Microalgal research worldwide is focused in five main areas, the EU, Israel, USA, Japan and Australia. European research has by far the largest budget, but the results in terms of economic development do not do full justice to the money invested. The development of the Alginet network was stimulated by the many centres of excellence throughout Europe specialising in the various fields of microalgal research. However, whilst interesting results are often obtained, and much world-class science continues to be published, there have been cases of research being duplicated. Furthermore, the diversity of algal orientated research has inevitably resulted in constraints in, and on occasion poor, communication between workers. For example; much of the microalgal production and product development work in Europe is performed by SMEs, which are not always aware of the cutting-edge research being done elsewhere and do not have access to the latest technologies available. This has undoubtedly harmed competitiveness in the field and one can debate that this has resulted in more progress in algal biotechnology in the USA and Asia than in Europe.

The thematic network was funded because it was felt that the poor level of success in commercialisation of novel algal products could potentially be improved by a body to help co-ordinate European research and to make recommendations for its future direction. The Alginet thematic network proposes to accomplish these aims by bringing together experts from across Europe: academics, industrialists, end-users and SMEs. These experts will discuss various aspects of research and development work in the field. They are surveying the research currently being performed in the field through an in-depth literature and patent search. They will, based on their own experience and the results of this network, select the most promising areas for future development and will produce a report to the European Commission advising on the future direction of European research.