OCEANIUM part of new SeaMark EU consortium for the seaweed industry

OCEANIUM is part of a new industry-wide consortium funded by the European Union which will propel the seaweed farming industry across Europe. SeaMark is a consortium comprising 25 international, cross-disciplinary partners which has been awarded a prestigious €9 million grant to upscale seaweed production and market applications across Europe, meet the growing demand for seaweed-based products and attract investment from multiple sectors.

Prototype seaweed-based material

Seaweed in lab

 OCEANIUM will be using sustainably farmed seaweed to produce high quality food ingredients including fibre and protein, natural, high-purity bioactive ingredients for health and cosmetics, and innovative seaweed-based materials, building on 2022 pilot processing during which OCEANIUM enhanced their equipment stack for the biorefinery. As part of SeaMark, they will be working closely with Ocean Rainforest, one of Europe’s foremost seaweed farmers, on sourcing high quality seaweed as well as research partners DTU, Matís and Lund University. This four-year project will allow for important scientific developments and advancements to truly scale up the industry in a sustainable way, help OCEANIUM to expand its biorefinery capabilities and thus make the market for Scottish farmed seaweed.

Seaweed has long been recognised as a versatile raw material with multiple uses; they are among the fastest growing crops on the planet, requiring no cleared land, no freshwater and no fertilizer. 

OCEANIUM has also filed a patent for its materials inventions, making further progress on bringing viable seaweed-based replacements to challenge fossil fuel materials in a range of applications.

OCEANIUM is based in Oban, Scotland with labs at the European Marine Science Park.