Category: Blog

The year 2020 will go down in history as one of historic turbulence. We share in the heartbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges for businesses large and small. Through it all, however, the community of the Algae Biomass Organization did find ways to keep up the momentum in scientific advances, commercial milestones, and important policy support for algae.

Take a look at what we’ve accomplished in the past 12 months.

We welcomed a new executive director:

ABO welcomed industry veteran Dr. Rebecca White as our new executive director. A leader in both science and commercialization, Rebecca comes as a new wave of algae awareness and investment is putting this industry at an inflection point.

We are seeing major advances and record funding in algae research, new commercial production facilities coming online, and innovative algae products are making waves in a range of new markets. Major media outlets like CNN, New York Times, CNBC, and Forbes are taking notice, all highlighting the exciting products and research from an industry turning algae into global game changer.

We achieved unprecedented policy support:

Our remarkable technological and commercial progress has helped build support for algae across the country. ABO is grateful for the strong bipartisan support we see in Congress, the dedicated staff at agencies such as the DOE and USDA, well as our members that are committed to working together as we build this industry.

Our collective effort has resulted in record-breaking policy support, including:

• $70 million for algae industry research, development, and demonstration in 2020 Congressional appropriations for DOE’s Bioenergy Technology Office, Office of Fossil Energy, and Office of Science.
• $110 million has been proposed in the US House of Representatives for algae industry research, development, and demonstration for 2021.
• ABO’s participation in a series of engagements with the federal Inter Agency Algae Working Group to align algae R&D efforts across multiple federal agencies.
• Coordination with the US Department of Agriculture to advance algae achievements in the 2018 Farm Bill and to develop the Algae Center of Excellence.
• Our members’ key roles in the pre-publication review of the Biomass Research and Development (BR&D) Board’s landmark Federal Activities Report on the Bioeconomy: Algae, which summarizes the bioeconomy initiative activities for the algae stakeholder community.

We proposed an Algae Center of Excellence to strengthen research and commercialization efforts:

New products from algae and new technologies will not succeed without improved coordination among industry, academia and government. To that end, ABO furthered our work on our Algae for Food and Feed Initiative by putting together a proposal for the Algae Center of Excellence (ACE).

The mission of the ACE is to support the development, scale up and commercialization of innovative, sustainable and eco-restorative solutions for the production of food, feed, and bioproducts from algae.  Fundraising is underway to establish the ACE with a goal to launch in 2021. 

We launched the Macroalgae Working Group:

ABO is committed to advancing a spectrum of algae-based biotechnologies: microalgae, seaweeds and cyanobacteria. This year we began coordinating with leaders in the seaweed and kelp sectors on creating industry standards and trade practices that maximize sustainability as well as economic impacts.

Over 70 participants from around the globe formed our Macroalgae Working Group, including representatives from companies, universities, existing collaborative efforts, government agencies and NGOs. This is going to be an exciting area of work for 2021!

We made the Algae Biomass Summit a virtual experience, and brought together a global community like never before:

We transitioned our annual Algae Biomass Summit to a fully online event in 2020 due to COVID19.  Along the way, we discovered the virtual format allowed for exciting collaborations with an even larger audience than last year.

Elected officials, sustainability advocates, CEOs, business development executives, scientific leaders, students and government agency staff from more than 30 countries all gathered over the course of several weeks to share the latest developments and plan for the future. 

We expanded our partnership with the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA):

Global coordination will be a larger priority for this industry. In that light, ABO and EABA agreed to renew their partnership that extends the member benefits of each organization.  As the leading algae trade associations for the US and Europe, ABO and EABA will be recognized as a Supporting Organization for each other. The two organizations have also agreed to collaborate to further develop the algae industry and associated technologies in the U.S., Europe, and globally through events, conferences, policy advocacy, and other efforts.

Most importantly, members of each organization can register for the other’s events, conferences and meetings at the member-only rates.

We are ready for 2021:

Despite a world unsettled by the events of 2020, ABO is well-positioned to expand the algae opportunity.

We invite your involvement. Like any trade association, this important work is supported by member dues, so please be sure to renew for 2021 if you are already an ABO member.

If you are not a member, please reach out today and we will welcome you into our community. We see exciting developments on the horizon.

Contact ABO today.

See you in 2021!

Congratulations to Devinn Lambert at the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) for being named in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list! Devinn’s work as a technology manager at BETO is well-known to ABO members that are coordinating with DOE on projects to advance algae technology.

BETO’s grants are primarily focused on bioenergy applications such as fuels, but the technologies that the group is helping to advance will also find applications in countless other markets, allowing algae to make a sustainability impact in almost every corner of our lives. We are grateful for Devinn’s work and all those at the Department of Energy that are committed to advanced technology development.

Devinn’s  contributions have recently helped build more than a few new connections in the algae community. She was a moderator at the 2020 Algae Biomass Summit, and also participated in the event’s Young Innovators Lounge, a special session that brings together early-career scientists and industry leaders for mentoring and dialogue.

See her full profile at Forbes.

