EU-funded project · Successfully completed
Sirputis has successfully completed the Smart FDI project — a major research-and-development programme to create an innovative technology for edible-seaweed cultivation and automated harvesting, developed in Lithuania for the global market.
Formally titled “The Technology of Universal Position-Modular Cultivation, Automated Harvesting of Edible Seaweed,” the project was delivered by Sirputis together with Metal Production and Rocket Cluster, with research partners including SINTEF Ocean and Ocean Rainforest.
Macroalgae is a highly nutritious resource for food, feed, biomaterials and biofuels, but harvesting it from the wild damages marine ecosystems. Smart FDI set out to solve this at source — making cultivated seaweed farming more scalable and sustainable through better engineering.
What was developed
- A universal, position-modular cultivation system for edible seaweed.
- Automated harvesting technology to reduce cost and labour at scale.
- An eco-friendly direct-seeding adhesive (chitosan-based binder), developed and tested with SINTEF Ocean for sustainable kelp seeding.
The work strengthened Sirputis’ core mission — where engineering meets seaweed — and fed directly into the modular seaweed-processing and biorefinery systems Sirputis supplies today.