A plant-based cheese and a carbon sensor for microalgae bioreactors are some of the winning ideas of the Blue Bio Value Ideation, in Portugal. In this fourth edition, 12 teams got specialized orientation for the development of innovative ideas with business potential in the field of blue and biological economy.
On October 6 Oceano Azul Foundation and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in collaboration with Porto Business School and NOVA SBE, announced the winners of Blue Bio Value Ideation Programme, promoted by Building Global Innovators (BGI) and scientifically supported by Bluebio Alliance.
In the Lisbon round, from the six teams three ideas stand out: a surfboard manufactured with sustainable materials (such as willow tree, an invasive species from the Portuguese coast); an artificial intelligence solution to monitor nutrients, water quality and biomass in aquaculture productions; and a plant-based cheese manufactured with algae and enriched with vitamins, proteins, and omega-3 fatty acids.
In this session held in Lisbon, the participants had to respond to a reverse pitch of Seaculture and Delta Cafés. The challenge was finding sustainable solution in the fields of aquaculture and biomaterials.
In the Porto round, the three winning ideas were: a filter made from crab residues, aiming a more efficient manufacturing of biogas; the production of heavy-metal free antifouling compounds extracted from invasive red algae; and a carbon sensor for microalgae bioreactors to automatically know carbon absorption.
In this session participants had to respond to reverse pitches from Soja Portugal and Sonae, Porto Business School Associate, that challenged teams to design sustainable solutions for the production of new animal rations and new foods with local and healthy ingredients.
The six winning teams will have the opportunity to participate in the Blue Bio Value Acceleration programme with the mission of turning these ideas into successful and sustainable businesses. Among the winning teams are participants from a variety of higher education institutions, among them University of Aveiro, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar of University of Porto, Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto, Higher Technical Institute of the Technical University of Lisbon, Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, NOVA School of Business and Economics, NOVA School of Science and Technology and Portuguese Catholic University. This edition accomplished the goal of supporting the development of new business ideas resulting from knowledge or from research overseen in the academia.
The six winning teams will get mentorship from Bioblue Alliance and BGI, aiming to transform these six ideas into successful and sustainable businesses.
