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Biotechnology - they also generate the highest proportion of innovation in terms of product developed. An in-depth review of SMEs in the field of marine biotechnology is provided in Section 3.1.5. Marine biotechnology networks and clusters Networks and clusters tend to relate to scientists, coordination of research activities, and research infrastructures, and therefore can be linked to the first stages in the value chain. Further information on marine biotechnology networks, initiatives and clusters in Europe is provided in Section 3.2.2. Companies with more than 500 personnel Larger corporations tend not be specialised in or limited to marine biotechnology. They tend to be broader in scope, work in a specific biotechnology or industry sector and have links to marine biotechnology, either by working closely with specialised research centres, by creating them internally, by the development of dedicated teams or by acquiring small blue biotechnological companies to reinforce their activities. They play an important role in up-scaling and commercialisation of products and the marketing of these products. Infrastructures Infrastructure institutions refer primarily to marine research infrastructures (MRIs) as well as other marine infrastructures which support marine biotechnology activities and can be considered to underpin the discovery and bioprospecting, R&D and to some extent product development stages in the value chain. 2.3 Global settings of Blue Biotechnology At the international level, Blue Biotechnology is mainly concentrated in three areas: the European Union, North America and the Far East Asia. CSA21 MarineBiotech22 have identified the following countries as being relatively highly active in marine biotechnology: USA, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Republic of Korea and Australia. There is a small group of other countries where marine biotechnology activity is growing and is increasing in importance as a research priority, including Thailand, India, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and South Africa. Most international competitors have not developed a specific Blue Biotechnology strategy embracing all aspects of the development of the sector. As CSA MarineBiotech23 have highlighted, where countries have published strategy documents supporting the development of elements of the biotechnology sector, the “marine” aspect is almost non-existent. However, it should be noted that specific strategies/plans can have additional effects that contribute (for example) useful techniques and technologies to the entire Blue Biotechnology sector. In the sections below we examine the situation in other locations. Annex 4 provides an example of the U.S. National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap which shows that what may be initially be seen as a narrow roadmap may actually generate positive externalities to the rest of the Blue Biotechnology sector. In Asia Blue Biotechnology is currently heavily reliant on biodiscovery and on the identification of new molecules to be brought to the market. For this purpose, developing capacities in bioinformatics is seen by some experts as one of the key elements for a dynamic sector within the region. In terms of infrastructure, there is a concern among some European researchers that several Asian countries may threaten the development of Blue Biotechnology in Europe through 21 22http://www.marinebiotech.eu/images/Public_reports/Global%20landscape%20of%20Marine%20Biotechnology%20RTDI.pdf 23 A New Wave of MarineBiotech, International Innovation Report October 2012. http://www.marinebiotech.eu/library Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) are actions identified in the European Commission`s research policies that cover not the research itself, but the coordination and networking of projects, programmes and policies Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 9

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