SPONGES is a Cooperative Research project, in which five European companies collaborate with eight European research institutions on the development of methods to cultivate marine sponges (Porifera). SPONGES started on November 1st, 2005 and will continue for two years.

Background
Many marine sponges contain natural compounds that have potential interest to society. Limited possibilities to supply these compounds from natural resources often delays or even stops further development of a product after its initial discovery. In the SPONGES project, systems and processes for the cultivation of marine sponges and subsequent recovery of their natural products will be developed in order to create a stable and sustainable supply and reduce pressures on natural resources.
Sponges are regarded as extremely difficult to culture, most likely as a result of our limited knowledge on the biology of these animals. The SPONGES project therefore not only focuses on the development of culture systems, but is also targeting fundamental aspects of sponge biology that are considered to be relevant for culture design. These include ecological, physiological and genetic studies.
The SPONGES consortium (Table 1) represents a combination of expertise that is unique in the world and the project is one of the most comprehensive research efforts ever to tackle the persisting challenge of growing sponges in tanks.