Project overview

The general objective of INvertebrateIT is to gather influential actors together to define a Joint Roadmap and Investment Plan across the EU Atlantic Basin to promote and exploit the value chain of production of invertebrates, such as insects, for sustainable fish feeds, competitive aquaculture and integrated waste management. This responds to the global challenges of food security, marine environmental impact and resource efficiency, and to the regional ones of EU aquaculture competitiveness, integrated management and Blue Growth accessibility, aiming to accelerate the transfer of technology towards disruptive leadership, developing industrial opportunities using invertebrates for feeds, value-added waste management, aquaculture diversification and other innovative value chains, equipping Atlantic coastal regions with strategic tools and real opportunities that are forward-looking, transversal, accessible and most adequate for growth and job creation in the area. INvertebrateIT strives to generate transnational PPPs to seize this opportunity and to develop 3 ready-to-invest demonstration projects.

The specific objectives behind this general approach are to:

• bring together at least 48 stakeholders from the public and private sectors, from at least 4 EU Atlantic MS, in online and face-to-face activities to share knowledge and expertise to deliver a strategic joint vision and roadmap in line with regional/EU priorities and common challenges
• promote the production of invertebrates for fish feeds for sustainable aquaculture, and contribute to the development of commercial solutions and industrial leadership within 2-10 years, in line with the related revision of EU legislation and market opportunities
• plan, mobilise and coordinate strategic investment, mapping public and private funding opportunities at regional, national, EU and international level, accelerate the commercialisation of 3 new bankable projects in EU Atlantic regions
• better profit and manage waste to produce valuable animal proteins, integrating this towards more diversified and resilient aquaculture value nets‘
• increase awareness and visibility, build up critical mass, develop collaborative branding, engage consumers and align public and private understanding
• network with stakeholders and leverage results from at least 5 other projects across complementary regional and EU funding instruments
• improve the sustainability and competitiveness of EU aquaculture, and its connection to a wide array of potential synergies in equally disruptive subsectors
• further transfer capacity and technology from aquaculture and insect production towards RTD with other suitable new marine invertebrates (e.g. amphipods) and new growing substrates (e.g. algae and seafood by products)

The main results and specific achievements expected from the project, including a set of KPIs, are:

• Increase awareness to exploit invertebrate production for Blue Growth and the Circular Economy
• Build up critical mass and visibility, “occupying” a new industrial niche
• Develop 3 demonstration projects and set up PPPs