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knowledge and technologies flow “randomly” or by sporadic individual actions from other fields, e.g. marine and life sciences, fishery/agriculture or from food into the cosmetic sector. Infrastructure and technologies of marine biotechnology in the cosmetic sector are very specialised at the beginning and the middle of the value chain - at raw material sourcing, R&D, and up scaling/production. Most of this rare infrastructure can be found at the coasts, where distances are short between source and first processing of raw material. Just recently, infrastructure for harvesting, cultivating and raw material processing has been established or is actually developing in some European coastal regions, e.g. the Departement Finistere in Britanny, France, the County Galway in Ireland, and the Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. The specialty of these technologies often results from very basic and essential demands: for example, seaweeds have a special texture - a combination of rigidity and flexibility - which is not comparable with “usual” land-born biomass. Harvesting, washing, grinding and other processing steps have to be adapted to this relatively new material for cosmetic use. Another example of special requirements in handling and processing of sea-born organisms and material is the high content of electrolytes resulting in destructive effects on processing machines, but also on end product compositions. Only very few cosmetic companies in Europe are capable of establishing and operating aquaculture or harvesting equipment; the same with laboratory facilities for analyses and screening. These companies (mostly small companies) are pioneers in establishing infrastructure or in using existing marine biotechnology sourcing, development, production and marketing in the cosmetic sector. At the beginning of their enterprise, they are often operating beneath cost effectiveness, because of the risky and “first mover” nature of their undertaking. Global players profit from “first mover” developments rather than actively building up marine biotechnology infrastructure. However, the market potential of marine derived substances is well recognised and constantly screened by the large companies of the field, such as P&G, L'Oréal, Unilever & Co. Increasing numbers of products containing active and functional compounds coming from the sea are a good indicator therefor. Only very few global players in the cosmetics sector have been associated with marine biotechnology activities such as networks or events. The bigger cosmetic companies are strong recipients of marine biotechnology products, distributing endproducts to the consumers effectively. Therefore, the role of large cosmetic companies can be conceived as the main target group for marine biotechnology derived developments and products. The role of Universities or other academic institutions is mainly in the question of access and description of new taxa and bioactivities. A fruitful collaboration between the players can be observed in some clusters however, the potential is still not exploited systematically. Socio-economic performance of the cosmetics sector: the cosmetics market – a growing sector demanding marine innovations Personal care products industry overall is reaching EUR 487 billion by 2017152. Here we will focus mainly on the likes of cosmetics. The cosmetics industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4 % over five years, reaching EUR 204 billion in 2017. There is an increasing demand coming from 152http://www.lucintel.com/reports/personal_care/global_beauty_care_products_industry_20122017_trend_profit_and_forecast_analysis_september_2012.aspx 128 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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