MAGAZINEBlueFrontier

Pierre Erwes, Organizer of BioMarine International BusinessConvention: We should push forward to build a recognized in-ternational structure, independent from the existing biotechorganization.

Oxygento growblue food

Bergenthemarine

capital

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 201 2

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

2

Food supply is facing a paradigm shift from beinghistorical predominant agro based, with annual growthin decl ine, and becoming increasingly substituted

through upscale of marine production. This important andneeded shift requires a systemic and cross sector approachfor the purpose to succeed. At the NASF 2012 Day Zero wesensed the power of this multiplayer approach to advancethe marine sector towards its third mil lennium majorchal lenge and opportunity: Combining knowledge intensivebusiness opportunities with feeding the world.

In this issue of Blue Frontier Magazine featuringinnovative solutions together with several key eventsaround the world confirm that we are on the right track:

The BioMarine Business Convention in London October 24-25, gathering the biomarine trendsetters together with topscience wil l put most of the l isted issues on the agendafol lowed by the GOAL 2012 conference in Bangkok October30-November 2 where global aquaculture and its chal lengeswil l be addressed. Berl in (October 26) and Singapore (Nov 2-5) wil l both focus on how to create values from life science(meetings with science parks on behalf of Oslo InnovationCenter and The BioValue Project) in addition to meetingswith groups involved with genome sequencing andappl ication to advance aquaculture. NASF Day ZERO (NASFPreconference) 2013 in Bergen March 5 is putting the abovescenarios on the agenda in the very best way.

State of the art biomarine competencies and sciencel ike e.g.: Complete genome based breeding forrobustness and productivity, novel vaccines, advanced

feed technologies together with systematic search for newresources and ingredients from lower oceanic trophic levels,seaweeds as wel l as bioreactor based microalgae production,addresses many of the l isted chal lenges.

How to tackle the grand chal lenge of the mil lennium isdepending on our wil l ingness to strengthenborderless concerted actions and to further develop

systemic solutions. Systemic chal lenge needs systemicapproach.

Prof. Øystein Lie,Executive Manager, Marel ifeProject Manager, Oslo Innovation Centeroystein.l ie@marel ife.org

Bergenthemarine

capital

From the Editor

Blue food solutions.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

3

CONTACT:

MarelifeGaustadalléen 21

N-0349 OSLO, NORWAYTel: +47 22 95 85 00Fax: +47 22 60 44 27Mobile: +47 91 7 48 240

E-mail: Oystein.Lie@forskningsparken.nohttp://www.marelife.org

Oslo Innovation CenterGaustadalléen 21

N-0349 OSLO, NORWAYTel: +47 22 95 85 00Fax: +47 22 60 44 27

Email: post@forskningsparken.nohttp://www.forskningsparken.no

Bergenthemarine

capital

About usMAGAZINEBlueFrontier

Published byMareLifewww.marelife.org

Chairman: Carl Seip HanevoldExcecutive Manager: Øystein Lie

A MAGAZINE PRODUCED BY

WWW.OSLOBUSINESSMEMO.NO

COVER PHOTO:

OxySolution's patented technologymakes it possible to increase the level ofdissolved oxygen in water. The technolo-gical platform for super-oxygenation ofwater can be a very important factor infuture fish farming. Photo: OxySolutions

Norwegian bioeconomy is behindthe pioneering «BioVerdi» project,based at Oslo Innovation Center.

The project has been very well re-ceived in al l environments, from uni-versities and industry to venturecapital sector. The analytical approachof the project is based on the one usedin a recent extensive report prof. Tor-ger Reve, Oslo Business School , «Etkunnskapsbasert Norge» (A know-ledge based Norway).

“BioVerdi” wi l l be a continuation of the"Bioeconomy 2020", a project in OsloInnovation Center that focuses onmeasures for innovation for bio indus-tries and which, among other, puts bio-marine innovation on the agenda. InVision 2020, bio-based industries aresupposed to be a major source of valuecreation and business growth in theOslo region and Norway, a develop-ment to which the project “Bio Verdi”wi l l give an important contribution.

