CommBeBiz, an EC-funded project co-ordinated by Minerva, has chaired its first ever annual Awards – and the winners are as varied as they are innovative.
From bed sore prevention and remote-controlled livestock feed to sustainable energy from biogases and a portable pesticide detector, the eight winning projects proved that they are the pinnacle of ambitious, state-of-the-art research.
CommBeBiz is an EC-funded project working with bioeconomy researchers and their projects to enable effective and speedier transfer of knowledge to the marketplace, to policy-players and for social innovation. The award winners were identified by an independent international selection panel at a presentation ceremony in Brussels in October 2015.
Judge Richard Watson, an early stage investment specialist from Ireland, said, “Overall I was impressed with the quality of the applications. Some are very close to market, others are at an early concept stage [with] good potential.”
Representatives from each winning project presented their concept and innovation potential at the EBN Congress in Brussels on 29th October to an audience of judges, industry experts, EBN’s bioeconomy special interest group and the media.
Each project has won a tailored support package, delivered via EBN’s quality certified Business and Innovation Centres. By matching the winners to innovation specialists who can help meet their specific project needs, they can be supported in reaching their innovation goals, whatever their stage of research or development.
Juame Gelada from SmartSilo, one of the winning projects, added, “Winning this Award is a key milestone… We thought that it could be a good opportunity to promote the project and get high level support to grow our company. Awards are always a sweet point in the hard way to the success. It’s a signal that we are doing it well and we feel very grateful to all the people that are supporting us.”
The 2016 CommBeBiz Awards will be inviting applications from March next year.
