Objective
From the 391,000 known species, 18,000 have documented medicinal effect and only 150 are industrially cultivated. Their active principles are extracted from wild or cultivated plants, but the production of these compounds is not sufficient to meet the growing market demand. New sustainable production methods include in-vitro cultivation in bioreactors. However, the main limiting factor is the plant biomass growth rate (e.g. state of the art bubble column bioreactors only reach a doubling time of 20-30 days for ginseng roots). Existing bioreactors are therefore unable to produce at an economically viable level sufficient amounts of biomass and active molecules except for rare applications with very high added value (e.g. pharmaceuticals).
The project develops a novel bioreactor technology enabling a 2x faster biomass growth and a 2-3x boost in active compound elicitation level. Root bioreactors have been so far designed by pharmaceutical engineers without cost considerations as they target high value application. Our team, coming from a food biotech background, has been able to design low-cost bioreactors compatible with high-volume production where costs can be divided by a factor of 10 to target lower value applications such as nutraceuticals. The project initially focuses on the development of a 30 ton/year pilot plant for ginseng roots, a market of 25,000 ton/year currently dominated by US and Asian producers. In addition, the technology has been validated for 29 other root varieties and has the potential to support in-vitro cultivation of any plant root, covering numerous applications in nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, fragrances, pest-control, phyto-protection and food additives, among others.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental biotechnology bioremediation bioreactors
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology microbiomes
- social sciences economics and business economics sustainable economy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3.2.4. - Sustainable and competitive bio-based industries and supporting the development of a European bioeconomy
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H2020-EU.3.2.1. - Sustainable agriculture and forestry
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H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
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H2020-EU.3.2.2. - Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for a safe and healthy diet
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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.
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.
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-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017
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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.
7800 ATH
Belgium
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.