The company is set to grow Ontario’s bioeconomy by bringing its potent sugar substitute from lab to market.
Biofect Innovations, maker of a potential sugar substitute, is the $10,000 grand prize winner of the inaugural Agri-Tech Pitch Competition held through the University of Guelph.
Event attendees selected Food Security Structures Canada as the People’s Choice winner to receive $2,500.
The University of Guelph's Research Innovation Office will highlight innovative companies that had their genesis in the Gryphon's LAAIR (Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research) program. On May 19, a team of international judges will decide which contestant will win $10,000, and starting at noon on Friday, May 15, everyone will have a chance to vote for the People’s Choice Award – worth $2,500. Voting will close at 12:59 p.m. EDT on May 19.
This virtual event will profile innovative technology and commercialization activities funded through the Gryphon's Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research (GLAAIR) program.
A collaboration between U of G's Dr. George van der Merwe, professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Escarpment Laboratories, supplier of liquid yeast cultures for Ontario’s $1.4-billion craft beer industry, has led to new products, processes and technologies that will benefit the Ontario agri-food sector.
The Call is open from Oct. 14 until Dec. 15, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.
Gryphon’s LAAIR (Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research) funding program aims to take the best research and use it to develop new products, which should attract private sector funding, create jobs and make Ontario more competitive.
From skin care to brewing to plant greenhouses to cows and horses, five projects will receive funding from the Gryphon’s LAAIR program this year to help researchers pursue research innovations with commercial potential.
The Gryphon’s LAAIR (Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research) program, funded by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, helps to create new products and services for the growing agri-food sector.
Efforts to replace agriculture and food imports with homegrown products are arising in even the most specialized market segments, such as micropropagated trees.
Micropropagation uses small parts of plants instead of stem or root cuttings, allowing more trees to be grown faster. This innovation is important—demand for apple root stocks and varieties is predicted to reach more than two million plants per year for at least the next decade.