Marine Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by marine biological agents to provide goods and services. It involves any scientific technique that uses living marine organisms (or parts of these organisms) to make or modify products to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for scientific use.

Under this ASEAN-ROK Project, the scope of marine biotechnology will be limited to three areas namely: marine natural products/biomining, marine bioremediation and mariculture biotechnology.

The overall objective of the project is to establish/assess the state of the art of the three identified areas for collaboration namely: biomining/marine natural products, bioremediation/biomonitoring and mariculture technology in the ASEAN region. The output of the project will serve as the basis for attaining the broader goals of the envisioned ASEAN-ROK cooperation programme in industrial uses of marine resources, namely:

1. providing a platform for the promotion of marine research between ASEAN and Republic of Korea
2. the identification and implementation of areas for collaborative research on
   industrial uses of marine organisms
3. the formulation of mechanism of cooperation
4. the upgrading of the manpower capability of researchers within the ASEAN
5. the exchange of scientist between ASEAN member countries and the ROK

These activities will also form the basis in packaging bigger projects for future considerations.
By the end of the project, the following outputs would have been delivered:
(i)   Databases on:

1. Marine Biotechnologists in the ASEAN Region and ROK
2. ASEAN and Korean institutions or agencies on Marine Biotechnology
3. ASEAN and Korean Marine Biotechnology corporations and products.

(ii)  An assessment report on the state of the art Marine Biotechnology/Industrial
uses of Biological Resources with emphasis on:

1. Marine Biomonitoring/Marine Natural Products
2. Marine Bioremediation/Biomonitoring
3. Mariculture Biotechnology
4. A compilation of project concepts for a broad ASEAN-ROK cooperation programme in industrial uses of marine resources, with focus on three major
   application areas listed above.

The outputs of the project will be available in the websites of participating  countries in ASEAN and Korea for free access by any interested parties.