GRC pilot: Knowledge Transfer & Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Agro-Aqua Systems

This project is a collaboration among three institutions: Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) in Chile, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Norway, and Bursa Uludag University (BUU) in Turkey to adress three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): zero hunger (2), responsible production and consumption (12) and collaborate on reaching the goals (17). Objectives focus on disseminating sustainable agriculture and aquaculture knowledge, using technology for water management, enhancing food production efficiency, and promoting societal and entrepreneurial engagement in small to medium enterprises. UCN focuses on water management in semi-arid regions, combining aquaculture with renewable energy and recycling, and promoting sustainable systems in education and business. BUU aims to apply circular economy principles and sludge recovery in aquaculture, leveraging their expertise in waste management and renewable energy for rural development. The contribution of NMBU will be transfer of knowledge on developing high-quality sustainable feed resources based on upcycling natural resources and side streams from forestry and agriculture with biorefinery processing. The knowledge is based on research at Foods of Norway and its spin-off projects (BIOFEED, RESILIENT SALMON, NordicFeed, ForestFeed). This will be done by organizing courses and workshops in sustainable aquaculture, circular economy, and feed and food security towards academia, industry, policy makers and social media. The global aquafeed company Biomar will also collaborate. This project is funded through the international call SDG Pilot Call, a collaboration between 11 funding agencies from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin-America. The aim of the call is to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, through the implementation of results from ongoing or recently finalised research and innovation projects to advance knowledge-based achievement of the SDGs, from local to regional scale.

This project aligns with the UN 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on interdisciplinary research to ensure the availability of quality water and food. It promotes entrepreneurship and sustainable management of biointegrated agro-aqua-culture systems across micro, medium, and small scales. Through a collaboration among Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU, Norway), and Uludag University (Turkey), the project addresses three key UN-SDGs: zero hunger (SDG 2), responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), and partnership for the goals (SDG 17). NMBU's contribution aims on developing and implementing training and short courses in sustainable aquaculture. These courses are designed to transfer knowledge from innovative research projects like Foods of Norway and its spin-off projects (BIOFEED, RESILIENT SALMON, NordicFeed, ForestFeed) to a wide audience, including students, researchers, aquaculture industry, and policymakers. The focus is on sustainable feed ingredients, improved fish performance and health, and the environmental benefits of using non-traditional resources like insects, seaweeds, and microbial ingredients for aquafeed. The training / course will be developed and offered over the span of four years. The content will consist of online content and physical, in-person workshops and field trips. This project is funded through the international call SDG Pilot Call, a collaboration between 11 funding agencies from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin-America. The aim of the call is to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, through the implementation of results from ongoing or recently finalised research and innovation projects to advance knowledge-based achievement of the SDGs, from local to regional scale.