The project is designed to enhance the capacity of the Centre of Excellence for Marine Bioprospecting (BioProCro) through top interdisciplinary research in the field of marine biotechnology.
The goal of the project is to obtain biologically active molecules with properties that are desirable for application in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industries, it was said at the launch, which was attended by numerous researchers, research managers and political officials.
The five-year project will involve 65 researchers currently employed at the IRB and its partner institutions - public universities in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Osijek.
The project will employ 22 persons, of whom 10 are doctoral students and 10 are new post-doctoral researchers. Some of them will become leading experts in those fields of research, said project head Rozelindra Coz-Rakovac, who also heads the Centre of Excellence for Marine Bioprospecting.
The project brings together for the first time all Croatian research teams that study bioactive compounds isolated from sea organisms in the Croatian Adriatic, she said.
The project will enable cooperation with international institutions and the transfer of technology to the business sector as the biotechnology of natural compounds is a fast-growing market that will significantly contribute to the growth of the overall economic sector, said Coz-Rakovac.
Former IRB director Tome Anticic, who now serves as a state secretary at the Science and Education Ministry, said the incumbent government had recognised the importance of connecting the research sector and the business community, adding that he believed the Croatian science and economy would benefit from the project.
The head of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (SAFU), Tomislav Petric, said that the IRB headed two of the ten ongoing excellence projects in Croatia and participated in five SAFU projects.
Assistant Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Dragan Jelic said that by the end of the year a major investment project would be launched by the IRB. The project envisages the construction of new buildings, the procurement of new equipment and the employment of new researchers, which will result in high added value, he said.