"In period 2, the team worked on fixing such open technical points to lead cronogard to fully viable commercial applications. In parallel we accelerated the work that had started at period 1 on WP3 – PERFORMANCE VALIDATION to collect and analyse microbiological evidence of shelf-life extension properties to ensure Cronogard’s performance levels and our product’s compliance with all safety regulations. Through our SME Instrument funding we benefited from the extra support of two business coaches; an expert in business development and marketing and another expert in food packaging safety compliance. Their help has been invaluable in accelerating the team’s maturity and to get Cronogard closer to the market. We estimate that the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the filler is now set at #9 at M30, as was originally planned in the GA. In addition, great improvements have been made on application technologies by means of formulation of special lacquers and masterbatches.
The impact of the project has already materialised on the project team as, thanks to the EIC/EC funding, we have been able to grow the team to include additional members expert in project management, communications and marketing, financial management and, absolutely essential for the development of the required solutions, additional scientific profiles, such as a chemistry PhD holder who has recently joined the team. Added credibility has also resulted in the possibility to agree collaborations (at no costs to Cronogard) to test our product as a shared-risk endeavour with 11 industrial partners on different applications of the food packaging industry such as meat, dairy, fresh vegetables and fruits, cheese, bread or ready-meals.
Cronogard is entering the market with 2 family of products: lacquers for cartonboard printing and plastic film coating, and masterbatches for extruding polymeric films. Each family includes different specific products (at M30, we have 3 lacquers and 2 masterbatches product codes). Future prospects for the post-project phase include many more products, each specific for the application material and the type of filler used."
