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Technology for growing eucheuma seaplants and making PES from them has been more or less in the public domain since the mid-1970s. Since then technology transfer has been piecemeal and quality problems are commonplace. Commercial eucheuma seaplant farming became commercially significant in the mid-1970s and this led to commerce in alkali-modified whole plants. This was rapidly followed by the advent of "chips" and it rapidly became obvious to several value-chain participants that powdered, blended “processed eucheuma seaweed” (PES) was suitable for a wide range of applications and was significantly cheaper than clarified extracts in some applications. Petfood stabilization was the first major application for PES but food-grade products rapidly followed and the production of clarified carrageenan extracts from PES raw material is also now an established technique. During early stages of industry development much technology transfer involved informal or dubious mechanisms such as “pirating” of staff.. These approaches tended to provide yesterday's technology and failed to address tomorrow's needs. Initial sources of know-how and technology transfer included:

Today core technologies are creating seaplant business opportunities at an accelerating rate. The tools of biology and genetics complement the development of materials, bioreactors and other tools to deliver rapidly developing opportunities for seaplant technologies. Furthermore, emerging enabling technologies provide tools such as information technology; communication & transport systems; alliance management systems; and process control systems.

A generalized seaplant value chain structure is shown above. Some people find it useful to view value chains as “ladders” or “stairs” where each core function represents an upward step. In order for sustainable value chains to operate an enabling environment must be built, maintained and improved. The enabling environment is a world of legal and hierarchical structures; trust networks; the physical environment; and the social environment For most enterprises this means dealing with an array of stakeholders… including alliance network partners. Operation of value chains within enabling environments is facilitated by tools that include information technology (IT); legal documents; communication and transport systems; metamediary websites; analytical services; and engineering design services.