High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A Italy-Malta

Date of latest update: 2026-02-20

Description

Description (IT):

Il progetto HIGHGEL è un progetto One Health che costruisce sui due progetti Interreg precedenti:BYTHOS e BYTHOS EXTEND, entrambi coordinati dall'Università di Palermo. L'approccio One Health garantisce un approccio olistico e integrato per il benessere delle persone, degli animali e degli ecosistemi che sostengono la vita. L’industria ittica, che abbraccia le industrie di trasformazione del pesce e dei crostacei, produce migliaia di tonnellate di biomassa ogni anno in Sicilia e a Malta, suscitando preoccupazioni sia economiche che ambientali. Queste biomasse marine sono una preziosa fonte di proteine e altri nutrienti che le conoscenze oggi nelle biotecnologie ci permettono di trasformare in prodotti utili. La farina di pesce può essere utilizzato per creare mangimi ad alto contenuto proteico per gli allevamenti e l'acquacoltura. I bioattivi estratti dai sottoprodotti della pesca possono essere utilizzati per creare prodotti di valore aggiunto estremamente elevato, di interesse per i settori farmaceutico e biomedicale, ad esempio idrogel e wound healing dressing (bende di pelle di pesce). In questo progetto, proponiamo un approccio One Health attraverso l'uso di farina di pesce ottenuto dai sottoprodotti della lavorazione del pesce come supplemento nelle diete di specie selezionate di bestiame e acquacoltura per valutarne gli effetti sui parametri di crescita e sulla qualità delle carni e uova. Oltre all’aggiunta di proteine di pesce/gambero, tutti i componenti vegetali del mangime saranno sostituiti con alternative bioattive di origine locale (orzo, legumi) funzionalizzati ulteriormente con oli essenziali di specie di medicinali e aromatiche del Mediterraneo (rosmarino o timo, ad esempio). Il progetto valuterà anche l'uso di nuove proteine alternative (frass) come potenziale ingrediente futuro per il mangime. Il progetto propone avanzamenti nelle biotecnologie per sviluppare dispositivi per wound healing (ustioni e ferite) e idrogel funzionalizzati, basandosi sulle attività precedenti svolte durante i progetti Bythos. Ciò fornisce una soluzione a zero rifiuti per il settore della pesca in Europa e promuove lo sviluppo nel settore delle biotecnologie, noto per essere una delle tecnologie abilitanti chiave più promettenti per la crescita economica sostenibile del futuro. Una parte importante del progetto è lo studio dell'intera filiera dei prodotti proposti attraverso Malta e la Sicilia, e costruire e testare una filiera pilota dei sottoprodotti nel settore del gambero rosso di Mazara del Vallo, in Sicilia.

Description (EN):

The HIGHGEL is a One Health project which builds on the previous two Interreg projects BYTHOS and BYTHOS EXTEND, both coordinated by the University of Palermo. The One Health approach ensures we take a holistic and integrative approach to the wellbeing of people, animals and the ecosystems which sustain life. The Fisheries sector, which includes the fish and shrimp processing industries, produces thousands of tonnes of biomass every year in Sicily and Malta, leading to both economic and environmental concerns. These marine biomasses are a precious source of proteins and other nutrients which today’s knowledge in biotechnologies allows us to transform into useful products. Fish meal can be used to create high-protein feed for livestock and fish farming. Bioactives from fisheries side streams can be used to create products of extremely high-added value, of interest to the pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors, for example hydrogels and wound healing devices (fish skin dressings). In this project, we propose a One Health approach through the use of fish meal obtained from fish processing side streams as a supplement in the diets of selected livestock and fish-farming species to evaluate effects on growth parameters and on product quality. The proposed feed will also replace all components of the feed with locally sourced bioactive alternatives (barley, grain legumes, fish meal and red shrimp meal) and further functionalize the feed with essential oils of Mediterranean medicinal and aromatic plant species (rosemary or thyme, for example).. The project will also evaluate the use of new alternative proteins (frass) as a potential future ingredient for feed. The project proposes advances in biotechnologies to develop wound healing devices (burns and wounds) and functionalized hydrogels, building on previous activities carried out during the Bythos projects. This provides a zero-waste solution to the fisheries sector in Europe and furthers development in the biotechnologies sector, known to be one of the most promising key enabling technologies for the future sustainable and healthy growth of an economy. An important part of the project is to examine the entire supply chain of the proposed products across Malta and Sicily, and to build and test a pilot side-stream value chain in the red shrimp sector in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily.