 

Congrats to Devinn Lambert, a technology manager for our #Bioenergy Technologies Office, for being recognized in the 2021 @Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the energy category. We look forward to your continued contributions to the #algae & #aviation fields! https://t.co/6MfJ87j32J pic.twitter.com/Wsa9BWfN4O

— Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (@eeregov) December 14, 2020

In January 2021 the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) is expected to announce a new funding opportunity for projects focusing on the development of algae-based technology that utilizes carbon dioxide from power systems or other industrial sources as a feedstock.

The DOE’s announcement notes that “Research should focus on the development and engineering-scale testing of algae-based, biomediated uptake pathways to transform carbon dioxide into advanced products.”

Projects working with macroalgae, eukaryotic microalgae, and cyanobacteria will all qualify to apply.

ABO advises those interested in learning more to visit the Notice of Intent for Funding Opportunity on the DOE’s website.

The opportunity is a result of appropriations made by Congress for algae R&D in previous spending legislation that was supported by ABO.

ABO members that would like to learn more about this and other federal funding opportunities can also get in touch with ABO’s Executive Director, Dr. Rebecca White. Rebecca works closely with ABO’s Executive Policy Council, a group of members that guides all of ABO’s work with federal and state governments working to advance algae technology and markets. 

The inaugural meeting of the Macroalgae Working Group was held during the Algae Biomass Summit on September 18, 2020.  Attendees included producers, end users, researchers, government agencies, and NGOs from around the world.

The group discussed a broad range of topics impacting the seaweed industry and had a robust discussion on what the working group should focus on. The group agreed that ABO, through this working group, should establish a scope and framework to bring science, extension and industry together to address gaps and needs in policy, regulatory frameworks, and industry standards, with particular attention on production practices and offshore production.

Seaweed farming can be truly regenerative and profitable aquaculture with significantly positive social impacts, including creating sustainable jobs. The group was in general agreement that since the seaweed industry is in its fledgling stages, that now is the time to set the principles on what it looks like to do this business well: creating fair trade guidelines, building the science, working on occupational and food safety, opening markets, creating industry standards, and doing so in a way that brings associated groups and businesses together under the umbrella of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the follow on effort from the UN Millennium Goals.

With these goals in mind, the group would like to give special focus to the ecosystem services for ocean health provided by seaweed farming, with detailed ecological accounting to capture the “trickle” effects.

It was noted by participants that some issues are very local, and require specific, local responses to resolve. The Macroalgae Working Group will need to include in their framework tools or guides that the industry can use in building rapport and collaboration with their local partners. 

ABO is not the only group working putting together efforts to bolster the seaweed industry. Another critical discussion point from the working group was the need to identify and interface with other groups such as the Seaweed Hub and the organizers of the Seaweed Manifesto to ensure maximum effects of efforts and to prevent duplication of work.

The call to action following this meeting is for interested parties to become members of ABO and join the Macroalgae Working Group to create the necessary momentum to push forward on these efforts. Next steps will be to flesh out the framework, scope or work, and pursue funding opportunities for this work.

If you are interested in the Macroalgae Working Group, or have questions about membership, please contact ABO Executive Director, Rebecca White, at rwhite@algaebiomass.org.

Following the Algae Food and Feed Meeting at the Algae Biomass Summit, the Algae for Food and Feed executive committee hosted a Town Hall on October 14, 2020. The Town Hall was a direct follow up to the discussion on regulatory initiatives at the Summit meeting, and the purpose was to get feedback on how many and what type of strains the Algae for Food and Feed initiative should move forward with for regulatory approval work. We are excited to share the results from the Town Hall with you as well as our next steps in seeking GRAS approval. 

Based on polling during the meeting, the most popular choice was to pursue Nannochloropsis sp. for food and feed. Chlorella was another popular selection as was Arthrospira (Spriulina). The polls also indicated that we should pursue both food and feed applications. A detailed breakdown of the poll results is below. 

The key takeaways from the Town Hall are:

• The group agreed that there is value in putting forward applications from a group of producers, similar to the successful submission by Cyanotech and Earthrise for their Spirulina product. The aim is to further algae product commercialization through this regulatory effort. 
• Through pre-submission conferences, the FDA can provide guidance toward a no questions GRAS letter. It is useful to engage the FDA early and often through the pre-submission conference system.
• As an industry, we must provide recent studies and literature to prove the safety of the strain(s) we put forward. This means that those that participate in this effort will be asked to assist with this effort – either through literature searches, providing samples, studies, or data, and providing input and reviewing materials for the submission, etc.
• We are looking into funding opportunities, such as Value-Added Producer Grants through the USDA. To apply for funding, we must commit to the strain(s) and application(s) and have a committed group of producers to support the work.
• There are a number of applications for algae as food or food ingredients, but few for feed applications. This is an area where we can break new ground and potentially see increased interest in participating.

The Algae for Food and Feed group will be taking comments on strain selection and application until December 1, 2020.  If you would like to contribute, please send your comments on strain and application, with your rationale for these recommendation to info@futureofalgae.org. 

We extend a special thank you to the participants in the Town Hall – it was a vigorous and productive conversation. This is an exciting time for the algae industry, and we are grateful for your input and support.