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Wider impacts Greater knowledge about the sector would encourage investors to invest and greater availability of finances would encourage more companies (SMEs) to start their operations in the sector. In this way the growth of the sector would be encouraged to closer meet its growth potential. 5.3.3 Impacts of policy option 4 All five actions proposed under this policy option are expected to have substantial impacts. 4A Increase visibility by proposing a specific NACE code Expected results The aim is to establish a new three digit NACE code for Biotechnology and a 4 digit NACE code for Blue Biotechnology. This could be conducted by either adding an additional code to the current dataset, or conducting a 3rd Revision of the NACE code system. Having said this, such change of NACE codes is operationally very complicated as not only does it involve Eurostat’s internal processes, but it also needs to be approved and implemented by all National Statistics Offices. Specific impacts The impact would be that the sector would be comprehensively defined, thus rendering sector analysis much more feasible and accurate. This in turn would significantly aid investors in understanding the sector and thus making better informed analysis about the future trends and the risk levels. Given that risk is often the main obstacle to investing or providing finances, this would significantly improve the access to finance for Blue Biotech companies. Due to a presumably long timeline of developing such a NACE code and the multilateral discussions involved it is estimated that costs of implementation would be high. Wider impacts Creating a Blue Biotechnology 4-digit NACE code (building on a 3-digit NACE code for Biotechnology), could set the precedence to establish a Maritime wide distinction of other activities. Such maritime specific data would enable a much more accurate analysis of the maritime economy and contribute significantly to policy actions. 4B Create a register for Blue Biotechnology firms Expected results The expected result of this measure would translate into improved transparency of the sector and improved access to information to all interested parties. Moreover, it would contribute to a better understanding of the size of the industry and the related activities – including research and product formulation - carried out by the companies. Furthermore, the measure could contribute to a strengthening of relations between the stakeholders including investors. We estimate that the costs of creating such a register would be on the low to medium scale. This is due to the relatively rapid implementation time – gathering of information via national and local networks - but taking into consideration that the register would require frequent updating. Specific impacts The specific impact of the measure would include an increase in the number of collaborations between academia, private enterprises and investors. Additionally the measure can increase the number of partnerships currently engaged in research and thereby contribute to results including a better understanding of the ecology of marine species, collection of data on marine organisms etc. 78 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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