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Specific impacts The specific impacts of increased legal clarity would include an increased collaboration potential from investors who would see lower risks. Additional specific impacts would be an increase in the number of marketable products as a result of the increased inflow of investments. Wider impacts Among the wider impacts could be the identification and the dissemination of good practices in relation to access and benefit sharing among stakeholders, reduced risk profiles and consequently an increased number of bioprospecting activities on international waters. 5.4 Comparison of options The four policy options detailed in the Section 4 are aimed at strengthening the EU Blue Biotechnology sector in order to provide support for the future growth and development of the sector. This section contains the comparison of the four policy options based upon the perceived benefits which they are expected to bring forth. Table 5.3provides an overview on the policy options as they are measured against the three key criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and coherence:  Effectiveness in terms of addressing the problems, achieving objectives and/or enhancing the sector’s performance;  Efficiency in terms of the impacts achieved and results emerged by way of implementing the relevant measures;  Coherence of the policy options, in terms of the extent to which the proposed intervention contributes to and/or mutually reinforces the current policy actions, rather than duplicating or conflicting with them. Table 5.3 Comparing the policy options (option 1 being the baseline) Policy option 2 Soft measures 3 Mainstreaming 4 Formal measures Effectiveness +++ + ++ ++ - Efficiency + Coherence + + - Grading Scale: Highly Positive (++), Positive (+), Neutral (0), Somewhat negative (-), Highly negative (--) As it is illustrated by Table 5.3, each of the options scores differently against the criteria. Option 1 describes a scenario in which the current status quo would continue to apply in the future with regard to European policy measures which would result in a continuation of the situation whereby the EU Blue Biotechnology sector would not live up to its potential. Option 2 Soft Measures has the highest overall score in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and coherence as it would contribute positively to all three main criteria and enhance the sector performance via both financial support and a facilitation of research collaboration. Option 2 could effectively stimulate collaboration between stakeholders via providing further support to the Marine Biotechnology ERA-NET. Furthermore, it could facilitate the involvement of investors by lowering the risks and providing businesses with a bridging loan supporting the product development process. However the overall assessment of the effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of these actions would much depend on the details of the policy implementation. Total +++++ ++++ 0 80 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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