“BioVerdi” is a cross field and transboundary initiative to develop astronger "ecosystem" of innovation.The project wil l be establ ished in part-nership between leading R&D units, in-dustry representatives from bioproduction and pharma, capital ownersand with support from publ ic pol icysystem and authorities.

The partners commitment and owner-ship to the project are based on a plan-ning document written by Øystein Lie.Proposed ownership structure, steer-ing committee and working groups wil lbe avai lable shortly.The project aimsto have drawn up an action plan forimplementation before year end. “BioVerdi” seeks to establ ish an Interna-tional Advisory Board, represented bythe Nordics, UK, USA and Singa-pore.“BioVerdi” intends to try to con-nect to “The Norwegian IndustrialBiotechnology Network”, as a possiblepi lot or demonstration project.

In essence the Norwegian bioeconomysector is behind the project since topexcecutives of the leading players ofal l four major branches: Marine, agri ,health and process industry togetherwith R&D organisations have endorsedits ideas and goals.

Picture: Oslo Innovation Center's CEO Karl-Christian Agerup (left) withNorwegian minister of trade and industry Trond Giske and Ole Petter Ottersen,head of the University of Oslo. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare.

All in for "BioVerdi"

PRINTED IN LONDON,BY 1 STBYTE Prof. Torger Reve.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

4

Marineinnovationwithsuperoxygen.

INCREASES OXYGEN: The Norwegiancompany Oxysolution AS has developed apatented method that increases the oxy-gen content in water. A ful l scale test ofOxysolution technology wil l take place ina fish farming project with the NorwegianFood Research Institute (Nofima), startingearly next year.

Oxysolution's patented technologymakes it possible to increase the level ofdissolved oxygen in water. Tests have indic-ated stable levels in excess of 90 mg/l, orapproximately 10-12 times higher than pre-viously thought pos-sible. This technologicalplatform for super-oxy-genation of water is thepoint of origin for all fu-ture products fromOxySolution. It’s also avery important factor infuture fish farming.

Oxysolution is oneof many companies de-veloping new technolo-gies that can be used toinnovate and streamlinemarine food production.Agricultural food pro-

duction is by far the largest source of foodsupply, but the annual increase rate is ondecline due to increased restrictions on landand water resources, and vulnerability toweather and climate change. At the sametime, by 2025 the world needs 30 percentextra foods.

By 2050, the world`s food productionmust feed a total of 9 bill ion people. Al-though global fish production and consump-tion has tripled the last four decades(approx. 50 mill tons by 1973 and 150 tonscurrently, half of which is attributable to the

fastest growing marine part: aqua and mareculture), the scale of marine supplies is stil lmodest compared to the agroindustry, ac-counting for 7,5 bill tons (of which at least20 % is edible and 6,5 and 1 bill ion tonnes,respectively is derived from cereals andlivestock products, respectively). “The bluesector has to increase manifold if it is goingto become the main substitute to the de-clining growth rate of livestock productswhen facing population growth of 1,5 % an-nually and corresponding increase in annualmeat consumption of 7%,” says Øystein Lie,

Prof. PhD and executivemanager at MareLife.

In addition to thepure need of more pro-tein, food scares (e.g. BSEetc) and life style healthissues have been fuelingincreased consumption ofseafood products, beingboth whole fish as well asrefines products likeomega 3 or other PUFA,antioxidants etc.

Although currentaquaculture displays acomparable low carbon

Two examples in this report shows how new solutions canincrease output from the marine sector: A new

oxygen technology that can make aquaculture morehealthy and efficient - and research on how salmon genes

can increase out of sougth-after fatty omega-3 acids.

Picture: Super-oxygenated water. Photo: OxySolutions.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

5

foot print, the future manifold sizedaquaculture has to adapt to future consider-ably increased demands for cost efficacy,competitiveness and lowest possible carbonfoot print.

“This is crucially dependent on howsmart we are able to run and develop aqua-and mare culture throughout the entirevalue chain,” says Lie.

According to Lie fisheries can be up-scaled if the mangement regimes are optim-ized and exploit more trophic levels (kril l ,calanus etc) than just bony fish (ocean an-nual net biomass production is at least 100bill tonnes) and aquaculture can be escal-ated manifold if we solve feed resourcebottle necks and manage to control dis-eases in an adequate way.

