The annual meeting on the promising organisms was first held at MCI Innsbruck

As part of the “Austrian Algae Network” event series, around 70 actors from the field of algae research gathered at MCI Innsbruck on April 2^nd, 2019. In order to promote the exchange between science and industry in the algae sector, workshops were held in three thematic blocks. This year’s focus was on the extraction of valuable algal constituents that are used in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industries.

The “Austrian Algae Network” was founded in 2015 by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and has since been carried out by ÖGUT in cooperation with BIOENERGY2020+. This year, the MCI for the first time hosted the event.

FH-Prof. Dr. Christoph Griesbeck (MCI) opened the first thematic block with his talk about stress-induced enhancement of valuable substances in microalgae. In the second block, representatives from industry (BDI-BioLife Science, ecoduna, Botres Global) shared their experiences with algae cultivation plants and the use of algae constituents in the food industry. In the last block further contributions from research followed, before the event ended with a guided tour through the MCI laboratories. 

The program attracted not only experts, but also interested students of the MCI and pupils of the HTL for Biotechnology in Kramsach.