International Seaweed Symposium 2016

Denmark is a small country populated by "only" 5.6 million people and surrounded by 7000 km of sea coastline. 
Denmark has a long history within industrial extraction of seaweed and seaweed research. The company "Litex" (later FMC) was founded in Denmark in 1942 extracting "Danish Agar" from locally available Furcellaria lumbricalis. 
"Copenhagen Pectin" (to-day CP Kelco) started in 1960 to extract carrageenan from imported seaweeds and is still one of the world's leading carrageenan producers with factories in Denmark and at the Philippines. This leadership was not least because of the work of the former director of CP Kelco, Hans Porse, who back in the 1970s and 1980s initiated cultivation of Kappaphycus and Eucheuma seaweeds in Indonesia and Zanzibar. Commercial carrageenan seaweed cultivation and extraction of same is now involving approximately 150-200.000 people on a worldwide basis. 
Another example is "Danisco" (today DuPont - Danisco) perceived to be the world's largest food ingredients company and still based in Denmark. DuPont has for many years been involved with manufacturing of alginate and carrageenan and with factories in France and Chile. 
Within seaweed research Denmark has for hundreds of years fostered great phycologists and many with an international reputation and acclaim like Lyngbye, Kolderup, Rosenvinge and Børgesen to name but a few. 
It is not only in the past that industry and academia in Denmark both has profound interest in seaweed. Several research groups are involved in seaweed research from each of all the 6 national universities in Denmark. This includes research within areas such as; screening of biochemicals and bioactive compounds, gastronomy, feed, biorefineries where residuals are utilized as fertilizer and/or bioenergy, cultivation and crop improvement. Danish companies are already involved in e.g. extraction of biochemical, product development, modeling of farms and extractive potential, cultivation and crop improvement of seaweed. 
Because of the industrial seaweed background found in Denmark it is chosen that the theme of the next international symposium will include both research and businesses and thus the theme are addressed to be: 

Creating the scientific platform for sustainable and innovative industries for the future society.

https://www.iss-2016.org/ehome/iss2016/327616/