As part of the Festival do Mar 2025 (FESTIMAR), Hub Azul Portugal was present at the 3rd RS Blue Economy Development Forum in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, with the keynote lecture: ‘Blue Bioeconomy: Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities for a More Blue Future’.
The fact that it is faster and cheaper to unravel complete genomes of organisms, combined with AI-assisted tools for gene annotation, is enabling the discovery of new bioactive compounds, the development of innovative bioprocessing techniques and the use of marine organisms for various applications, such as food and feed production, pharmaceuticals, biofertilisers, cosmetics, new materials and the use of whole microorganisms for bioremediation.
With the support of increasingly efficient bioinformatics pipelines supported by artificial intelligence, it has been possible to discover more and more new enzymes, secondary metabolites and bioactive compounds in less time and with lower associated costs.
The ocean will undoubtedly provide the largest source of renewable energy yet to be exploited (be it waves, tides, temperature or salinity gradients, or the wind generated in the ocean) as an alternative to non-renewable sources, which means that there is still a lot to be done in the field of the ocean.
Offshore wind energy is at a commercially mature stage and has even proved itself in Portugal. However, wave energy, tidal energy and ocean solar energy are at a less technologically mature stage. In order to meet the targets, we need offshore energy systems that guarantee more energy from renewable sources and, desirably, a lower levelised cost of electricity (LCE).