The Farm-to-Fork Strategy of the European Green Deal acknowledges the potential of algae to become an important source of alternative low-carbon footprint protein and contribute to improving the sustainability and competitiveness of the aquaculture sector. Nonetheless, the European algae industry is still in an early phase lagging behind the overall increase seen at a global level, mostly driven by Asia. Within this context, the EU project INNOAQUA aims to pave the path towards the upcoming sustainable and diversified EU in-land aquaculture industry by demonstrating and mainstreaming innovative algae-based foods and solutions, based on sustainability, circularity, and digitalization concepts. The INNOAQUA project is centred around the demonstration of the integration of fish and algae cultivation in coupled, land-based RAS/IMTA (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems/Integrated MultiTrophic Aquaculture) systems, aiming to minimize energy and nutrient losses and maximise resource efficiency by closing the nutrient loop, at two locations: 1) microalgae and salmon in Norway, and 2) seaweed and sole in Portugal. Next, new biorefining approaches are developed to optimise the extraction yield of targeted valuable compounds from the microalgae, seaweed and fish processing side-products that will be used in the formulation of innovative seafood products.
Earlier results, obtained in the projects iFishIENCi (EU 818036) and SLAM-DUNK (RCN 326861) , showed that microalgae can successfully be grown on effluent water from the production of various fish in RAS using both biofilm and tubular photobioreactors (Fig. 1) .
Full nutrient uptake can be achieved as well as high microalgae productivities, by altering the process design and conditions. We have demonstrated this for both freshwater and marine species (fish and microalgae). In these aforementioned projects, we received RAS effluent water to grow the microalgae in our labs. In INNOAQUA, we have brought the microalgae photobioreactor to the fish production site and integrated both production systems. We are currently working on further optimising the results, through operational and technological enhancements, including tailor-made digital solutions.
Total project eligible costs for INNOAQUA are 7.3 million euros, 6 million of this is funded by the European Union under grant agreement number 101084383.