"The ERA-NET MarineBiotech (ERA-MBT) recognises that Europe’s marine ecosystems and organisms are largely unexplored, understudied and underutilized, in spite of Europe’s access to an extensive and diverse set of marine ecosystems, supporting an enormous marine biodiversity. This resource, through the coordinated application of marine biotechnology, has the potential to provide a major contribution towards addressing some of the most pressing societal challenges including environmental degradation, human health and delivering sustainable supplies of food and energy, amongst others regarded as the Grand Challenges for our future. The ERA-MBT is therefore designed to deliver better coordination of relevant national and regional Research, Technology Development and Innovation (RTDI) programmes in Europe, reducing fragmentation and duplication, and paving the way for common programmes and cooperation in the provision and use of research infrastructures. A necessity to make sustainable use of this unique resource.ERA-MBT's 21 partners will work with stakeholders from industry and organisations to identify needs and gaps in the value chain from research and development, through optimaising research results for proof of consept and industrial uptake and valorisation. At least three transnational calls will address these challenges, and cooperations with complementing activities will be explored to add value and power to enable the development of a horisontally applicable technology like marine biotechnology.For updated info: www.marinebiotech.eu"