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Enterprises in the sector are especially vulnerable to running out of funds between the stages of development and full implementation. In some cases financial resources are limited to the first phases of research and no money is being raised for product development. Additionally, investors often would like to see some progress in product development before offering funds. As fasttracking commercialisation in many cases may not be possible due to strict controls over clinical trials more emphasis is placed onto consistency in the availability of funds. There are currently no specialised funds available for activities in marine biotechnology in Europe. Therefore marine biotechnology companies rely on more generally targeted public and mixed financing. While some financial instruments focus on SMEs and start-ups in general, other are targeting specific subsectors e.g. pharma or have a wider scientific or technology approach e.g. renewable energy. Public financing, on both the national as well as the EU level, is particularly important as private financiers have been noted to be somewhat reluctant to join in the earlier and mid-range phases of the value chain due to the long development and commercialisation process. 4.5.2 Overview of possible policy actions Possible policy actions include: 1. Establish a Blue Growth fund for Blue Biotechnology SMEs, to be constructed from existing financing instruments e.g. JEREMIE94, the European Investment Bank95 and the European Investment Fund`s Progress microfinance facility96 that could support this fund using streamlined mechanisms such as bridging loans; 2. Promote Blue Biotechnology financing through existing financing instruments e.g. JEREMIE97, the European Investment Bank98 and the European Investment Fund`s Progress microfinance facility99 that could support this fund using streamlined mechanisms such as bridging loans; 3. Facilitate a series of events and programmes between SMEs and financers using specialised technology transfer services and mediators; 4. Continue to develop and promote the mapping of Blue Biotechnology investors; 5. Map Blue Biotechnology products by SMEs that require financing. 4.6 Specific objective 4: Improve clarity and completeness of legal framework 4.6.1 Preliminary analysis of objective 4 Uncertainty regarding the legal aspects of the Blue Biotechnology sector is seen as a major constraint to growth. This uncertainty derives from a number of different elements including the impacts of intellectual property (IP) law, the sheer complexity of the legal aspects of the acquisition of marine genetic material, the development and commercialisation of products and the sharing of benefits. 94 European Commission (2013): Special support instruments, http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/thefunds/instruments/jeremie_en.cfm#2 95 European Investment Bank (nd): Sharing risk in research, development & innovation (RSFF), http://www.eib.europa.eu/products/rsff/index.htm 96 European Investment Fund (2013): Progress Microfinance Funded Instruments, http://www.eif.europa.eu/what_we_do/microfinance/progress/funded_instruments/index.htm 97 European Commission (2013): Special support instruments, http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/thefunds/instruments/jeremie_en.cfm#2 98 European Investment Bank (nd): Sharing risk in research, development & innovation (RSFF), http://www.eib.europa.eu/products/rsff/index.htm 99 European Investment Fund (2013): Progress Microfinance Funded Instruments, http://www.eif.europa.eu/what_we_do/microfinance/progress/funded_instruments/index.htm Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 65

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