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intensive developments in bioinformatics, notably DNA sequencing. For example, India is pushing heavily towards the development of a diverse biotechnology sector, by providing infrastructure, financial incentives (tax relief) and venture capital. It has branded one of its biotechnology clusters, located near Hyderabad (state of Andhra Pradesh), the “genome valley”. It is claimed that over 100 companies are concentrated close to this cluster, including key players such as US Pharmacopeia, Dupont, Novartis and Sanofi (through Shantha Biotech). Other biotechnology clusters have been created in the country, notably in Bangalore (state of Karnataka), but also in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Although these developments are not branded as “Blue Biotechnology”, they provide a platform for blue development to be performed in India. It is feared that low sequencing costs in India and potentially other Asian countries could attract European companies to outsource their operations to Asian countries, weakening the European potential to develop its own bioinformatics sector. In the current context, EU competitiveness (or lack of it) in the Blue Biotechnology sector lies in the support of R&D activities across the whole sector, notably in terms of the development of key infrastructure, financial support for companies developing research activities and capacities to access new organisms. One key element that appears to be profoundly influencing the capability of the European Blue Biotechnology sector is the ability of European researchers and companies to access new organisms for their research. With increasing competition between countries, it is feared that access to potential material, notably from extreme environments (hot waters, cold waters, high salinity), will become increasingly difficult for European research teams and companies, with coastal countries developing legislation to ensure the protection of the genetic resources present in their EEZs. 2.4 Blue Biotechnology within the wider biotechnology landscape Blue Biotechnology has the potential to contribute to other biotechnology and industry sectors from healthcare to bioremediation and cosmetics to energy. This leads to important overlaps as Blue Biotechnology products may feed in any other coloured biotechnology sector. Marine biotechnology already has applications in the following biotechnology industry sectors: energy (marine algal biofuels), pharmaceuticals (novel antibacterials), cosmetics, aquaculture, food and nutrition, environmental protection and depollution2425. These can be considered to be sub-sectors within the Blue Biotechnology sector. 2.5 Conclusions There is no clearly defined Blue Biotechnology sector in Europe. The Blue Biotechnology sector is diverse and encompasses a number of sub-sectors in which marine biotechnology applications are used. There are overlaps between the Blue Biotechnology sector and other biotechnology sectors and industries. However, there is a defining and unique characteristic of the Blue Biotechnology sector and that is its use of resources of marine origin. This blue component of the sector allows it to be distinguished from other biotechnology sectors 24 OECD, 2013, Marine Biotechnology: Enabling Solutions for Ocean Productivity and Sustainability, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264194243-en 25 European Science Foundation (ESF) Marine Board, 2010, Position Paper 15 Marine Biotechnology: A new Vision and Strategy for Europe, http://www.marine.ie/NR/rdonlyres/C076682C-2B32-437C-A781B2EACBAA6B62/0/ESFMBmarine_biotechnology_paper15LR.pdf 10 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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