Twenty-two unique cases have joined since 2016 in four batches: SMEs, start-ups and spin-offs at different stage of development all take part in the ALLIANCE project enjoying an extensive free mentorship programme. But who are they? Here are some interesting statistics of these 22 cases.
They come from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and the… Netherlands!
15 of the cases are SMEs, while 4 are spin-offs of research institutions.
Ten of the cases developed products are coming from marine plants, while six products are based on microalgae. Other sources used for the blue products are: bacteria, marine animals and water!
With regards to technological development, 13 cases were between TRL 1-3 (Technology Readiness Level) before joining the ALLIANCE mentorship programme, 5 cases were at TRL 4-6, and 4 cases between TRL 7 and 9.
The mentorship program of the ALLIANCE offered primarily technical and business support and advice to the cases, nevertheless networking for developing new value chains, funding opportunities and legal advice rounded off the Alliance offer. Almost all cases are having primary mentors from their own country and the secondary mentor coming from another country within the Baltic Sea Region.
On average the mentorship programme has incubated a 2-levels progress for each case in a TRL scale, meaning that by the end of the mentorship programme, 17 of the cases will have reached a TRL3 or higher and closer to commercialisation.
The Baltic Blue Biotechnology Alliance is a 3-year project (2016-2019) led by Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in Germany. It is part-funded by the Interreg BSR programme under the ERDF.