Microalgae Australia Ltd is an industry peak body coordinating focused action to achieve:
- Recognition of the overall opportunity with business and political leaders.
- Show key Public Policy alignment in Sustainability, Industry, Trade, Agriculture
- Increase the pipeline of commercialisation activities through collective action.
- A streamlined and enabling regulatory framework.
Where are we now?
In Australia there are currently 9 major production businesses with one multinational company (BASF) dominating the production sector. These 9 firms are in regional areas across Queensland,
South Australia and Western Australia. There are also 9 institutions actively researching microalgae on a range of issues and problems/solutions.
Recently there has increased collaboration between startups, biotech firms, government bodies and research institutions, as Australia builds a global reputation for microalgae’s potential in food security, climate-tech, and resource recovery.
In addition to the current production organisations there are two key stakeholders, such as:
1. The CSIRO’s Australian National Algae Culture Collection (ANACC): Not a company, but a major provider of commercial microalgae strains supporting industry and research.
2. The Marine Bioproducts CRC is Australia’s largest R&D hub dedicated to producing new and sustainable products from the marine environment, bringing together more than 50 partners.
The aim is to make Australia a global player in marine biotech, an industry that is forecast to be worth more than US$700 billion by 2035.
The CRC has 46 partners across the supply chain in Research & Innovation (R&I), Production, Processing, Product Development, Advanced Manufacturing and Commercialisation. Thanks to a
federal government grant of $59 million and co-funding from the MBCRC partners, they anticipate deploying up to $270 million in cash and in-kind resources over 10 years.
Microalgae Australia is key to the widespread commercialisation and industry adoption of that research.
Where do we want to be?
MAA’s vision for the industry is that over four years the Industry moves from its current disparate and start-up style individual action model, to a collaborative, pre-competitive industry
development model.
As the peak body for those in the sector we will act as an aggregator and coordinator across the supply chain to create a relevant reputation and strategic relationships for industry commercialisation and sustainable expansion.
We believe there is a unique gap at this stage of the industry’s global development for Australia to lead in the commercialisation of the Micro Algae opportunity while the window to do so exists.
A critical enabler for the Industry to develop is a ‘Technology Showcase’ facility where best practice technologies, systems and research can be seen and understood, piloted and proven, to
private and public sector organisations that can benefit from a Micro Algae based solution.
A facility can be established that can address each of the key impact areas outlined earlier, one per year, as a demonstration, pilot and commercialisation technology showcase to ensure “speed to value” in technology diffusion deployed against issues such as sovereign capability for core fuel needs and local and sustainable inputs for animal feeding and nutrition.
Each of these solution ‘streams’ could be demonstrated at pilot to ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP) through to early stage commercial levels in specific facilities for each stream.
The opportunity is both broad and deep and covers the Key Impact Areas, servicing a potential user base including
