AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ is a research infrastructure project funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by the French Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). The project, which has started in October 2015, aims to further support the sustainable growth of the European aquaculture sector. AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰will integrate a large group of leading European aquaculture research facilities and aims to advance aquaculture research and innovation in Europe. One of its key aspects will be to provide subsidised access to top-class aquaculture facilities, as well as numerous highly pertinent services for researchers from academia and industry.

AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ will help to achieve this target by integrating 39 top class European aquaculture research facilities that cover all relevant scientific fields, fish species and systems. The project will provide a single access portal to high-quality, harmonised services and resources tailored to the needs of the European aquaculture community, support and conduct world-class research and provide the basis for a European aquaculture innovation system from basic research to applied science.

Nearly half of the project’s €9.7 million budget will go into the provision of transnational access to research facilities and harmonised services for both academic and private sector users from industry, especially SMEs. Academic and industry researchers will then be able to perform their research projects with “free of charge” access to top EU aquaculture research infrastructures which are not available in their country of origin. The first call for transnational access will be announced in 2016 on this website.

AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ will develop standardised guides and new tools for aquaculture research including a dedicated e-infrastructure which will support both actual and virtual research experiments. More than 10 new fish species (including Bluefin tuna, sole, and perch) will be made available for aquaculture research purposes.