Fermented Food - an innovation environment for the future sustainable food industry

Purpose and goal:

The aim is to identify factors and parties for establishing an innovation environment for the sustainable food industry of the future. Lund University and TetraPak, with the help of Business Sweden, have analyzed important factors for a relevant innovation platform in biotechnology and food technology, and contacted parties (network organizations, academia, industry and start-ups), to create a hub for research and development, which leads to a future sustainable food industry.

Expected results and effects:

The research hub "Biotech Heights” has been launched, with a focus on bioprocess technology and new solutions in the sustainable production of food and materials. The hub should be an open innovation environment with access to world-leading laboratories and equipment that will be usable by both researchers and industry. This is expected to lead to scalable biotechnological tools to build a more sustainable society.

Approach and implementation:

The project has been set up as a series of discussion meetings and workshops, between the project parties, with Business Sweden, and with Vinnova´s representative, followed by contact with relevant actors. A workshop with invited speakers has contributed to the identification of bottlenecks and potential success concepts. The result is Biotech Heights an open innovation environment, where participants collaborate with researchers in technical and non-technical challenges (e.g. producers and manufacturers).