Challenge – Unsustainable Food Production Systems. By 2050, global production of food will have increased as much as 70%, driven by the growing population and with theend of poverty. However, the current food industry cannot provide global, high-quality production in a sustainable way.

WATER WASTE - Land intensive agriculture accounts
for 70% of globalfreshwater use.

GHG EMISSIONS - Food production is responsible for 26% of global GHG emissions.
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CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE - Consumer awareness pressuresthe food industry to offer betterand greener food alternatives

Oceans are the world's largest source of protein, and not because of fish. Green seaweed (Ulva) significantly overcomes the nutritional values of current vegetables and animal products and is seen as a great alternative in the food industry. However, existing cultivation methods for Ulva suffer technical challenges that have precluded European Ulvaproducers from developing a commercial offer for local and affordable Ulva at scale.

COSTLY PRODUCTION - Current Ulva production remainsland-based = high CAPEX & OPEXin infrastructure.
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LIMITED SCALE UP - Reliance on proximity to the sea anduse of scarce land area = low scale uppotential of EU land-based cultivation.
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RELIANCE ON ASIAN IMPORTS - as a result, food producers andconsumers mainly rely on cheap &low-quality Asian imports.

Solution - Sea-based cultivation at scale - Nordic Seafarm (NSF) has developed an innovative cultivation protocolthat finally unlocks the production of low-cost, high quality Ulva at scale;enabled through sustainable cultivation directly in the sea. By developinghighly resistant Ulva sporelings, NSF overcomes the challenges presented byharsh ocean conditions. More importantly, it ends the reliance of land-basedproduction. Founded in 2016, NSF is as a spin-off from cutting edge collaborative researchfrom three of Sweden's most prestigious universities. The NSF team has +50 years of joint experience in seaweed cultivation and marine ecology.
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PROJECT OBJECTIVITIES - The BlueInvest grant will secure market-readiness for the NSF produced Ulva and validate the capacity to scale upsales right after the project. Relying on a B2B business model, the produced Ulva will be sold directly to first tiercustomers in the seaweed value chain (wholesalers and food producers).

• Demonstrate a tailored cultivation process for cost-efficientlarge-scale production of Ulva in the sea (in two cycles).
• Achieve EU market compliance by certifying the productionmethod with EU Organic and Swedish KRAV certifications.
• Ensure first reference customers.
Scale-up company, supply chain and operations.

IMPACT 2030 - 50 ha farm - 1,000 tonnes of Ulva produced/year38 tonnes of nutrients absorbed/year(avoiding eutrophication)
40 full time jobs created
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BETTER THAN LAND BASED CULTIVATION
- 0% land occupation
- 0% fertilizer needs
- 85% lower CAPEX
- 75% lower OPEX
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- >90% lower costs per kg produced

• 50 ha farm - 1,000 tons of Ulva produced/year
• 227 tonnes of CO2 eq absorbed/year
• 38 tonnes of nutrients absorbed/year (avoiding eutrophication)
• 40 full time jobs created