Completed

Blue Project, Bioeconomy, PeopLe, SUstainability, Health

Guimarpeixe - Trade in Food Products, SA ·Portugal

€647k

Grant awarded

Blue Growth Innovation and SMEs

Programme

6 June 2022

Signed

About this project

The Blue Project, funded under the Blue Growth Programme, was born with the purpose of taking advantage of the Marine Resources available on the North Atlantic Coast of Portugal to increase value creation, the sustainable growth of the blue economy, scientific research, and people's literacy in Blue Economy. It is aware of the need to change attitudes and behaviors towards a more conscious, informed, and sustainable choice of products, that Guimarpeixe saw a good opportunity in the use of the 'Sarrajão' species to develop an entire strategy focused on sustainability, in its broadest sense, and on people, from the scientific community to industry, workforce, politics and civil society. Based on this, the Blue Project intends will create a fresh fish processing unit for the commercialization of the 'Sarrajão' fillets in school canteens, to collaborate with R&D entities and use fish leftovers to create textile materials (from the skin) and other food products (from the remaining leftovers) and to help municipalities to implement ocean literacy strategies. The main beneficiaries of this project are schools, municipalities, citizens, and entities with activities related to this thematic area. With this propose, all entities of the consortium are actively engaged and collaborating on the implementation of the Blues Project, namely fish collection and characterisation, new product development and optimisation, consumer testing, communication and dissemination, and socio-economic impact assessment to deliver the whole process from fishing to marketing, a list of components in the product formulation, an IP application, a website, workshops, conferences, videos, and reports. As it was conceived and created and is being implemented, the Blue Project has all the potential to achieve the results it seeks and thus be able to be replicated not only at a local level, but also at a regional, national, and international level with all the benefits that are implied.

Bilateral cooperation results

Matis' participation contributed to the development of activities in the school context, with actions being developed in several schools in the municipality of Esposende, as well as for university students at the Instituto Politecnico de Viana do Castelo. Considering that food education must begin at home, schools play a fundamental role in food literacy and in the development of healthy eating attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, the bilateral contribution was very important, for sharing experiences and methodologies. In addition, and with regard to the transfer of knowledge, it is also important to highlight the relationships established between Matis and the University of Minho and the Instituto Politecnico de Viana do Castelo, with regard to marine biotechnology.

Project partners

Matís ltd. - Icelandic Food and Biotech R&D, University of Iceland Donor project partner· Iceland
TINTEX Textiles, S.A. Project partner· Portugal
University of Minho Project partner· Portugal
POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTE OF VIANA DO CASTELO Project partner· Portugal
ESPOSENDE MUNICIPALITY Project partner· Portugal
VISUAL THINKING - Digital Organization, Lda Project partner· Portugal

Portugal country profile Other projects in this programme Project website