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A meeting under the auspices of the Nordic Marine Innovation Program 2.0 was held in Copenhagen recently. The fund is under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers and is intended to promote research and development in maritime-related projects in the Nordic countries and to promote sustainable growth and increase entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the region.

Matís is involved in many of the projects that were discussed there and manages some of them.

• Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir presented a project on algae - "Seaweed bioactive ingredients with verifiedin-vivo bioactivitiesbioactive"
• Margrét Geirsdóttir presented a project on collagen production - "Production of hydrolysed collagen from fishery by products"
• Guðmundur Stefánsson presented a project on quality and value of mackerel products for the international market - "Improved Quality and Value of Nordic Mackerel Products for the Global Market"
• Gunnar Þórðarson led a project on supercooling in fish processing that ended last year - "Super-Chilling of Fish"

Matís was also involved in a project on the utilization of cultivated algae "MacroValue: Improving the understanding of seasonal variation in cultivated macroalgae".

All of these projects are designed to enhance future value creation and are carried out in close collaboration between the business community, the knowledge industry and the university community. But it is not enough to have a good idea, it is necessary to have the ability to turn it into a valuable production of the future. This requires the right human resources and financial strength. With the close cooperation of parties who have extensive knowledge and experience, as well as organization and resources, it is possible to advance ideas and thereby create value in the future.

Research and development are a prerequisite for progress and the success of companies and the general public is dependent on their success.

Both parties have a role under the law that looks at improving benefits on a broad basis and progress in the field of start-ups and innovation. The partnership aims to strengthen this role.

This type of collaboration is new, bringing together, on the one hand, leading research companies in the biotechnology and food industry and, on the other hand, an investment fund in the field of start-ups / innovative investments.  

Both parties hope that new investment projects will emerge from the collaboration and that the number of start-up companies in the field that Matís ohf. specializes specifically, in fisheries and in agriculture and other parts of the bioeconomy.

Both companies are publicly owned and operate in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They also have a strong connection to the university environment in the country in various ways.

The Business Innovation Fund

The role of the Business Innovation Fund is to promote the development and growth of the Icelandic economy by participating in investments in start-up and innovation companies. The fund also provides loans in parallel with the purchase of holdings. In its activities, the Innovation Fund takes into account the policy of the Science and Technology Policy Council. The fund may also seek co-operation with other parties in the field of risk financing. 

Matís

Matís' role is to promote value creation in the bioeconomy, promote improved food security and improved public health. In recent years, Matís has emphasized revolutionary innovation and research, and to this end has, among other things, established start-up companies. Matís' international connections are extensive and the company has been a leader in the Icelandic knowledge community's advancement in international research collaboration.

Further information

Information on the collaboration is provided by Huld Magnúsdóttir, CEO of Nýsköpunarsjóður atvinnulífsins and Sveinn Margeirsson, CEO of Matís, which can be seen above at the signing of the letter of intent. 

Matís is currently launching a project, in collaboration with the University of Iceland, IM ehf. and slaughter license holders, where the intention is to examine what untapped opportunities are hidden in horsemeat and improve its position in the domestic market.

The main goal of the project is to obtain information from slaughterhouses, meat processing plants, shops, restaurants and consumers to explain low consumption and low prices for horsemeat. Information will be obtained by reading sources and interviews with key parties in the processing and sale of horsemeat.

Questions about buyers 'and consumers' attitudes will be based on an analysis of that information. After that, a request for an online survey will be sent, on the one hand, to several hundred individuals who will be selected by random sampling from the National Registry and, on the other hand, to influencers in the horse meat distribution system in Iceland. The information from the surveys will be analyzed in a statistical way to examine the effects of all kinds of factors on the supply and demand of horsemeat. The results and ideas / suggestions for improvement will then be presented at an open discussion meeting with stakeholders.

The project recently received a grant from the Agricultural Productivity Fund.

Several students in doctoral studies / Matís employees recently went on a spring expedition to the Marine Research Institute, the Marine and Water Research and Consulting Institute. There was a lot going on during this expedition, and then perhaps all the depressions that rushed past and brought each of the bullies to the feet of the other. 

Fortunately, most of them did well to adjust to the weather and the sea, and as far as is known, everyone came home safe and sound.

The purpose of the Matís employees' trip was to collect data for the project Örverur á Íslandsmiður, which is funded by Rannís.

Coastal Fisheries, or coastal fishing, is the name of a project that began with Matís and partners in 2014. The purpose of the project was to raise awareness of coastal fishing in the North Atlantic, from Norway in the east and all the way to Canada in the west but also to strengthen communication, explore synergies, explore opportunities for innovation and promote the exchange of information between parties in this important area of the blue bioeconomy.

As part of the project, a video was put together (in English) about this coastal fishing. 

There was also issued a report where coastal fishing in the Arctic was analyzed. 

Further information is provided by Jónas R. Viðarsson at Matís.

A new project has just started at Matís. The project is called "Seaweed that improves feed for dairy cows“And the goal of the project is threefold; firstly, to increase the usefulness of dairy cows and to examine the quality and chemical content of cow's milk after seaweed feeding, secondly, to use seaweed as a mineral source in feed and thirdly, to obtain iodine-rich milk from cows.

The study will examine the effect of seaweed administration on the benefit of cows and the content of milk. At the beginning of the feeding experiment, the usefulness and ingredients of milk will be monitored for comparison with measurements made before seaweed meal was given.

The project is carried out in collaboration between Matís and the experimental farm at Stóra-Ármót and the seaweed comes from Þörungaverksmiðjan Reykhólar.

The project manager is Ásta Heiðrún Pétursdóttir, in addition to her from Matís Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir and the chemistry staff are involved in the project

The project began on March 1. and therefore ends on 31 December 2018 and is funded by the Agricultural Productivity Fund.