CLOSE TO BREAKTHROUGH: Oxysolu-tion is about to test its technology in fishfarming, with the aim of commercial ap-pl ication. But it is probably the use of thesuper-oxygenated water in l ife sciencethat is closest to a commercial break-through. It includes, among other things,research on cel ls, cultivation of bacteriaand the development of vaccines.

- We have completed the research in thisarea and we are in discussions with suppli-ers of cell media, says CEO Jan Økern inOxysolution. Besides fish farming, Økernpoints to functional beverage and cosmet-ics as two other important areas for the useof Oxysolution`s super-oxygenated water.Inthe fish farming industry, the oxygenationof water is a very important feature. Inclosed recirculating aquaculture systems(RAS), such as hatcheries, fry productionand well boats, which wash and transportfish, the oxygenation is done by bubblingoxygen into the water.

This has several disadvantages. Much ofthe oxygen disappears out of the wateragain, the fish utilize very little of what isactually delivered and it is also difficult tomaintain a constant oxygen concentration inthe facility. The oxygenation process re-quires much energy, and the bubbles canstress the fish.

Oxysolution’s solution is to mix its su-per-oxygenated water with the water,which circulates in RAS facilities, and thuscreate a stable, optimized oxygen level inthe water. By mixing liquid in liquid, asteady oxygen concentration is created,which is very important.

- The fishing industry is concerned withdissolved oxygen level. For Atlantic salmon,it is generally agreed that the optimum levelis around 110-120 percent. This corres-ponds to approximately 9.5 -10 milligramsof oxygen per liter, whereas the levels innormal water is about 6-7 milligrams. Oursolution can provide this level, stable overtime and more cost-effectively, says Økern.

OxySolution point out that their techno-logy will result in lower costs for the fishfarmers, through reduced energy consump-tion and reduced use of oxygen.

- We also believe that our solution willprovide less stress on the fish, and thus in-creased welfare, less disease, lower mortal-ity and better growth, says Økern. This willresult in increased revenue.

Low oxygen levels can lead to reducedfeeding. With evenly distributed and highoxygen levels, we believe we can increasethe feeding effectiveness significantly, saysØkern.

OxySolution has presented its techno-logy for the major players in the aquacul-ture industry and received good feedback.During the first quarter of next year OxySo-lution starts a project with Nofima atSunndalsøra, where full-scale testing of

Picture: Testing the origins of salmon and herring. Photo: SINTEF.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

6

OxySolution’s technology will be implemen-ted in a smolt production facility.

- We've done these tests on a smallerscale, and it has worked very well. Now, thefull scale, and it is of course exciting. Theproject will last three years with severalmilestones, but we assume that we aftersix months already will have several import-ant answers, says Økern.

Yngve Attramadal is a senior engineer atSINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and is fa-miliar with OxySolution technology.“I havediscussed the possibility with OxySolutionon how we can work onthis in the future. It is anexciting product for themarine sector,” says At-tramadal.

Attramadal work a lotwith demersal fish, whichpose major challenges forfarming.

-” The fish are close tothe bottom, where theoxygen levels are lowerand it is difficult to dis-tribute oxygen evenly. Ibelieve that use OxySolu-tions technology can be

very interesting in this context,” he says.“We believe our technology can enable

farming of other species such as demersalfish on great commercial basis. Price of Tur-bot is now seven times higher than salmon,”says Økern.

SALMON CONVERTING OMEGA-3: Anoth-er Nofima-project shows how salmon canplay a key role in increasing the amount ofthe healthy omega-3 fatty acids by con-

verting short fatty acids from plants tothe long, marine omega-3 fatty acids .

“It is the salmon’s genes that determinehow well it can convert the fatty acids, andwe can use this knowledge to breed salmonthat can produce more omega-3,” saysNofima Senior Scientist Gerd Marit Berge.

She is currently managing a ResearchCouncil of Norway project that is studyinghow genetic background and different feedinfluence the salmon’s ability to convertshort to long omega-3 fatty acids. This is aninterdisciplinary project involving several

scientists in both breedingand nutrition.

