Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) (Netherlands) has announced that construction work for the Algae Production And Research Centre (AlgaePARC) at the Wageningen Campus will commence. The facility (which is scheduled to be operational this year) is a pilot scale research center, seen to "bridge the gap between the fundamental research on a laboratory scale and the industrial production of algae", for food, biofuels and chemical applications. According to the Wageningen University press release, the AlgaePARC will start with the following algae cultivation systems in an area measuring 25 square meters: (1) an open pond, (2) two types of tubular reactors and plastic film bioreactors, and (4) a number of smaller systems for the testing of new technologies. The construction of the AlgaePARC was made possible by funds from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (1.5 million) and the Provincial Government of Gelderland (0.75 million)..