The project

The biodiversity of Macaronesia: an underutilized resource

The rich marine and terrestrial biodiversity of the Macaronesia region is widely recognized. However, despite this, its economic, scientific, and industrial exploitation is limited by the lack of scientific and technical support that would make its viability and use possible. Various industrial and scientific activities are hindered by this limitation.

“Overcoming technological challenges towards economic development”

Currently, the lack of technological advancement in this region hampers, in many areas, the feasibility and development of production processes and, consequently, the exploitation of these native and natural resources.

“Scientific progress and support for SMEs”

For all these reasons, the Macaronesia region needs to boost its green and blue economy within a framework of cooperation, complementarity, and knowledge transfer, involving not only scientific progress but also support for SMEs; enabling their development, growth, and future sustainability in these mid-Atlantic regions and potential capitalization in nearby Third Countries.

Biotechnology and circular economy: a sustainable response

All in all, this lack of industrial growth, in a period of environmental concern, places this sector in the spotlight, under the need to adopt biotechnological solutions that offer sustainable and respectful growth models. All of this within a circular economy framework that promotes the development of value chains aimed at optimal waste management, solving environmental challenges, soil restoration and utilization, among many others.

“The bioindustry is essential for Canarian industrial growth”

This goal seems unfeasible without advancing hand in hand with the bioindustry, opting for the use of waste, promoting the transformation of renewable biological raw materials, taking advantage of industrial process by-products and waste from environmental issues; to obtain high-value products that will boost the Canarian industrial sector and position it as a reference.

This bioindustrial platform concept would not be viable without renewable energy generation systems for self-consumption and comprehensive waste management; forming a closed, sustainable, and self-sustaining cycle.

“Sustainable
and circular”

Business development to advance towards a circular economy

This goal would not be achievable without business development efforts that demonstrate to the sector the potential and necessity of transitioning from a linear to a circular economy; involving training tasks aimed at companies in the sector to enable not only technological but also scientific transfer. This training will also extend to third countries, supporting the growth of a sector that goes beyond Macaronesian borders.

“Creating synergies
with tourism”

Finally, economic, social, and industrial progress in the Canary Islands requires synergy with the tourism sector. The project proposed in this Mac Interreg call includes the use of waste from blooms and beach wrack; which have not only a visual but also an ecological impact. Their utilization will focus on the extraction of emerging compounds of pharmacological and/or nutraceutical interest, as well as cosmetic applications. This will result in the development of Canarian products as a quality label for foreign consumers who see in the islands a local product market as a tourist attraction.

“Natur-Ext stands out for its biotechnological innovation”

Ultimately, and broadly speaking, the NATUR-EXT project arises with the goal of addressing the aforementioned challenges and advancing in the field of green and blue biotechnology. To this end, the project aims to create a wide and versatile Atlantic platform for processing and post-processing biomass from marine and terrestrial organisms, pursuing the production of high-value products that will drive the industrial sector in the Macaronesia region.