“The fact that we cansee differences in genes ofsalmon that are good andless good at convertingfatty acids is a good indica-tion that the ability to pro-duce long omega-3 ishereditary,” says Berge.

Some salmon are muchbetter at producing thishealthy fat than others be-cause their genes are moreactive and produce en-zymes that convert the

Salmon Photo: Nofima

By 2050 the biomarine industry in Nor-way alone will represent a trunover ofNOK 550 billion. This according to a re-port made by researchers from SINTEF(picture: Karl Almaas, SINTEF) and NTNU,on behalf of the two science academiesof Norwa (DNKVS and NTVA). Theworkgroup concludes that globaaltrends as encreased need for food pro-ductions in genral, encreased demandfor seafood i particular, will force a steepicrease in value creation in thre marinesector i Norway and globally.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

7

short omega-3 fatty acids found in plant oilsto long omega-3 that we can otherwise onlyget from marine organisms.

There is limited access to fish oil thatmay be used in feed so increasingly moreplant oil is being used in salmon feed. Fishoil is by far the best source of omega-3. Lessfish oil in the feed means that the salmonfillet contains less omega-3 than previously.

“Concentrating on salmon that are goodat converting short omega-3 fatty acids tolong ones will make the fish healthier andcontribute to better utilization of the limitedomega-3 resources,” says one of the otherscientists in the project, Nofima Senior Sci-entist Bente Ruyter.

The reason the salmon has an inherentability to produce long omega-3 is not togive us healthy food. In all l ikelihood it is acharacteristic the salmon has because itlives in fresh water for the first stage of itslife, and in fresh water the salmon has toproduce its own as it does not have accessto long omega-3 fatty acids. The fatty acidsare mostly found in marine organisms. In themarine environment the salmon has rich ac-cess to these fatty acids and as such doesnot need to do as much of this conversion it-self.

In order to find out how good the genesare at starting production of the enzymesthat are necessary to convert the shortomega-3 to the long omega-3 fatty acids,Nofima’s scientists have tested hundreds ofsalmon families from the breeding companySalmoBreed. A salmon family comprises thesiblings which are the offspring of a specificmale salmon and female salmon.

The scientists found large differencesbetween the best and worst salmon famil-ies. Finding such differences forms the basisfor commencing a breeding programme. Inbreeding, scientists systematically select thefamilies which are best for the characteristicthey wish to improve.

“We have now come so far in the projectthat both the salmon that were worst atconverting omega-3 and those that werebest have got offspring. We will now testthe siblings further to see if their ability toproduce more omega-3 is passed down tothe next generation,” says Nofima SeniorScientist Anna Sonesson.

EAGER TO TEST: SalmoBreed’s Managerof Genetics and R&D, Håvard Bakke, be-l ieves it is sti l l too early to determine

whether the abi l ity to convert omega-3shal l be a breeding goal for their salmonbreeding programme. He is uncertainwhether it wi l l make any difference inpractice if breeding companies include theomega-3 syntheses as a goal in the sal-mon breeding programmes.

“We are now eager to test the offspringof the fish we have tested. When we knowtheir ability to produce omega-3, we willknow how much we can achieve throughbreeding. If we can achieve something ofsignificance through breeding we will do itbecause marine oils are a bottleneck,” saysBakke.

If the breeding companies find that it isappropriate and start to breed for this char-acteristic in salmon in a determined manner,the salmon feed can contain less omega-3without the content in the salmon fillet be-ing reduced, precisely because this bred sal-mon has the best conversion capacity. Suchan optimisation of the resources in the feedwill be more sustainable and have economicbenefits.

"Now, thefull scale,and it is

of courseexciting."

Jan Økern, CEO,OxySolutions

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

8

THE WORLD MARINE CAPITAL: Bergen isthe capital of the world's largest seafoodcompanies, and has a strong cluster withfisheries, aquaculture and finance.Altogether there are more than 1 100seafood companies working within theentire seafood value-chain; breeding,juveni le fish, farming, harvest production,equipment, foodstuff, technology,processing, sales, marketing as wel l aslogistics and finance.

