Press Release 2

GoJelly project officially kicks off!

NIB representatives participated in the first project meeting on Madeira together with over 40 experts to discuss the first steps to develop sustainable Jellyfish products.

17.1.2018/ Funchal, Piran. While the number of fish in our oceans continues to decrease, changing environmental conditions seem to favour jellyfish. They occur more often in large blooms. So far, they are considered annoying, if not dangerous. The project GoJelly, which is coordinated at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, aims to change that perception and to investigate the suitability of the organisms as microplastic filters, fertilizers or fish feed.

In 2017, the European Union approved the funding with a total of six million euros for the next four years. Last week, the project participants have met for the kick-off meeting in Funchal (Madeira, Portugal). Over forty representatives of 15 universities, scientific institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises from eight countries discussed during the 2-day conference the first steps and how the various sub-projects can cooperate as efficiently as possible.

A visit by the President of the Regional Government, His Excellency Miguel Albuquerque, showed the great interest even politics has in the project. "We have an exciting four years ahead of us which will give new knowledge about jellyfish ecology in general and how to use this biomass to create new products. By constant communication within the project partners but also education and knowledge exchange outside the partnership we are optimistic that the results of GoJelly could eventually lead to new start-ups, which will have a long-term significant impact on the local and European economies, says Dr. Ana Rotter who is leading the GoJelly team at NIB.

Please note:

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774499.

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Links:

www.nib.si National Institute of Biology

www.geomar.de GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Contact:

Dr. Ana Rotter, + 386 (0)59 232 940, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,

Helena Končar, + 386 (0)59 232 702, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774499