About the Project

SW-Grow is an NPA, EU funded project with the aim to increase economic opportunities in the seaweed industry. SW-Grow aims to do so by developing innovative working practises that can be widely adopted by SME’s. These working practises will help the many SMEs involved in this project and in the NPA region to ensure their products are of a consistent and high quality standard, that are easily identifiable.

The project will identify common issues throughout the Region and give access to high-level R&D links within academic partners across regional and national borders to pilot solutions that can be adopted throughout the industry - thus developing solutions that enable technology transfer across the Programme area - in particular benefiting SMEs. This will result in higher levels of innovation and competitiveness in remote and sparsely populated areas by transfer and development of models and solutions that facilitate technology transfer to, and across, the Programme area.

The expertise in the consortium partners will be used to ensure:

• Seaweed extraction is sustainable with a good balance between wild harvesting and cultivation
• Waste is reduced through the utilisation of seaweed from net cleaning and other processes and extracting the most product from the seaweed used
• Energy usage is reduced by effective drying methods and the use of renewable energy

The combination of seaweed from clean Atlantic water and environmentally responsible processing will result in a high quality product that can be characterised and labelled through chemical analysis to ensure the product conforms to regulations. DNA sequencing will be used to build up a database that will identify where the seaweed has come from.

Because the seaweed source is identifiable, a strong brand can be built around the product. This will benefit all SMEs in the NPA area who work towards the quality standards. The branding will also draw on cultural and historical information.