Tanja Hoel, head of the regional clusterorganization for the seafood business inWestern Norway, Fiskeriforum Vest, confirmsthe joint efforts among the key marineplayers in the Bergen region together withlocal government, research andscience institutions to liftBergen as the World MarineCapital.

NEW NASF VENUE: A strongmove in this direction is themoving of the annualinternational seafoodconference NASF (North-Atlantic Seafood Forum)including the special seminarDay Zero focusing on marinesolutions for the future.

These events are significant profilingBergen as the seafood capital. Tanja Hoelsignals that future plans will be to developan even bigger combined event, a BergenSeafood Week, attracting more internationalmarine business and entrepreneurs to theregion. Inspiration for this project is OsloInnovation Week, annually attracting 4000-5000 entrepreneurs and innovators during aweek-long series of seminars andworkshops.

«We are delighted that the North-Atlantic Seafood Forum comes to Bergen,»says Tanja Hoel. Fiskeriforum Vest mainobjective is to increase the seafood sector’svalue creation. Fiskeriforum Vest gathers,

strengthens and promotes the region’sseafood business and reseach sector andworks in close cooperation withpolicymakers for the seafood sector inNorway.

After 8 years in Oslo and Lillestrøm,next years North-Atlantic Seafood Forum –starting with Day Zero, will take place iBergen in March 5-7 2013.

«We at NASF are proud to be invitedhome to Bergen. There is no doubt that theseafood capital Bergen and the west coastregion of Norway will anchor NASF as theworld's largest top-executive meeting andconference,» comments Jørgen J. Lund, CEOat NASF, known as a leading meeting place

for global seafood top-executives, attracting more than560 delegates from 350companies and 30 countriesevery year.

FOOD SECURITY: The maintheme for the 2013conference is food security,and fol low-up on the Rio+20conference in june 2012. TheRio+20 Conference onSustainable Development thispast summer put a global

Shapingthe

world'smarinecapital.

Key marine players in Bergen are rallying toestablish the Norwegian west-coast capital as

the World Marine Capital.

Pictures:Opposite page: Tanja Hoel,CEO, Fiskeriforum Vest.Below: Petter Dragesund,Pareto, and Jørgen J. Lund,NASF.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

9

spotl ight on the need for col lective actionon bui lding the Future We Want in asustainable way.

- NASF is the global inter-phase betweenseafood trade, commercialization, policy,innovation and finance – giving key insightsinto the future, says Lund.

Key 2013 seminars at the conference inBergen is: Global Industry Summits inSalmon, White Fish and Pelagic sectors, 3rdEuropean Retail Seminar, Global AquacultureSolutions, Sustainability, EU Fisheries PolicyReform, Pareto Finance and InvestorSeminar, and much more with 100 speakersaddressing these vital themes.

Petter Dragesund, head of corporatefinance at Pareto Securties, says Pareto as amajority-owner of the NASF conference willwork to attract even more internationalseafood companies to the meeting in theyears to come. The special session "ParetoSeafood Finance and Investor Seminar"presented 17 companies at the previuosconference.

- For our customers this is a goodopportunity to meet the companies and talkto the managment face-to-face.

DAY ZERO: The NASF 2013 starts March5th with the well known Day Zero

preconference BioMarine seminar,organized by the MareLife Association.

As the largest special session, thepreconference Day Zero this year attractedaround 170 delegates.

The key players from the solutionsprovider and the biomarine sector aresetting the agenda for marine innovation,says prof. Øystein Lie, chairman of the boardat NASF and CEO at Marelife, part-owner ofNASF.

The main topic for Day Zero in Bergen,March 5, will be “Global AquacultureSolutions”, with keynotes on sustainable up-scaling of aquaculture production in cold,temperate and tropical waters.

Further topics will be: Enhance broodstock through state of the art breeding andgenomics, Contemporary disease control,Solving Feed bottle necks, Access to farmingspace (seawater areas, land, water,regulatory, permits etc), Sustainabilitystandards, regulatory and managementregimes needs, Preventing and controllingescapees, Engineering, equipment/gearsand ICT solutions.

