LOCALITY: Turning Algae Waste Streams into Market-Ready Products Across Europe

LOCALITY – nature-positive algae-based food, agriculture, aquaculture and textile products made in North and Baltic Sea ecosystems is a Horizon Europe Innovation Action coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA).

The project brings together 27 partners from 14 countries, covering the algae, aquaculture, agriculture, food, textile, biotechnology, research and innovation sectors. Civitta is a project partner, contributing expertise in innovation, sustainability and the development of market-oriented solutions.

The project addresses a central challenge for the European circular bioeconomy: how to transform nutrient-rich industrial side streams and marine resources into valuable products while reducing environmental pressure.

LOCALITY develops three regional circular ecosystems connecting algae cultivation with side streams from greenhouse horticulture, aquaculture/fish processing and textile production. The resulting biomass is processed through biorefinery approaches and developed into products for food, aquafeed, agriculture and textiles. 

Funded under the Horizon Europe Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”, specifically HORIZON-MISS-2022-OCEAN-01-06 – Lighthouse in the Baltic and the North Sea basins – bringing sustainable algae-based products and solutions to the market, LOCALITY started in June 2023 and runs until May 2027. The project has a total budget of approximately €9.74 million and an EU contribution of approximately €8.50 million. 

LOCALITY needed to turn a promising circular algae concept into functioning regional ecosystems and commercially relevant products:

• Connecting previously separate industrial value chains by linking nutrient-rich side streams from agriculture, aquaculture and textile production with algae cultivation and subsequent product manufacturing.
• Making algae-based products commercially relevant by identifying applications, consumer needs and market conditions across four very different sectors: food, aquafeed, agriculture and textiles.
• Demonstrating sustainability and economic viability by assessing environmental performance, economic barriers and the conditions under which circular algae value chains can compete with conventional alternatives.
• Overcoming market, regulatory and consumer barriers by integrating consumer acceptance, legal requirements, market intelligence and business-model considerations into the development of products and routes to market.

Civitta contributed a market, and sustainability, oriented perspective, helping connect the project’s technological development with economic feasibility, environmental performance and pathways towards market uptake.

• Contributed to the assessment of sustainability and circularity of the emerging algae-based value chains, ensuring that environmental performance is considered alongside technical and commercial development.
• Supported the economic and market assessment of algae-based products and value chains, helping identify opportunities, barriers and conditions for successful market implementation.
• Analysed the relationship between algae cultivation, available industrial side streams and downstream applications, supporting the development of economically and environmentally coherent circular ecosystems.
• Contributed to the development of business-model and commercialisation approaches for the project’s algae-based products, integrating market, economic and legal considerations into the exploitation pathway.
• Supported the project-wide integration of market and sustainability evidence with product development across food, aquafeed, agriculture and textile applications.

LOCALITY has already moved from concept to demonstrated circular algae ecosystems. By 2026, three regional ecosystems had been established in the North and Baltic Sea regions, demonstrating the technical feasibility of cultivating microalgae on nutrient-rich industrial side streams from greenhouse horticulture, aquaculture/seafood processing and textile laundry wastewater.

The project has also progressed to industrial-scale product development: food prototypes have conceptualised, aquafeed prototypes have been produced for a farm-scale sea-cage trial, while semi-industrial biostimulant and biocontrol prototypes have been produced and textile applications have progressed towards testing and demonstration. 

By the end of the project, LOCALITY aims to establish three fully demonstrated circular industrial ecosystems, achieving algae cultivation productivities comparable to commercial growth media while recycling 80% of the nutrients contained in the targeted side streams.

The project targets the development and validation of at least two functional algae-based ingredients/biomasses and a portfolio of products comprising three protein alternatives, two nutraceuticals, one aquafeed ingredient, two agricultural products and two textile additives.

It also aims to demonstrate environmental benefits through quantitative LCA, remove nutrients from eutrophicated waters through harvesting up to 500kg of dry seaweed/cyanobacterial biomass, and develop the market, economic, legal and consumer evidence needed for commercialisation.

The broader impact is therefore not limited to individual algae products. LOCALITY is designed to demonstrate a replicable circular-economy model in which industrial side streams become inputs for algae cultivation, algae biomass becomes a source of food, feed, agricultural and textile products, and algae cultivation simultaneously provides an environmental service through nutrient recovery.

By integrating technology development with LCA, market analysis, consumer acceptance, business models and commercialisation strategies, the project aims to create the conditions for these regional circular ecosystems to be replicated and scaled across European coastal regions. 

LOCALITY demonstrates that circular bioeconomy innovation works best when the whole ecosystem is designed rather than a single technology. The value of algae does not come only from cultivation or extraction; it emerges when waste-stream availability, cultivation technologies, processing, product functionality, consumer acceptance, regulation, economics and market demand are considered together.

This systems perspective is particularly important when innovations cross several industries and regional value chains.

The project also demonstrates Civitta’s ability to bridge science, sustainability and market implementation. By bringing economic, market and sustainability considerations into a multidisciplinary R&I environment, Civitta helps ensure that technological innovation is connected to real-world value creation by supporting the transition from promising algae technologies towards viable circular business models and market uptake.