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Due to the lack of a clear definition and statistical delineation of the Blue Biotechnology sector, it is difficult to determine the economic value and the employment it creates. However, an extrapolation from the whole EU bio-economic sector, based on a conservative estimate that marine biotechnology accounts for 2-5% of the sector as a whole, leads to an annual turnover in the range of EUR 302 – 754 million. The annual growth rate of the EU Blue Biotechnology sector revolves around 4-5%, somewhat below that of biotechnology as a whole (6-8%). Based on the stakeholder database developed in the context of this project, overall employment is currently expected to be in the range of 11,500-40,000 people employed – with productivity ratios leaning towards the lower end of the boundary. The importance of these employment data is above all derived from the fact that these tend to be high-end jobs which are the product of considerable public investment in education and training. Blue Biotechnology products pass along a value chain with the value and potential return from the product increasing as it becomes transformed by biotechnological techniques (Figure 1). The Blue Biotechnology sector would not necessarily encompass the whole of the value chain; once the stages or processes in the value chain become part of the wider industry they are separated from the marine component and should no longer be considered part of a Blue Biotechnology sector per se. Figure 1 The value chain stakeholder composition in the marine biotechnology process. A Blue Biotechnology sector could also be defined through current marine biotechnology stakeholders. Building on the value chain approach, the position of key stakeholders in the Blue Biotechnology value chain and/or the types of activity can then be considered (i.e. R&D, production, services and marketing). Marine bioprospecting can involve difficult and expensive marine research infrastructure (MRI), such as research vessels, in order to reach deeper oceans and more extreme marine ii Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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