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Commercialising High Performance Insect Breeds via a Platform for Typing of Insect Strains

Project description

High-performance insect genetics to ensure Black Soldier Fly animal feed takes off

Edible insects are nutritious and could be the best solution for animal feed, whose demand has been increasing globally. To answer the call, the UK company Beta Bugs is creating high performance Black Soldier Fly genetics for the 'insects as feed' market, which is estimated to be worth more than EUR 2 billion by 2030. The EU-funded CHiPInB project will ensure that the Beta Bugs solution is commercialised within Europe and that the company captures a significant market share. Based on the proposed technology, diverse strains will be maintained in parallel and phenotyped at high-throughput, increasing performance across multiple quantity traits including growth rate, size and protein quantity.

Objective

"Beta Bugs is the first insect breeding company focussed on creating high performance Black Soldier Fly (BSF) genetics for the rapidly emerging ""insects as feed"" market. This global market has received more than €480M in investment from private and public sector funders, and will be worth €2.15Bn by 2030. It also enables valorization of low-value food and agricultural waste streams into localized protein sources suitable for animal feed, making it of strategic importance to the EU's future food security since it will strengthen regional agri-food supply chains.

The company proposes a solution which combines proprietary trait generation methods, quantitative genetics and selective breeding, and high throughput phenotyping (trait measurement) using proprietary technologies. The company has developed a proprietary PLATform for TYPing of Insect Strains (PLATYPIS), which combines modular rearing technologies that enable parallel maintenance of diverse strains, and high-throughput phenotyping of the insects. This provides an opportunity for targeted genetic improvement efforts in BSF that can significantly improve BSF producer productivity (e.g. faster growth rate) and BSF protein quality (e.g. nutritional profiles tailored to different livestock).

As the first company focusing solely on genetics and catering to the whole market rather than in-house applications for one producer, this solution is uniquely placed to benefit from EIC Accelerator Funding. This will enable the skilled, specialized and committed Beta Bugs team to commercialize this solution, transforming the company into a highly impactful and profitable venture, capture significant market share and accelerate the development of the entire ""insects as feed"" industry.



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Keywords

Call for proposal

H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020-3

Coordinator

BETA BUGS LIMITED
Net EU contribution
€ 688 229,50
Address
46-54 HIGH STREET
CM4 9DW INGATESTONE ESSEX
United Kingdom

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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
East of England Essex Heart of Essex
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 983 185,00