The Regional Director for Science and Technology highlighted in Ponta Delgada the importance of the European project designated as MACBIOBLUE - Macaronesian Blue Biotechnology. It will contribute to the development of new products and processes of marine origin, especially those derived from algae through the transfer of knowledge for companies in the area.
 
Bruno Pacheco spoke at the opening session of the second meeting of this project, which was attended by the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal. On the occasion, he assured that the Regional Government will continue "to facilitate the establishment of new financing lines, as it was the case of the first call for Interreg MAC projects."
 
"As a result of the co-financing" granted by the Regional Government, the Regional Director recalled that "the University of the Azores received almost one million Euros for research and development projects or application studies solely under the Interreg MAC cooperation programme, which includes the MACBIOBLUE project.
 
In his speech, Bruno Pacheco regretted that public funding lines "designed for the benefit of the regional scientific community" are not used "due to a restricted view about the functions of some agents."
 
Nevertheless, the Regional Director emphasised the "continued commitment" of the Regional Government towards the development of the Region's scientific and technological system. Moreover, he also mentioned "the importance of disseminating scientific knowledge produced in the archipelago in order to acknowledge the work of scientists working in the Azores."
 
As part of the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation of the Azores (RIS3), the MACBIOBLUE project promotes synergies in Macaronesia and reinforces the transfer of scientific knowledge to the business community, thus contributing to the economic development of the Region.
 
In the case of the Azores, marine diversity allows us to focus on the use of algae in order to develop processes that allow the creation of added value products. According to him, "the Region is able to go beyond collecting and exporting this resource for processing in other parts of the world."
 
The second two-day meeting held under the MACBIOBLUE project involves the participation of several partners of the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal. It will address several topics such as the use of biomass as an ecological fertiliser with potential use for fish food and other applications, the production of "Navicula salinicola" microalga for extraction of the fucoxanthin pigment or the technical feasibility of the cultivation of "Dunaliella salina" microalga in island territories.
 
MACBIOBLUE has an overall financing of around 92 thousand Euros, of which 14 thousand Euros are funded by the Government of the Azores.