Projects funded by the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) could deliver an additional turnover of £50 million per annum for the companies involved by 2026 and create 600 full-time jobs in the process, according to new research.
An economic impact assessment produced by Frontline Consultants and independent economist Steve Westbrook analysed 60 projects funded by SAIC over its first and second phases. It found the initiatives had a combined value of £52.7 million, 60% of which was contributed by business partners within the aquaculture sector.
The innovation centre also leveraged £9.8 million external funding from UK and European sources over the course of these projects. Overall, for every £1 of SAIC funding granted to research projects, a further £4.67 was leveraged from businesses in the aquaculture sector and other funding sources.
SAIC CEO, Heather Jones, said the new report highlights the clear benefits of investing in aquaculture innovation.
“The work we have funded has delivered new products and processes, enhanced fish health and wellbeing, created new revenue streams for businesses, and even supported the development of new companies, along with a range of other outcomes.
“Perhaps just as importantly, the report demonstrates that our work has helped maintain Scotland’s competitiveness in the global aquaculture sector and sustained jobs in remote and rural communities,” she said.
AquaGen Scotland is one of the companies to have benefited from SAIC’s funding. With this support, it worked with the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, and Dawnfresh to identify biomarkers in salmon that indicate a greater resistance to a bacterial infection called Flavobacterium psychrophilum.
The research breakthrough allowed AquaGen Scotland to begin selective breeding in Scotland that would produce salmon with greater natural resistance to the bacterium, supplying the first resistance-selected eggs early in 2021.
AquaGen Scotland Managing Director, Andrew Reeve, explained that the genetic markers discovered through the project are a valuable tool in the company’s breeding work and enabled it to develop a new product with significant benefits for fish health and wellbeing.
“SAIC played a crucial role in making this work happen and bringing us together with the right academic and sector experts to reach a new research milestone,” he said.
Jones added, “The project with AquaGen Scotland underlines the wide-ranging benefits that investing in research and development can provide, not only to the companies directly involved, but the wider sector as well. Through collaboration we can tackle the sector’s main challenges and make Scotland a centre of excellence for innovation in aquaculture.”
