Projects funded by the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) should deliver additional turnover of £50m per annum for the companies involved by 2026.
This is according to an economic impact assessment produced by Frontline Consultants and independent economist Steve Westbrook, which analysed 60 projects funded by SAIC over first and second phases.
It found these initiatives had a combined value of £52.7m, 60% of which - £31.4m - was contributed by business partners within the aquaculture sector.
Supported by the expected £50m per year increase to turnover, the projects should create 600 new full-time equivalent jobs by 2026 – largely across rural and remote areas of Scotland where well-paid, year-round, skilled jobs are particularly important for local communities. Around £30m of the additional turnover figure is directly attributable to SAIC.
The innovation centre also leveraged £9.8m of external funding from UK and European sources over the course of these projects.
Heather Jones, chief executive of SAIC, said: “The work we have funded has delivered new products and processes, enhanced fish health and wellbeing, created new revenue streams for businesses, and even supported the development of new companies, along with a range of other outcomes.
“Perhaps just as importantly, the report demonstrates that our work has helped maintain Scotland’s competitiveness in the global aquaculture sector and sustained jobs in remote and rural communities.”
One of the companies to benefit from SAIC’s funding is AquaGen Scotland, which worked with the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, Cooke Aquaculture Scotland and Dawnfresh to identify biomarkers in salmon that indicate a greater resistance to bacterial infection.
The research allowed AquaGen to begin selective breeding in Scotland that would produce salmon with greater natural resistance to the bacterium, supplying the first resistance-selected eggs early in 2021.
Andrew Reeve, managing director at AquaGen Scotland, said: “The genetic markers we discovered through the project are a valuable tool in our breeding work and enabled us to develop a new product with significant benefits for fish health and wellbeing.
“SAIC played a crucial role in making this work happen and bringing us together with the right academic and sector experts to reach a new research milestone.”
Jones added: “The project with AquaGen Scotland underlines the wide-ranging benefits that investing in research and development can provide, not only to the companies directly involved, but the wider sector as well.
“Through collaboration we can tackle the sector’s main challenges and make Scotland a centre of excellence for innovation in aquaculture.”
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
