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Olive-Net is an ambitious project based on the state of the art of chemistry and the development of natural products, in order to exploit the diversity of raw materials of the olive tree, for the development of new active ingredients for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries. The olive tree, on which the olive economy is based, is an essential element for EU agriculture, especially for the countries of the Mediterranean region. Edible olives and olive oil are associated with a "healthy life" promoted by the Mediterranean diet.

During the last decade, several herbal medicines based on oleuropein extracted from olive leaves have been launched on the market. In 2011, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) established the interest of olive leaf decoctions and extracts as powerful diuretics and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) issued a notice of a causal relationship between olive polyphenol consumption and the protection of LDL cholesterol particles from oxidation. Apart from leaves and oil, several other raw materials from the olive tree, mainly mill residues, can be innovative and effective sources of bioactive compounds.

Progress in the field of biological evaluation is creating demand for further investigation of these new commodities. The reason is threefold: (1) the discovery of new and alternative sources of chemical entities with known activity, (2) the discovery of chemical entities with a new pharmacological activity and (3) the valorization feasibility of the whole chain of exploitation of the olive bioactive compounds, from discovery to complete characterization in terms of extraction, characterization, pharmacological activity, toxicology, pharmacodynamics, formulation of the final product and its stability.

The first objectives with this international and multidisciplinary consortium are to exploit various olive raw materials to develop active ingredients, to provide solutions for the removal of by-products of the olive oil industry, to exploit the emerging chemical entities of Mediterranean olive oil and to extend our knowledge on their beneficial effects on health, to generate new extraction, enrichment and isolation protocols dedicated to bioactive compounds of olive and to study their anti-inflammatory and skin protection properties and finally to answer the demand of the consumers by formulating and testing new natural products based on the chemical diversity of the plants.

The objectives as a network are to generate new research as well as applied solutions in the field of chemistry and biology of Olea europaea, to set up a network of exchange/know-how and a solid and highly functional collaboration between academic entities and industrial/natural products companies, to take advantage of emerging scientific knowledge to develop marketed products and thereby increase the competitiveness of European industries in the field of cosmetics and food supplements and also to provide consumers with new cosmetic and nutraceutical products reflecting innovative research on natural compounds.

The project involves 18 partners from 6 different European countries and 4 third countries.