Key facts

  • Full title: Novel enzymes from extreme marine environments as a source for value-added targets
  • Programme: Horizon Europe, Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment)
  • Call topic: HORIZON-CL6-2024-CircBio-01-10
  • Type of action: Research and Innovation Action
  • Duration: 48 months, 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2029
  • EU contribution: €4,496,933.75
  • Coordinator: University of Crete (Greece)
  • Consortium: 14 partners from 9 countries
  • EuroMarine role: leader of Work Package 6, Communication, dissemination and exploitation
  • Grant agreement: 101181415

Context of the call

NEXTMARINE was selected under the 2024 Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call on circular economy and bioeconomy sectors (HORIZON-CL6-2024-CIRCBIO-01). The call supports research and innovation that turns biological resources into sustainable, value-added products for the European bioeconomy. Within this framework, NEXTMARINE focuses on marine biodiscovery: the identification of novel enzymes from little-explored extreme marine ecosystems.

Objectives

  • Explore and sample extreme marine environments in the Aegean and Baltic Seas using innovative remotely operated underwater vehicles, hyperspectral imaging and robotic sensing.
  • Advance ecological knowledge of extreme ecosystems and of the role of extremophilic microorganisms in nutrient and element cycling.
  • Identify and characterise novel enzymes using gene sequencing, bioinformatics and AI-based structural and functional analysis.
  • Engineer biocatalysts and intensify enzyme production, including halogenases for pharmaceuticals and carbohydrate-processing enzymes for seaweed and chitin biorefining.
  • Develop and evaluate processes for value-added compounds such as alginates, fucoidans and chitin derivatives for pharmaceutical, biomaterial and food applications.
  • Propose a scientific and legal framework for the ethical, fair and sustainable use of discoveries from marine enzymes.

Consortium

NEXTMARINE brings together universities, research centres, technology companies and industry from nine European countries. EuroMarine member organisations are marked with an asterisk (*).

  • University of Crete (UOC), Greece, coordinator
  • Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece *
  • GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
  • Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark *
  • Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STUBA), Slovakia
  • Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), Germany
  • Lodz University of Technology (TUL), Poland
  • Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium
  • Neat Innovation (NEAT), Sweden
  • Ploa Technology Consultants (PLOATECH), Spain *
  • AstraZeneca (AZ), Sweden
  • EuroMarine Association (EM), France

EuroMarine's contribution

The EuroMarine Secretariat leads Work Package 6 on communication, dissemination and exploitation. It designs and implements the project's plan for dissemination, exploitation and communication and ensures that results reach the scientific community, industry, policymakers and the wider public.

Relevance for EuroMarine members

Members can follow NEXTMARINE results on marine biodiscovery and blue biotechnology through EuroMarine channels, and connect with the consortium through project events and future collaborations.

More information: NEXTMARINE on CORDIS

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the granting authority, the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Grant agreement: 101181415.

EU emblem: Funded by the European Union (card)
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