Expected Achievements (EN):

Con riferimento ai contenuti della presente sezione si rimanda all’Application Form (Allegato 2.a) approvato, trasmesso dal capofila a mezzo PEC e conservato presso gli archivi informatici dell’ Autorità di Gestione. Copia dell’application form è disponibile nella cartella condivisa del presente sistema JEMS / With reference to the contents of this section, please refer to the Application Form (Annex 2.a) approved, sent by the lead partner via certified email and stored in the IT archives of the Management Authority. A copy of the application form is available in the shared folder of JEMS system Con riferimento ai contenuti della presente sezione si rimanda all’Application Form (Allegato 2.a) approvato, trasmesso dal capofila a mezzo PEC e conservato presso gli archivi informatici dell’ Autorità di Gestione. Copia dell’application form è disponibile nella cartella condivisa del presente sistema JEMS / With reference to the contents of this section, please refer to the Application Form (Annex 2.a) approved, sent by the lead partner via certified email and stored in the IT archives of the Management Authority. A copy of the application form is available in the shared folder of JEMS system Con riferimento ai contenuti della presente sezione si rimanda all’Application Form (Allegato 2.a) approvato, trasmesso dal capofila a mezzo PEC e conservato presso gli archivi informatici dell’ Autorità di Gestione. Copia dell’application form è disponibile nella cartella condivisa del presente sistema JEMS / With reference to the contents of this section, please refer to the Application Form (Annex 2.a) approved, sent by the lead partner via certified email and stored in the IT archives of the Management Authority. A copy of the application form is available in the shared folder of JEMS system Con riferimento ai contenuti della presente sezione si rimanda all’Application Form (Allegato 2.a) approvato, trasmesso dal capofila a mezzo PEC e conservato presso gli archivi informatici dell’ Autorità di Gestione. Copia dell’application form è disponibile nella cartella condivisa del presente sistema JEMS / With reference to the contents of this section, please refer to the Application Form (Annex 2.a) approved, sent by the lead partner via certified email and stored in the IT archives of the Management Authority. A copy of the application form is available in the shared folder of JEMS system Con riferimento ai contenuti della presente sezione si rimanda all’Application Form (Allegato 2.a) approvato, trasmesso dal capofila a mezzo PEC e conservato presso gli archivi informatici dell’ Autorità di Gestione. Copia dell’application form è disponibile nella cartella condivisa del presente sistema JEMS / With reference to the contents of this section, please refer to the Application Form (Annex 2.a) approved, sent by the lead partner via certified email and stored in the IT archives of the Management Authority. A copy of the application form is available in the shared folder of JEMS system

Project outputs: O.T3.1 - Feed formulation for animal husbandry and acquaculture(EN)
O.T3.2 - Report on Feed characterization for nutritional content (EN)
O.T3.3 - Pilot action for evaluation of feed(EN)
O.T4.1 - Hydrogel (EN)
O.T4.2 - Fish skin (EN)
O.T4.3 - Evaluation(EN)
O.T5.1 - Value chain model shrimp industry(EN)
O.T5.2 - Pilot test of model(EN)
O.T5.3 - Impact analysis (EN)

Thematic information

Innovation capacity and awareness-raising Agriculture and fisheries and forestry Knowledge and technology transfer

Priority: (VI-A_IT-MT_1) A smarter cooperation area to promote research and innovation and skills development for smart specialisation

Priority specific objective: RSO1.1. Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO1 A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity

Type of intervention: 028 Technology transfer and cooperation between enterprises, research centres and higher education sector

Partners (5)

Lead Partner: Università degli Studi di Palermo

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 00605880822

Department: Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali SAAF

Address: Piazza Marina , 90133 Palermo , Italy

Department address: Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.unipa.it/dipartimenti/saaf

Total budget: EUR 549 367.20

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 439 493.76

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 109 873.44

Contractors:

Name: Craft Engineering 937 Srls
VAT registration or tax identification number: 06939060825
Name: Lucie Branwen Hornsby
VAT registration or tax identification number: 06732200826
Name: STEFANIA MARTELLO
VAT registration or tax identification number: 07291580822

Leonardo Engineering and Research Srl

Name: Leonardo Engineering and Research Srl

Department: N/A

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 01526460892

Address: Via Luigi Spagna , 96100 Siracusa, Italy

Department address: Via Luigi Spagna , 96100 Siracusa, Italy

Legal status: private

Organisation type: SME

Website (not verified): http://www.leonardoengineering.net

Total budget: EUR 297 884.80

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 238 307.84

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 59 576.96

GBER schemes / de minimis: GBER Article 20

Rosso di Mazara

Name: Rosso di Mazara

Department: NA

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT02549160816

Address: Via Mario Fani, 91026 Mazara del Vallo (TP), Italy

Department address: Via Mario Fani, 91026 Mazara del Vallo (TP), Italy

Legal status: private

Organisation type: SME

Website: http://www.rossodimazara.com

Total budget: EUR 214 530.40

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 171 624.32

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 42 906.08

GBER schemes / de minimis: GBER Article 20

Contractors:

Name: Antonino Di Cristofalo
VAT registration or tax identification number: 06939060825
Name: Claudia Rizzo
VAT registration or tax identification number: 06942110823

Greenable Srl

Name: Greenable Srl

Department: NA

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 02720540810

Address: Via Empedocle Restivo , 90144 Palermo , Italy

Department address: Via Empedocle Restivo , 90144 Palermo, Italy

Legal status: private

Organisation type: SME

Website: http://www.greenablesrl.it

Total budget: EUR 282 203.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 225 762.40

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 56 440.60

GBER schemes / de minimis: GBER Article 20

Contractors:

Name: BYTHOS Biotech Srl
VAT registration or tax identification number: 07044820822

Aquatic Resources Malta

Name: Aquatic Resources Malta

Department: Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights; Parliamentary Secratariart for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Animal Rights.

