The VALBIOMAR project seeks to develop an Atlantic network of competences in the domain of maximising the biotechnological value of living marine resources, and energising relations among laboratories and SMEs to produce concrete co-operation, and the development of new activities. The principal object of VALBIOMAR rests on the necessity, in the context of the rarefaction of certain marine resources, of optimising the operations of transformation of raw materials and of the generation of co-products (animal and human foods, cosmetics, health products). The project also contributes to a diversification of activities derived from fishing and aquaculture in the strict framework of the sustainable management of natural marine resources through the better utilisation of these resources. Achievements: ✔ Detection of results and technologies transferable to SMEs (questionnaire sent to laboratories); presentation to the SMEs via themed brochures ✔ Detection and listing of resources and by-products of aquaculture and fishing ✔ Studies and reports on the products, preparation methods, resources and by-products to be developed ✔ Development of methods and technological procedures, ✔ Search for and identification of new active principles in partnership with a local industry (Canary Islands) ✔ Development of a traceability system by Internet tailored to use by SMEs in the management of fisheries and by-products of aquaculture ✔ Development, by grouping the resources of the project partners, of a pre-industrial platform for the continuous production of peptides with biological activity from hydrolysates ✔ Diffusion to companies of brochures about VALBIOMAR containing the presentation of the laboratories involved in the project ✔ The website has been put online: www.valbiomar.org ✔ Creation of a database listing companies (over 2,000) interested in the project, in fields including fishing, animal food, pharmacology, cosmetics, biotechnologies, etc. ✔ Creation of a training plan aimed at technology centres, to help them present their products to SMEs ✔ Creation and organisation of training sessions and information seminars Surveys conducted in SMEs to find out their needs ✔ Development of an e-learning tool (http://aula.cetmar.org) which can be used as a support for organising online lessons by downloading the documents and materials, including lessons and the documents used in each VALBIOMAR seminar or conference ✔ Partnerships initiated between the partner laboratories in the project and SMEs ✔ Establishment of a programme to disseminate the results and present the project by publishing the first results in international specialised journals and trade and technical magazines, participating in events at local level to meet the business managers, maintaining the website and holding specialised seminars.