes with higher meat yield and food conversion efficiencies;

• Novel genetic tools for broodstock improvement through selection; This new knowledge will serve as raw material for testing and refining the capacity of the cluster to integrate knowledge into the blue bioeconomy via the channels developed in WPs 1, 9 and 10. Impact:connectingtheEuropeanmaritimeregions A top priority of EMBRIC will consist in connecting with the maritime regions of Europe as a whole. This will be achieved by embedding the EMBRIC partners in their respective regional research driven clusters (RRDCs) and identifying common incentives between these innovation ecosystems to overcome any regional tendencies for isolation and to build on complementarities and synergies (WP5). Therefore, a dedicated activity will develop of monitoring tools to understand: (a) what is the most efficient way to embed RIs in their national clusters (b) how is



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embedding facilitated and optimized and (c) what could be the “best practices” for embedding. Therefore a dedicated activity will develop such tools and approaches (WP5). This activity will be complemented by establishing formal relationships with regional, national and European policy-makers to push towards the construction of EMBRIC as a perennial cluster (WP1). These actions will contribute to integrating European peripheral maritime regions into the mainstream of scientific knowledge. The alliance between EMBRIC RIs, globally and in the implementation of regional innovation clusters will then mobilize entire innovation chains in these regions, promoting their development. With a capacity to accelerate innovation in the aquaculture and blue biotechnology, cross-cutting priority sectors, EMBRIC will serve as a demonstrator for the Blue Growth Agenda14.

14Communication from the Commission COM (2012). 494 final. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012DC0494:EN:NOT



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Conclusion Generation of basic scientific knowledge in the marine domain is primarily the responsibility of academic operators while translational research by the private sector and resulting economic development is largely the responsibility of regional territories. EMBRIC faces the need of marrying scientific excellence, a national and European challenge, with territorial development and cohesion, a multi-regional challenge. A recent study by the EMBRIC partners of WP5 (Robinson et al, 2016), based on the pilot case study of the Station Biologique de Roscoff, and to be extended to other EMBRC facilities, shows that both challenges can be reconciled to promote the blue bio-economy.15 This model can clearly be extended to other maritime regions, including those which do not harbour EMBRC facilities, using CPMR as an initial discussion forum and stepping stone to unite the regions in a common goal. The model can be further generalized to regions interested by decentralized cooperation for territorial development, in particular to those regions which harbor generic Research Infrastructures in biological, biomedical and environmental sciences, including ELIXIR, EU-OPENSCREEN and MIRRI. The soundness and impact of this endeavour can be studied by RISIS as part of its mission in monitoring the research and innovation policies.

15 Robinson, D. K. R., Schoen, A. and Laurens, P., Horellou, S., Colas, P. and Larédo, P. (2016) Assessing marine biotechnology research centres in peripheral regions: developing global and local STI indicators. To be presented and published at the 21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators | València (Spain) | September 14-16, 2016.

deliverable 1.4 production of a vision paper on the

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