Partner’s ID if not PIC: MT31073426

Address: Fort San Lucjan, Triq Il-Qajjenza, NA Marsaxlokk, Malta

Legal status: public

Organisation type: National public authority

Total budget: EUR 249 763.80

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 199 811.04

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 49 952.76

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Leonardo Engineering and Research Srl

High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Partners and Projects info

Rosso di Mazara

High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Partners and Projects info

Greenable Srl

High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Partners and Projects info

Aquatic Resources Malta

High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Partners and Projects info

University of Palermo

High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Project acronym: C1-1.1-4_HIGHGEL

Project ID: 00001

Project start date: 2025-01-02

Project end date: 2027-07-01

Project status: ongoing

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 593 749.20

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 274 999.36

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 80.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 274 999.36. Co-financing rate, 80.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

5 SC meetings completed and agendas/minutes submitted for meetings
10 Meetings
5 Claims and reports submitted
3 Planning document for partners updated every 10-12 months
30 Renewal of pages and social media posting
30 New registrations
5 Neighbouring regions
2 Cluster groups created and animated
1 Stakeholder event/info day for SMEs in fisheries and biotechnologies sectors in Malta
1 Stakeholder event/info day for SMEs in fisheries and biotechnoloies sectors in Mazara del Vallo
1 Closing event (Sicily)
2000 Gadgets for the events and other dissemination events to the general public
2 Meeting with Regional policy makers to illustrate the model supply chain pilot
2 Video clips
2 Scientific community dissemination activity
2 Scientific papers on the key project results
1 Exchange visit to a WestMed synergy project
3 Synergies sought with 3 projects in EU and WestMed area
Grain feed formulation for aquaculture
Grain feed formulation for broilers
Grain feed formulation for pigs
Grain feed formulation for egg-laying hens
Report on characterization of the ingredients and the 4 feeds
Report on characterization of the food products following testing (meat, eggs)
Pilot action for the evaluation of the prototype feed (Sicily)
Pilot action for the evaluation of the prototype feed (Sicily)
Pilot action for the evaluation of the prototype feed (Malta)
Functionalized hydrogel for the treatment of burns
Fish skin biomedical device for healing
Preliminary evaluation report of the devices (in collaboration with ARNAS – AP2)
Report on Integrated supply chain
Model value chain for the red shrimp industry in Mazara del Vallo
Report on potential of other target marine organisms and novel proteins
Report on piloting the model high-tech red shrimp supply chain in Mazara del Vallo
Report on safety and impact on worker welfare and the environment

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

Other Green Deal - The EU maintains that a sustainable blue economy is essential to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. Transitioning to a sustainable blue economy requires investing in innovative technologies, such as biotechnologies KETs.
The EU has now adopted sustainable aquaculture strategic guidelines to foster the growth of aquaculture in the EU. Highgel’s proposal for high efficiency, sustainable and locally sourced ingredients for aquaculture and livestock feed undoubtedly responds to growing concern over feed quality, animal health and AMR.
EUStrategyAdriaticIonianRegion The Highgel project embraces the EUSAIR strategy pillar 1 ‘Blue Growth’
In particular, it promotes ‘research, innovation and business opportunities in blue economy sectors, by facilitating the brain circulation between research and business communities and increasing their networking and clustering capacity’ through the biotech solutions offered to the feed and medical devices sectors.
The project also aims to adapt local industry ‘to sustainable seafood production by developing common standards and approaches for strengthening these two sectors …’ through the creation of a side-stream sector which can be rolled out across the region with high value added products. More specifically, the project embraces 2 topics of Pillar 1: Topic 1 – Blue technologies, and Topic 2 – Fisheries and aquaculture.
MediterraneanSeaBasin Within the new WestMED Ministerial declaration, the Highgel project embraces 5 pf the new streamlined priorities:
Sustainable production and consumption; Innovative and restorative aquaculture and fisheries; Maritime clusters; blue skills and jobs; promoting training and technology transfer.
Other The Life Sciences priority specifically refers to furthering investment in regenerative medicine, medical devices and advanced therapies, within the scope of specific actions to support the biotechnologies industry. The Highgel project also responds to the need for greater management of the marine environment, the use of circular economy models in strategic sectors of the economy such as marine-coastal areas.
Furthermore, the S3 focuses on developing aquaculture in Sicily and the development of biotechnologies to reduce dependence on animal pharmaceuticals and increase immune response.

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSAIR

EUSAIR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSAIR Degree of compliance:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A Italy-Malta

Latest month of project-partner-call data publication

2026-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

19 / 19 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

92 / 92 (100%)

Notes on the data

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High-tech solutions for the marine sector value chain in the Mediterranean

Description

Thematic information

Partners (5)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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