The voting period for the first OpenLabs Brazil Ideas Contest ever, that started out in March 2021 and bore all applicants the chance to win, just ended. A SENAI and ISC3 expert jury just selected the contest winners! The ideas competition was held in the framework of an OpenLabs Brazil Project Pilot that is looking to bring a new way to share R&D equipment in Brazil, making science more accessible for all innovators.
Nine contest finalists won access to the ISC3 Global Startup Service (ISC3 GSS) LEVEL-1 General Support, including access to the ISC3’ Online Library and Sustainable Chemistry Toolbox, as well as to a closed community of international sustainable chemistry start-ups (LinkedIn) for peer-to-peer support and an introduction to sustainable chemistry in the frame of a Workshop on Sustainability Assessment and visibility via promotion of their innovation via ISC3/SENAI communication channels:
“In tackling landfill and resource challenges at once SUI Biotecnologia is promoting the circular economy. SUI is using agricultural residues to produce a textile fibre, which does not require the use of arable land and irrigation for the planting of raw materials and thereby paving the way towards a more sustainable fashion industry.”
The 3D cell culture based on spheroids technology for drug discovery allows a significant reduction in the number of drug trials on living organism and thereby not only save animal’s lives but also decrease the amount of drugs released in the environment.
With decreasing water resources, reusing and circulation of water is an important contribution to a sustainable living. As laboratories often use tap water for cooling of chemical reactions Low-Cost Chemistry offers a way to reduce the impact of R&D to the water footprint of this facilities.
Special SENAI Green Chemistry laboratory support will be granted to:
Using bio residuals to solve the environmental problems created by non-sustainable industries is an important contribution to save marine life. By being also more efficient than current polypropylene adsorbers, Biosolvit is a role model for bio-based products.
Special SENAI Biosynthetic and Fibers laboratory support will be granted to:
ZeoFertil recycles industrial waste by using it as raw material for zeolite synthesis. Although zeolites are used in many industrial applications, ZeoFertil aims to use potassic zeolites as smart and green fertilizers.
And here are our top four contest winners who on top of the already mentioned ISC3/SENAI prices will receive tailored support in the form a 1:1 sustainability assessment expert consultation, a resource prize in the form of 1-2 months acceleration period, the signing of a contract with SENAI on lab access, principal investigator support and supervision at one of the SENAI Institutes in RJ/Brazil, including use of equipment and lab facilities to run research and experiments needed to develop the start-up’s innovation, and an ISC3 travel grant amounting to EUR 2,000/ approx. R$/BRL 11,700 for travel and accommodation in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to all aforementioned applicant and finalist prices!
The exact scope of top four winner support will be individually defined based on the type and requirements of our winning business solutions. The support shall comply with the availability of equipment and experts within the start-up’s chosen timeframe. Granted hours and services can be used at any time within 1 year.
One of the most favourable beverages in the world is coming at tremendous environmental costs. Conatus Ambiental tries to lower this impact by also using coffee peels as high-grade organic fertilizer as well as a source for sustainable functional compounds as an inhibitor of weed growths.
By using mixtures of selected bacteria to degrade oil from industrial waste and wastewater MicroCiclo Biotecnologia offers a product which aims to reprocess contaminated water. Thereby lowering the pollution risk of the environment and enabling different industries to deal with contaminated resources.
Textile producing countries are suffering heavily from pollution due to the use of synthetic and toxic dyes. By using microorganism and agro-industrial waste BYOMMA is substituting a petroleum based by a bioprocessed product, enabling a whole industry to become sustainable in the long run.
In our daily life we use plenty of cosmetic products which consist of toxic synthetic petrochemical compounds which are at some point flushed down the drain and into the rivers and oceans. Through an optimized bioprocess Innsumo were able to reduce the cost of the biosurfactant in the order of hundreds, at the same time allowing high performance in cosmetics, hygiene and cleaning products.
We would like to congratulate all our contest winners on their great innovations and on their win, thank them for being active as Brazilian sustainable chemistry and biotech changemakers, and invited them to present their innovations live in the frame of our second OpenLabs Brazil Workshop on August 13th in the frame of Casa Firjan’s series “Webserie Pesquísa e Inovação, Webinar Programa Open Labs Brazil”!
To see our top four winner’s live pitches, please see the webinar.
Contact
Astrid Ewaz
Project Manager/Events
ISC3 Innovation Hub