PLANKTONIC AS

Their core work

Planktonic AS is a Norwegian SME specializing in cryopreservation technology for marine aquaculture live feeds. They develop methods to freeze and store planktonic crustacean nauplii (tiny marine organisms) that serve as essential feed for fish and shellfish hatcheries, replacing unreliable live feed supply chains. Their work extends into cultivating barnacle offspring as a scalable feed source for marine aquaculture growth. Based in Trondheim — Norway's marine research capital — they operate at the intersection of cryobiology and commercial aquaculture.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Planktonic AS followed a classic deep-tech SME trajectory: from feasibility study (CryoPlankton, €50K in 2014) to full-scale development (CryoPlankton2, €1.4M in 2016), validating and scaling their core cryopreservation technology. By 2019, they broadened scope with MAXIPLAN, moving from preserving existing feed organisms to actively cultivating new ones (barnacle offspring). The evolution shows a company moving from a single technical innovation toward becoming a broader aquaculture feed solutions provider.

Moving from cold-chain preservation technology toward upstream biological production of aquaculture feed organisms, suggesting ambitions to control more of the aquaculture feed value chain.

How they like to work

Planktonic AS operates exclusively through SME Instrument grants (both Phase 1 and Phase 2), meaning all three projects were single-company efforts with no consortium partners. This is typical for a product-focused SME commercializing its own proprietary technology. Working with them would likely mean a technology licensing or supply relationship rather than a traditional research consortium partnership.

No consortium partnerships in their H2020 portfolio — all projects were solo SME Instrument grants. Their collaboration network, if any, exists outside the H2020 framework, likely through the strong marine research ecosystem in Trondheim (NTNU, SINTEF).

What sets them apart

Planktonic AS occupies a very specific niche: applying cryopreservation science to solve the aquaculture industry's chronic problem of unreliable live feed supply. Few companies worldwide work on freezing marine plankton for commercial hatchery use — most aquaculture feed innovation focuses on formulated feeds rather than preserved live organisms. Their Trondheim base gives them proximity to Norway's world-leading aquaculture industry and marine research institutions.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CryoPlankton2
  The €1.4M Phase 2 SME Instrument project represents the core technology scale-up — cryopreserving planktonic crustacean nauplii for commercial hatchery use.
• MAXIPLAN
  Their largest grant (€1.5M) and a strategic pivot from preservation to cultivation, targeting barnacle offspring as a new aquaculture feed source.