GLOBAL PROPORTIONS: The marineseafood industry in the Bergen Region isof global proportions and size: Bergen

Region seafood cluster has an annualturnover of around US$ 6.0 bi l l ion andvalue generation of US$ 1.0 bi l l ion,equivalent to approximately 30 % ofNorway's marine and seafood wealthcreation. The region has 1,100 seafoodcompanies, employing 4,500 people and isthe headquarter for several of the world'slargest seafood companies includingMarine Harvest, Austevol l Seafood, LeroySeafood, Grieg Seafood, EWOS, NorwaySales Organization for Pelagic Fish, as wel las being home to Norway` s largest purseseining fleet.

Bergen is today a leading internationalmedia center for the seafood industryglobally. The city is also a financial seafoodcenter, and home to FishPool - the world`sonly salmon products exchange. Bergen hasworld leading research and governmentfisheries management institutions includingthe Institute of Marine Research, BergenUniversity (UiB), NIFES, Nofima, ChristianMichelsen Institute (CMR), Uni Research, theNansen Center and Norway Directorate forFisheries Management.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

1 0

Blue Frontier Magazine: - What are the main objectives of thisyear BioMarine International Business Convention?Pierre Erwes: - 2012 is a very important step as we will elaborate thebases of the 2013 BioMarine’s program in Halifax, Canada. The 6Thinktanks will present practical ideas and recommendations that wewill put forward and pass to the participating governments and theEuropean Commission.Marine biotech for health, marine biotech for environement, macro al-gae, micro algae, aquaculture and nutraceuticals are the 6 hot topicswe will address. The think-tank is somehow a difficultchallenge as we expectevery participant to take anactive part in the exchange.It’s also the perfect time toidentify around you the bestplayers to develop your fu-ture partnerships. Becausethe aim of BioMarine is tofoster business opportunit-ies we have several level oforganized and informal net-working times. It will be im-possible for any attendee to

miss anyone. The Fishmongers’ Hall is the perfect place for this kindof summit.

BFM: - What are the main questions to be answered during theconference in London?PE: - Within the 6 main themes we will try to bring practical recom-mendations. I have no doubt that the“best practices” is one essentialtopic as we wish to build our BioMarine community to foster busi-

ness in line with interna-tional regulations.We also wish to tell thepolitics that Marine bio-re-sources represent a marketof $ 176 bill ion. It is a vec-tor for job creation, innova-tion, private/publicpartnership.If you take acloser look at the program,the aquaculture thinktankorganized in partnershipwith Novus, will definitivelybe the place for new freshideas.

Marinebiotechnology

is the driverof our sector.

To get the investors on board we needa better global communication and

a stronger international representationof the sector. We should push forward

to build a recognized internationalstructure, independent from the exist-ing biotech organization, to structure

this huge potential, says Pierre Erwes.

Prof. Øystein Lie (picture),excecutive manager atMareLife and NASF chairman,participates in the think-tanksalgae for aqua feed andaquaculture at the BioMarineInternational BusinessConvention. A furthercollaboration betweenBioMarine and MareLife isalso on the agenda in London.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

1 1

The Pronova thinktank on nutraceuticals will address environmentalconcerns, public acceptance, and dive into regulation REACH versusProp 65. The macro Algae in partnership with Olmix, will open a chal-lenging topic on protein substitution for aquafeed. Is this for real? themicro algae thinktank with Sofiproteol will concentrate on human nu-trition aspect.

BFM: - How can this event address the main issues for marinebiotechnology?PE: - As for the marine biotech we will organize two think tanks onewith on marine biotech for health with the MG4U network and oneon marine biotech for environment with Z2O. Marine biotechnology isthe key point. It is the driver of our sector. Bioplastic, health, en-vironement, cleantech, aquaculture, shipping, port etc…it’s every-where. The marine biotech sector is full speed ahead, but now itneeds a bit of framing.The marine biotech sector is in need of massive funding. Unfortu-nately investors are kind of skeptical when it comes to marine bio-technology. When you look at the US market, the major funding wasdedicated to biofuel production. It’s huge and for what result?Besides we have practical and existing opportunities using macro al-gae, bacteria, marine compounds for aquafeed, bioplastic, packaging,cosmetic and nutraceuticals, but to get the investors on board we

need a better global communication and a stronger international rep-resentation of the sector. We should push forward to build a recog-nized international structure, independent from the existing biotechorganization, to structure this huge potential.We should be able to elaborate a transversal organization that feder-ates key industry players and the research community from marinebiotech, environement, nutrition, aquaculture, materials, cosmeticsand nutraceuticals.BioMarine is THE place where the industry, the investors, and theapplied research worlds are converging. Let’s work on the alchemy tomake it happen.

