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A Sustainable Soil Solution: Scaling up Novihum, an innovation to convert bad soil into better, make brown coal clean and barren land green, and profitably advance food security in Europe and beyond

Objective

Soil is a vital – though often neglected – tool for increasing the resilience and security of food production, as recognized by the UN’s declaration of 2015 as the International Year of Soils; improving it can reduce erosion and enhance drought tolerance, crop yields, water and nutrient efficiency, and long-term land fertility.

Novihum is a uniquely scalable innovative soil conditioning technology that replaces natural humus in degraded and arid soils, significantly increasing crop yields while reducing water use and pollution. It is produced by enriching abundant lignite (brown coal) in a highly efficient industrial process, and is affordable, easy to use, long-lasting (>10 years), and good for the environment. Its unique set of properties make it novel to the market and highly competitive with all other soil conditioners, which are typically difficult to use, transport, or scale up. Novihum Technologies GmbH was founded in 2012 to commercialize the patented technology, and has attracted venture capital investment from the EU and US.

The objective of the Project is to scale up the Novihum production technology from prototype to a Pilot Facility in Germany, where an industrial production line suitable for scaling up to profitable commercial scale can be tested and refined. It will also demonstrate Novihum’s high-value impacts to potential customers and expand the product line. It will result in the know-how and proof of performance necessary to scale up to commercial production, and a sophisticated global customer and partner network that will facilitate successful market entry.

The commercial potential for Novihum is very large – as are its impacts on the security and resilience of food production and on the environment – with more than 3.5 million sq km of land in need of its benefits and expected global annual sales of up to EUR 360 million in the agriculture, horticulture, recultivation, urban farming, and landscape sectors in the EU, US, and Middle East.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2014-2015

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Coordinator

NOVIHUM TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 427 600,00
Address
BLASEWITZER STR 41
01307 DRESDEN
Germany

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Sachsen Dresden Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 3 468 000,00
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