Nofima, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, is one of Europe’s largest industrially applied research institutes that carries out research and development for the fisheries, aquaculture and food industries with focus on raw material processing and development, food quality, human health and animal nutrition, production technology, health and welfare.

The institute was established in 2007 and has approximately 350 employees and a turnover of approximately 500 million over ca 650 research projects. The head office is located in Tromsø, with research activities in Alta, Bergen, Stavanger, Sunndalsøra, Tromsø and Ås.

Nofima has performed extensive research within the area of valorization of biomass, especially low value side streams from marine food and feed industry and unused marine biomass with high value potential. We have participated in the development of high value products from fisheries side streams from the investigative research stage through to product launch. We work extensively within the field of bioconversion and hydrolysis, including all aspects of processing and characterization. Nofima enables the use of side streams in new and innovative ways towards existing or new products by combining biotechnology, the right processes, demonstrating effect and ensuring market acceptance.

Nofima works within the areas of laboratory to industrial scale developing and processing. Products from side streams and scale-up and is highly dependent on industry integration and with the market and market demand. Upon demonstrating the effect of a processed biomass in lab scale, the feasibility of the scale up and integration of the process to industry and product to market is important. Nofima focuses on the integration of ingredients and products developed from underutilized biomass into the industry and into the market. For the implementation of processes, there needs to be a close collaboration between research, regulatory bodies and industry.

For the market, Nofima has longstanding expertise in understanding the current market and predicting developments in the markets through a large toolset for marketing and consumer research. By combining the marketing and consumer research with the bioprocessing and scale-up research, a strong product with true commercial potential can be developed.