The Canary Islands and Portugal will host two Atlantic hubs to accelerate land-based algae aquaculture and marine biotechnology, anchored in facilities at Pozo Izquierdo (Gran Canaria, Spain) and Vila Franca de Xira (Lisbon, Portugal). The public research agency Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC) convened the kick-off meeting at its Pozo Izquierdo headquarters to launch the European project ATL.A.HUB (Atlantic Hubs to boost Marine Algae Land-based Aquaculture and Biotechnology). The initiative aims to convert scientific capacity into market-ready solutions and to channel investment toward algae-based bioproducts.
Opening the consortium meeting, ITC’s R&D director Gonzalo Piernavieja underscored the project’s strategic relevance to position the Canary Islands as a testbed for marine innovation, with a focus on validating and scaling algae-derived products. Javier Roo, from the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI), emphasized the project’s alignment with the region’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3 Extended) and the importance of public–private collaboration. From the European Commission, project officer Julia Beile highlighted the role of EU funding instruments in advancing the blue economy and biotechnology.
Project aims to accelerate the Atlantic algae bioeconomy
ATL.A.HUB is one of four initiatives selected by the European Commission under the call Smart Specialisation for Sustainable Blue Economy and Regenerative Ocean Farming. It is financed with €1.57 million by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), drawing on the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). The program seeks to foster collaborative innovation networks and to support regenerative ocean farming models that can be scaled and replicated across Atlantic regions.
Coordinated by the ITC, the consortium brings together seven organizations from Spain, Portugal, France, and Latvia with complementary expertise in marine biotechnology, regulation, sustainability, business internationalization, and market access. Partners include ACIISI and the University of La Laguna (ULL) from the Canary Islands; Associação Portuguesa de Aquicultores and A4F AlgaFuel S.A. from Portugal; and the companies LCA Dynamics SIA (Latvia) and Edonia (France). The Canary firms Macrocarbon and Fresh Fruta Canarias join as associated entities, adding the perspective of regional industry.
The project will leverage two major European infrastructures for algae cultivation and processing. In Gran Canaria, ITC’s Blue Biotechnology and Aquaculture Experimental Area in Pozo Izquierdo—which houses the high-tech incubator IAT BIOASIS—will serve as a testing and scaling environment for new products and processes. In Portugal, the ALGATEC Eco Business Park, promoted by A4F in Vila Franca de Xira, will function as a complementary platform for validation, industrial upscaling, technology transfer, and the exploration of replication opportunities in other Atlantic regions.
Operationally, the consortium plans to define commercialization strategies, demonstrate tangible use cases, and build shared catalogues of technological services accessible to researchers and businesses. It will also design regulatory and governance tools that lower barriers to new blue innovation hubs. These measures are intended to shorten time-to-market for algae-derived applications, improve investor readiness, and standardize pathways for compliance and permitting—key steps to unlock cross-border collaboration and market entry.
By structuring knowledge, infrastructure, and regulation around the two Atlantic hubs, ATL.A.HUB aims to attract talent and entrepreneurial activity while strengthening the Atlantic’s role as a leading region in marine innovation. The initiative supports the consolidation of production models based on algae cultivation, reinforcing the Canary Islands’ position as a reference territory and natural laboratory for sustainable innovation in the blue economy. More information: https://www.itccanarias.org/web/es/actividad/proyectos/atl-a-hub