BFM: - What can the participants anticipate to achieve from theconference?PE: - It’s interesting to take a look at the attendee list! We ‘ll have inLondon only a few attendees from previous editions. The audience isvery different and the format as well. It ‘s good to have asummit inbetween our main conventions. The participants will have qualitytime in London. We will take the time to discuss the real issues, tonetwork face to face. We will make sure that nobody will miss thecontact they wanted to have. No one is off the grid and we have setthe course to make this summit a real success in term of businessopportunities.

Picture: Pierre Erwes, CEO, Bio MarineConvention.

Pierre Erwes, founder of BioMarineBusiness Convention, is an oceano-grapher by training with later special-ization in IT, robotics and marketing.He is an entrepreneur who has overtwenty five years of international ex-perience, primarily in the areas of busi-ness development in new technologies,biotech, pharmaceuticals, as well as inthe marine bio-resources. He exercisedmanagerial responsibilities at severalcompanies including Global Resources,a joint venture of 6 international con-tract sales organizations.

BLUEFRONTIERMAGAZINE2012

1 2

Adressingthe omega-3 issues.

Last but not least:

Picture: Omega-3fatty acids form oneof the most exten-sively researched

and clinically estab-lished functional in-gredients available

in the food andbeverage industry

today.

OMEGA-3 ISSUES: As one of the most popular biomarine ingredi-ents, omega-3 has become a fast growing business around theglobe. But the omega-3 industry has sti l l some unresolved qual-ity issues to deal with.

At the BioMarine Business Convention in London a think-tankwith key industry participants analyse these important issues, bothconcerning better quality and consumer knowledge.

The think tank adresses the need for more consumer educationaround the value chain and on the issues of both efficacy and qual-ity of fish oil derived products. The list of important omega-3 issuesinclude these 3 challenges:

• Numerous omega-3 products on the market today with ex-tremely variable product quality.

• The raw material fish oil for the processing of the omega-3products may contain various amounts of contaminants, like environ-mental pollutants. By unfavourable handling, production processes,capsulations etc, the oxidation processes may be initiated in fish oilbased products which often result in products with poorer quality.

• High levels of environmental pollutant may pose a risk to hu-man health and some scientifist claim that increased levels of oxida-tion products may also have negative effects on human health.

STRONG ON QUALITY: According to one of the leading companiesin the sector, Pronova BioPharma, research over the past 30 yearshas expanded the understanding of the importance of omega-3fatty acids in both maintenance of health and the treatment ofdiseases responsible for a large percentage of i l lness and death inthe world.

The company has given quality a high priority, expressed thisway:

«We have the best product quality, the best quality systems andthe best product monitoring systems in the entire omega-3 industry.We are the lodestar of the industry and are committed to continue todrive further quality improvements in the development, manufactureand testing of our products,» the company states on its webpage.Pronova BioPharma, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, is also a keyparticipant at the BioMarine conference.

BIOLOGICAL BENEFITS: A substantial amount of pharmacologicaland cl inical data indicates a wide spectrum of biological benefitsfrom omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as eicos-apentaenoic acid (EPA) and docoshexaenoic acid (DHA). These be-nefits include regulation of plasma l ipid levels, cardiovascularfunctions, immune functions, insul in action, neural development,visual functions and cognitive functions.

«The reason for these wide-ranging effects is that the naturalPUFAs regulate a variety of biochemical pathways,» according to Pro-nova BioPharma.

Research programs at Pronova BioPharma aim to develop newlipid compounds with more specific biological effects than the natur-al PUFAs. The main focus is to develop new drugs for treatment ofdiseases in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular/metabolic andchronic inflammation but the potential disease treatment area is im-mense and growing.

Source: BioMarine Business Convention/Pronova BioPharma