Norway's leading applied research institute for aquaculture, seafood, and food science — from fish genetics to consumer behavior.
Nofima is Norway's largest applied research institute for fisheries, aquaculture, and food science, based in Tromsø. They develop practical solutions across the entire seafood and food value chain — from fish breeding, feeding, and welfare to food processing, packaging, consumer behavior, and food safety. Their work bridges the gap between marine biology and market-ready food products, with particular strength in translating aquaculture research into commercial applications. They also contribute significantly to food consumer science, including children's nutrition and sensory perception research.
Core contributor across AQUAEXCEL2020, AQUAEXCEL3.0, FutureEUAqua, AquaVitae, AquaIMPACT, NewTechAqua, ClimeFish, MedAID, AQUABIOPROFIT, and others spanning breeding, feeding, genetics, and production systems.
Coordinated SafeConsumE (largest single grant at EUR 2.1M) on consumer food safety behavior, and contributed to AUTHENT-NET, EU-China-Safe on food fraud, plus Edulia, COMFOCUS, and EATFISH on consumer perception and nutrition.
Contributed to FarFish and ClimeFish on results-based fisheries management, MEESO on mesopelagic fisheries, and PrimeFish on seafood market economics.
Worked on AgriMax (biomass valorization, packaging), InnoFoodAfrica (biobased packaging, food processing), EcoeFISHent (circular value chains, packaging), and AQUABIOPROFIT (side stream proteins).
Partner in both AQUAEXCEL2020 and AQUAEXCEL3.0, providing fish research infrastructure and facilities access across Europe.
Recent projects FutureEUAqua, NewTechAqua, and AquaIMPACT incorporate IoT, AI, and Industry 4.0 technologies into aquaculture production systems.
In 2015–2018, Nofima focused heavily on aquaculture sustainability, food fraud and authenticity, fisheries management, and international food security cooperation — largely fundamental challenges around how to produce and verify safe seafood. From 2019 onward, their portfolio shifted toward technology-driven aquaculture (IoT, AI, genomics, breeding programs), circular economy applications (side-stream valorization, bio-based packaging), and consumer-facing food science. The recent period shows a clear move from "what to produce" toward "how to produce smarter and waste less."
Nofima is integrating digital technologies (AI, IoT, genomics) into traditional aquaculture expertise and expanding into circular bioeconomy applications — a strong partner for projects combining marine biology with data-driven production.
Nofima operates primarily as an active partner (20 of 26 projects) but has proven coordination capacity, leading 5 projects including their largest grant (SafeConsumE, EUR 2.1M). With 422 unique consortium partners across 51 countries, they are a major network hub in European aquaculture and food research — not locked into a small circle but open to diverse, large-scale consortia. Their breadth of partnerships makes them easy to integrate into new consortia, and their coordination track record means they can take leadership when needed.
Nofima has collaborated with 422 unique partners across 51 countries, making them one of the most connected organizations in European aquaculture and food research. Their network spans well beyond Europe into Africa (InnoFoodAfrica), China (EU-China-Safe), and Atlantic basin countries (AquaVitae).
Nofima combines deep marine biology and aquaculture expertise with applied food science and consumer research under one roof — a rare integration that lets them follow a fish from breeding tank to consumer plate. Their Tromsø base gives them direct access to Arctic and North Atlantic aquaculture conditions that few European institutes can replicate. With EUR 14M in H2020 funding across 26 projects, they are a go-to partner for any consortium needing credible, large-scale aquaculture or seafood research capacity in Northern Europe.
