EWOS Innovation, will be a key partner in a new innovation centre for sea lice research, the headquarters of which will be based at the University of Bergen. It will be supported by significant grant funding from the Norwegian Research Council as part of the SFI programme (Senter for Forskningsdrevet Innovasjon).
Other partners include the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, the Institute of Marine Research, Novartis, Marine Harvest, Lerøy Seafood and Patogen Analyse.
There will be collaboration with other institutes from a variety of countries including Chile, Canada, and the UK.
The centre will focus on the production of new medicines, monitor and control resistance, develop novel immune controls as well as reduce the initial attachment of sea lice. A key deliverable will be to provide additional tools for effective integrated pest management of sea lice on salmon production sites.
“The establishment of the centre is important to address a major challenge in the Norwegian salmon farming,” said CEO Geir Isaksen.
The main criterion for selecting the centres is the potential for innovation and value creation. The scientific quality of research must be of high international level. Sea lice research has been and is a priority research area within EWOS Innovation with core competence in feed components for immune controls and in anti attachment products.
“This is recognition of Cermaq's research company, EWOS Innovation. Research and development is central to our entire value chain, and we focus a lot on research to improve the industry,” said Isaksen.
